(Author’s Note: I am currently working on some new story-work to add to the blog, outside of the Fictioneers realm, but complications with real life have decided to take over and cause issues. So I am not sure when I’ll be putting up more original longer-form work. But, give it time, and I’ll be able to have more for my audience to peruse. In the meantime, here’s a work that I hope gives you some peace over this holiday season.)
Brimstone
by Miles H. Rost
“Mom! Come here!”
“What is it?” Mom asked her son, as he looked out the kitchen window.
“Look at the sky!”
“It’s beautiful, honey, but we see the sky all the time.”
“But Mom, look at the color! Don’t you remember what Brian told us?”
She thought back to when her eldest son was still at home.
“When the sky looks like brimstone, you know I’m on my way.”
She smiled, as she heard a familiar sound roll into the driveway, the exhaust of an old 1975 Harley.
“He kept his promise.”
She smiled, as she walked into the living room, awaiting her eldest son’s first hug in 8 years.
Music and Fiction 
That’s a long time to wait for a hug! Nice story.
Yeah, I know it. It’s been nearly 3 years since my last hug to my mom…
Awww, I’m sorry to hear that.
Such is the life of an expat teacher/student.
I feel such a wait is not in vain.. still the brimstone has always laced a return with something ominous.. the Harley could be an indicator of things to come after the hug.
Brimstone – such an evocative word, and nicely used here. Well done.
Dear Miles,
I have three sons who are spread out over the country. Therefore, so are those hugs. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Good story.
Awww! Simply lovely.
Love it. Aren’t we all romantics?
Bet that hug is going to be a long one.
DJ
I’m long overdue for a hug from my middle child. This hit home with me.
Magical and haunting. Nice job!
Brimstone is the precursor to the son’s arrival. Is he the bad seed?
This is interesting, Miles, but it seems like there is more going on than a simple reunion. The idea that the very sky heralds his coming makes the brother either magical or at least supernatural. In any case, I like it.