Tag: flash fiction

Start afresh

She had only one reason to move. A vague sense of safety had shrouded the overcrowded city.

She could no longer stay in a locality where she had to look over her shoulder every two minutes while walking down the street. She couldn’t bear the thought of predatory creatures looming around corners, ever ready to snatch her by the neck. Even driving had become risky as pile ups filled the news every few days. Her life crumbled and she lost control. The city she once loved was no longer as she wanted to remember it.

Rebooting SimCity, she tried again.

The heart wants

The authentic French accent had impressed Melissa once. Even before she realised it, she’d fallen in love——with those slender locks bouncing off  her shoulders and coming to a rest by the hips, manicured finger nails reflecting the soft sunlight, and pruned eyelashes batting against lined, blue eyes.

Mellissa’s young heart yearned. ‘Out of your league,’ her mind piped.

She looked up at her father, who seemed to be searching someone. Mellissa, however, had eyes for none but the speaking French doll.

She sighed. It was too easy to guess her father’s response: “We can’t afford it now, my love.”

Every little counts

“Let’s crank it up a notch, shall we?”

Julie stared with silent horror and disgust. His eyebrows, build, and attitude left a sour aftertaste at the foot of her tongue which she swallowed with contempt. She couldn’t believe what she had got herself into.

“Go on, 20 more.”

Heaving off the floor where she’d sprawled after the first 30 pushups, Julie continued without complaint. Unable to see the results of her efforts, she wondered, huffing and puffing, if she should reconsider priorities.

Twelve months later, the gold meddle grazed against her heart.

At the gym, her coach prepared for the next round.

Lying

A drunken night it’d been.

Not too long after the wedding, they’d argued, saying things they didn’t mean.

Storming out, he’d stopped at the local bar.

The bartender had been understanding. Pouring his favourite drink, she’d listened all night as he whined. So kind, she’d even offered him her room in the hotel above the bar. He’d been too drunk to drive and sad to go home.

She’d been asleep when he left the following morning. He’d agonised himself before realising his love for his wife.

Regret and a glimmer of lie sustained his marriage.

Until death did them part.

Situations

Rushing emotion threatened to betray her resolution.

He hadn’t noticed. She’d been around, though, lurking behind the water cooler, perched at her desk, throwing side glances each time he paused for a drink or walked by to the men’s room.

She’d pined to talk to him, to express her desires and disappointments, to have him listen and agree. Yet a craven lass she was. Colleagues knew naught of the turmoil she waged within, and none cared enough to care either.

Bottling up all her impulses, she remained mute and desolated, unable to ask her boss for the vacation she deserved.