Hello. It’s time for my first Friday Fictioneers entry of the new decade. The challenge is to write a 100-word story in response to a weekly photo prompt chosen by our host Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Follow the link to her blog for more information. Thank you to all who take the time to read, like, or comment.
PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll
The burden
“Why are you crying?” She asked, softly.
The boy cradled the severed head in his hands; its petals falling away.
“I broke it,” he sniffed.
“Why does that make you cry?”
“Because it was beautiful, and now it’s not” he said. “It’s my fault.”
“Ah, but don’t you see?” She exclaimed, hugging him tight around his shoulders. “That is what makes us unique. We are the most destructive species in the universe; but we understand what beauty is and feel guilt when we inevitably cause it harm, as is our nature. It’s the burden of being human.”
Thomas Charles Henry 
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