Flash Fiction Challenge: Serving “Justice”

In response to PJ’s photo prompted Flash Fiction challenge (75 – 175 words). Special thanks to Dawn M. Miller for the photo.

Beaten, battered, scrambled, torn. My life is worn by a stranger with my face. A stranger who accepts peace in installments. Dammit, he’s home again.

~*~

Emboldened by fallacies, my beloved strikes me from night to morn. Wait it out. Wait for the front door to slam, for the picture frames to cease their shaking, before I sneak away.

~*~

Hank tosses over a racket; I catch it by hand. He teaches me to be strong, teaches me to stand. The tennis court contradicts my life in the sand. Reshaping, I somehow rise in the ranks.

~*~

Taste of life, taste of power. I’m weary of the war, the box, his seed. The sores for all to see and feed. Launch and smack the ball; grow weak, for a reason. Oh, if you only knew how the ball sails far beyond where my worries sink.

~*~

Empowered and enraged, I slam the front door. For once, this floor becomes my stage. I throw my bag down, grip my racket, and refuse my sweet beloved’s cage. And in court, I make sure to give Hank my thanks.

(186 words, eek!  😳)