infinitesimal fiction

(it's like fiction, only smaller)

Cognizance

If you had told Charles even three hours ago that he would be experiencing this moment, he would never have believed you. His mind drifted to this morning when he and his beautiful Belinda had been looking for trinkets at a quaint little shop in China Town. She had wanted a Hanfu, and whatever his buxom blonde wanted, she got. He had also picked up a jade and sandstone chess set, a teak back scratcher with a jeweled handle , and an assortment of incense cones. Funny, that he now recalled the shop keeper trying to give him a bundle of bamboo sticks. She had instructed Charles to burn them to keep away evil spirits. As his eyes began to glaze, his brain fogging, he envisioned the unlit bamboo on the kitchen island next to the empty wine bottle. He sensed the lifeless body of his fiance beside him, and he reached up to grab at the hardened fingers around his throat. Charles felt the splinters embedded in his hand, and wondered where he had put that damn lighter, just as the darkness claimed him.

(word count: 185)