Thanks so much, Marisa!

Thank you! I think there is a glimpse of hope at the end, albeit perhaps only a small one. But that can make all the difference.

Thanks, Laura. Interesting-powerful and draining. I like that...the two-sidedness and it works well with the loss of blood... Glad the piece isn't too long, though... :)

Thanks, Tony. I hope she does, too. I think there may be a tiny bit of hope, but the outcome is definitely ambiguous. She's made some progress, but...I don't know if she's figured out a healthy way to feel yet...

Thank you so much! I'm glad they came across as "real." That can be very tricky at times!

I want everyone to come to their own interpretation...but I'll give what I had in mind. The "feeling lightly" isn't because she's drugged up (although that's a great interpretation, too) but points to two things--both a type of numbing out compared to the raging feeling still inside, but also a tentative move forward because she's feeling it--has consciousness of it--at all. In my mind she hasn't figured out how to get in touch with it yet except still through a destructive means--but she's moving in the right direction intuitively (protecting the diamond). And she left, of course. Her fate, though, in my opinion is ambiguous.

Thank you, Marc. It's funny b/c I've never really thought of my work this way--I'm glad it works visually, though, because being able to be descriptive was one of my goals as a writer when I began writing #fridayflash last year.

You've got it--the both/and. I had no idea about the red dragon being slang for heroin. That's perfect, of course. :D (Maybe I had heard it and my muse dug it out of my subconscious!)

Thank you!! I'm glad it flowed and that the short paragraphs weren't distracting. I like short paragraphs a lot. Maybe too much at times. ;)

Thanks, David! By the way, I'm impressed with that under 500 effort. I might have to challenge myself and try one. I've one flash under 500--but it's not really a story in my opinion. Thanks so much for the comments!

Thank you, Simon. I was hoping the story would work on multiple levels. I do think there's a nod to Christ's piercings, but when I was writing the reference was more general (but I like your connection. Maybe the muse knew what she was doing...), the type of violence waged in order to form relationships between people, oneself, the earth, God (also waged as a way to form identity). In my dissertation I'm looking at the "atonement" very differently. Death and suffering do not save us and do not form the best relationships--or, they can, but only at a high price--with more healing that must be done. But I do see much of our destructiveness as a misguided way to try to feel, to try to connect, to try to come to peace. And that in and of itself is, of course, not a bad thing. I think there's more to be said, but I fear I've said too much for readers who may come later. I really want people to take their own meanings from this.

Thank you!

Thank you. :) I really like the ending being open in the way it is. There is hope, but there things are definitely not peachy-keen.

Thanks, Michelle!!!

I'm fairly new to writing flash, but I've used 1000 words as the guideline. This piece is 872. I'm wondering, though, if it feels much longer because of a "draining" quality that Laura mentioned (which wouldn't necessarily be a bad effect given the subject matter). (She'd said emotionally powerful and draining--two-sided). I'm glad you enjoyed it, though--and--thank you!

Thank you. :)

I *guess* that's a good thing. ;) It's great to evoke emotion, but I don't want people drawing their own personalized forms of red dragons later. ;) Kidding. Appreciate it.

"Here is where the hope is." I agree.