“Hekate” — FWG Flash Fiction for 4/26/2025

Art can transcend rationality and our sense of the “real” world. Sometimes it can even lead us to other ones.

The prompt is:

https://pixabay.com/illustrations/hekate-greek-mythology-goddess-9460042

HEKATE

The immense painting was an impressionistic seascape of rocks, a cloudy sky, and a roiling sea crashing violently against the shore. Shades of blue and white blurred the boundaries between sea, sky, and land, mixing them together into a single, coherent whole.

Except for the figure at its center—a life-size, flat black silhouette of a woman in a flowing gown, her hair tossed by the wind in sympathy with the waves breaking around the rock on which she stood.

“That’s…weird,” Suzanne, stood up by yet another date, muttered.

She leaned forward and touched the velvet rope. Instantly, a docent appeared at her elbow. Her nametag read, “Kate.” Smiling, Kate lightly touched Suzanne’s shoulder, but didn’t draw her back from the safety zone.

“It is very unusual,” Kate said, smiling. “The anonymous artist was almost supernaturally talented.” Her fingers encouraged Suzanne to lean further forward. “Notice how the central figure is a negative image using only the black underpaint. The chaotic seascape’s brushstrokes stop abruptly, perfectly outlining the goddess’s form.” Her fingers urged Suzanne closer. “Art historians still haven’t figured out the technique he—or she—used.”

Mesmerized, Suzanne whispered, “Even the wispy strands of her hair.”

Kate unhooked the velvet rope and let it fall to the floor. Her other hand slid down Suzanne’s arm and took her hand. “Let’s look closer.” It was both an invitation and a command.

Without thinking, Suzanne stepped over the rope.

“There are highlights in the train of her gown. Like it’s still on this side,” Suzanne whispered, awestruck.

“Hekate rules the realm between this world and the next. If you follow me, you can leave this world behind, just as I am doing in the painting.”

It took only the slightest tug for Suzanne to step through the portal hand-in-hand with Hekate.

THE END