Ways of the Fallen

By Rori O'Keeffe

Five stories are included that capture people at their nadir, whether they are low points in behavior or the depths of despair. An additional tale is taken directly from my own youth, and it's a chronicle of my time with a wonderful first love. Originally published from 2013 - 2018, the stories here might help the reader reimagine themselves and others; the presentation of villains is mercilessly accurate, and the protagonists are shown in realistic lights. Heavy reading for reflection.

Adult reading, ~10,000 words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rori O'Keeffe
• Release date: Oct 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463884317

Rori O'Keeffe

[e-mail] Whether she's bending light into rainbows or flying on a hyper-sonic broomstick, Rori can be counted on to describe the darkest corners of existence with both humour and pathos. Sometimes, though, she goes a little too far....

Book preview

Ways of the Fallen

By Rori O'Keeffe

Copyright © 2018 by Rori O'Keeffe

Published at Smashwords by Rori O'Keeffe

These stories were previously published, variously, in 2013, 2014 and 2018. All rights reserved by the author.

The image on the cover is courtesy of Pixabay.

Table of Contents

Love Eclipsed

Our Anniversary

Hot Tar and Woody: Happy Memories of Youth

The Powers of Prophecy

Sandra's Last Goodbye

Nine Tails of the Sphinx

About Rori O'Keeffe

More by Rori O'Keeffe and links

Love Eclipsed

Martin held his head in his hands, face blank and unresponsive, lost in the world he had created and lived in for a very long time now. His rumpled dress shirt and mismatching pants and shoes told of his detachment that morning as he had readied himself for breakfast at Mabee's Diner - his regular haunt on weekends. It was a place of hash browns, greasy eggs and ketchup smells in his mental compartment of affectionate memories. So often he had taken comfort at the diner that he even had come to love the cheap vinyl seat covers in the booths and the sound of Rose's insincere Good morning!

It was here at the diner that he had had his first breakfast with Stephanie two months earlier. Early on in the relationship, it was like it always was: Animated discussions about life, politics, relationships, and sex - especially sex. Now, the morning after Steph had broken up with him, he was performing his familiar ritual of mourning yet another lost love, and recanting in his mind the various things he had done and said that always turned his girlfriends away from him.

His penchant for sarcastic, mocking humor was often what attracted women to him, aside from his slim athletic build and handsome face. In time though, his girlfriends always decided that in actuality, his humor was just plain bad - there wasn't a person or concept that were beyond the reach of his irony-laden ridicule; in fact, many women spurned him immediately upon hearing one of his acid-tongued jokes. I should control my anger when I'm cracking wise, he told himself silently there in the booth by the window; Just for once, try to make more pleasant, lighthearted jokes. Martin looked down into his coffee now, feeling warmed by its aroma and the creamy brown simplicity of his daily mood brightener in its plain white cup.

He accepted with a nod and Thanks! the bacon and eggs with hash browns from Rose, as he always did; politeness was one of his more appealing traits to the people that knew him, and the women in his life would all agree, if they could be brought together to discuss Martin's good and bad points.

Talking about me! He thought to himself, as he often did when perusing his memory's scrapbook of his girlfriends. If Stephanie, Sue, Cindy, Maureen, Reena, Sylvia, Clarice, Violet, Jasmine and the second Sue could all be found willing to get together and talk about Martin, they would say the sorts of things that always enraged him.

Irresponsible, says one. Mmm-hmm, the other women agree.

Immature, says another, and the other women gathered