Be My Cameraman

[Reddit Writing Prompt] Bored with Heaven's docile wildlife, Steve Irwin rounds up a camera crew and leads an expedition to observe and study the native species of Hell...

It sure is peaceful here. Sounds of harps and choirs of angels singing with accolades to a higher power and lions lying down with the lambs and doves carrying the branches of olive trees. Peaceful. Crazy. Peaceful. TOO. DAMN. PEACEFUL. 

I feel a knife-like pain. It resonates through my being. My heart! It feels like it is on fire. What is this pain? It seems so familiar, yet I have no memories of the before. I have always been here, have I not? Always, I have been here, mate. My winged arm swings to clap a hand over my mouth.

Mate. So familiar. Mate. Friend. Memories of a friend. Memories of a family. A daughter. A son. Did they follow in my footsteps? A wife. My soulmate. Memories of a previous life and how I loved all the creatures, but especially the ones with a bad rap. The ones mostly misunderstood; a saltwater crocodile named Bindi and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier (pit bull) named Sui. Even one of the Ocean’s Deadliest, a stingray...although that did not end so well. I begin to remember the end...

...My heart stabs with pain. A sharp barb puncturing and ripping across my skin, laying my heart muscle bare. "Hang on. Hang on for your family," a plea from my cameraman, my best mate.

The memory floods back in a mighty surge. A monster with a tail. A tail with a barb. A barb ripping open a heart. My heart. Taking a life. My life. My family, left behind, devastated by this loss.

Revenge. The word is familiar. 

Revenge. A word with little credence.

Revenge. I will shed my wings and drop into the abyss. Will I have my revenge on this stingray demon? Willingly, I leave this paradise in search of a barb-tailed behemoth. Once smooth in the sea; now smooth in the lake of fire. Will I punish or will I forgive this man-killer, abducting him from his lake of fire only to find him the perfect celestial body of water in which to live out eternity? It is anyone’s guess...crikey!

Who is with me? Who will be my cameraman?


By Lisa H. Owens
Inspired by a Reddit writing prompt 

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