The Bold Way and the Unknown
A hodgepodge of microfiction stories
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This place was not their idea of paradise. The rooms were dark & dank, the food was subpar, and the staff was attitudinal.
Carmen prayed for someone or something to lift their spirits. To show them what they’d been missing.
No one and nothing came.
This country, now a mound of danger, keeps anxiety levels high. We’ve dreamed of fleeing; our bags are packed.
They said they’d send a signal. We’re just waiting for the green light. And when we get it, we’ll run as fast as we can.
We’ll never look back.
Her tall-tales & apologies were empty rhetoric on which I chewed. No substance. No satisfaction.
Slowly, she became an idol, someone I wanted to be — I wasn’t; didn’t have her savoir-faire.
She was a unicorn in a field of ordinaries & I was an ordinary.
The first time he felt even an inkling of euphoria was when he’d held his baby girl. The sparkle in her eyes caused him to smile uncontrollably.
Everything about her sent him over-the-moon.
“So this is what it feels like to be a dad,” he thought.
Lurking in the shadows was my brother’s wife. As soon as she saw him get out of the car with his mistress, she lunged forward chanting a spell.
Within seconds, both of them were petrified. Cold and hardened as stone, the only things moving were their eyes.
By the light of the moon, the monster changed form. Who would be his next kill? He slithered from beneath the covering of the shed, sharp fangs dripping spittle.
He was hungry for blood. A young couple crossed the street 25 feet away from him.
Dinnertime.
He was 7, the County took him into their custody. His mother killed his father, brother, & sister.
“What of this one?”
“She planned to have him help.”
“For the love of Pete!”
He remembers her fragile hands drooping in the handcuffs. They arrested her just in time.
