This is my short fiction piece for the prompt of ‘photograph’. It’s 171 words long, which falls into the category of flash fiction; not everything has to be a major work.

Everything in the bungalow was neat and pristine, except the photo frame. Its glass was clouded from her fingerprints, but she didn’t care. She’d taken the snap at her daughter’s wedding, miraculously capturing an unguarded moment of laughter between her husband and her daughter. A random click of the shutter became the treasured image of the two most important people in her life, now both heartbreakingly lost to her.

She stroked their picture over and over, as if caressing their faces.

She pressed her lips on the glass, her love for her husband and daughter warming her heart and bringing peace to her soul.

As her mind took her back to the wedding day, she closed her eyes and gladly fell into the memory.

Prompted by anxious neighbours, the police found no trace of her in the stifling neatness of her home. Only a photo frame was out of place, lying on the carpet, its clouded glass protecting an unguarded moment of laughter between a bride and her father and mother.