Ruination

She sought consolation in the utter bleakness of the dark, thudding against the shutters like the black howling rain, besodden guttural ancient spirits.

Freshly dug graves in the churchyard. Abandoned. Forgotten as children without names.

One drop. Two.

The mansion yawned, cavernous maw opening into impossible expanse. Empty halls forever more. Derelict lines, besmirched, languid, cauterized by apathy. Family severed. She the penultimate, gaunt, haunted, though wizened, cogent.

She pulled her cowl closer, peering through the window, the unabated storm. He walked, dragging the shovel, a great lumbering beast. Her son.

Staring at his wine glass, waiting for his return.