Flash fiction, Denise Bayes

Goddess

Before she came, there was only darkness. Unremitting night surrounded, moonless. Their limbs shrank, conserving energy within their bodies like bulbs sheltering in winter soil.

And then she dropped into their midst. One of them caught sight of her in the woods, a bright sphere of light, illuminating the world. They stared at her from the grey shadows. They watched the warmth of her smile that radiated light into dank corners of the forest. Her fingers stretched wide, leaking flashes of brightness into their world. 
They turned to each other, shaking their heads in puzzlement.

Could they trust her lightness?
A few of the braver ones began to move towards her. As they tiptoed closer, their bodies shivered as brightness began to pulse through their limbs. An unfamiliar energy photosynthesised their veins. As their pinprick pupils began to adjust to the glare, they shrugged off the frowns of the dark years. Etiolated limbs began to stretch and lengthen in her powerful rays.
Then she began to speak and her maple-syrup sweet voice reached them. She spoke of love and happiness, filling the woods with the beauty of words. Soon the reluctant ones drew closer, taking slow steps towards the new world, she had revealed. There was joy in their faces. They formed songs with their new vocabulary and smiled in her presence, shrugged off the old world.
One morning, she was gone.

The people halted, fearful of the past returning as they gazed into the void she had left. They waited in silence for the darkness to return.
But as they turned towards each other, they saw light throbbing through each of them.