This is a short fiction piece that I presented at the Kentucky Philological Association 2024 Annual Conference. The conference was held at the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky on March 1st and 2nd, 2024. Here is a small excerpt.
The Frozen Grave
The streets rang out with their footsteps, those of a child and those of the policeman running after her. As Madge tripped and fell to her knees, dropping a piece of stale bread onto the pavement, she looked back and saw that the gap between them was quickly disappearing. She shoved herself to her feet, not taking the time to replace the bread in her arms, and hastened her pace, slipping through openings too narrow for the officer to follow. The streets were empty, the town’s inhabitants already filling the church. The families were huddled together inside the warmth of four walls, but that wasn’t for Madge. That was for people who had someone. Someone to love them and hold them close in the cold. As Madge staggered around a corner, the frigid, bitter air whipped at her face. Her legs, frail and eroded from hunger and a merciless winter, threatened to give out beneath her. But still she fought her way forward....