Flash fiction

[SomeDanGuy]

So first off, I'm not a writer. I don't do it in my spare time or as a hobby or anything. But a friend of mine had mentioned to me last year a writing exercise called flash fiction, which is a very short story. Often it's like just taking the middle chunk out of a long story. I sort of like it for some reason. Probably because I like using my own imagination to create the background behind what I read, and I like piecing together things as the story goes along and new information is added.

Anyway, here's one I wrote earlier this year. It also showcases what I've learned in the last couple years about how (some) women think

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Where the fuck is he?

Kevin had been gone for a full 20 minutes now, leaving her stuck behind the wheel of this crappy Grand Am in the sweltering July heat. He kept promising to fix the A/C but it must keep slipping his mind since HE'S never the one who has to wait in the car during errands. Sam sighed and watched the old woman across the street fiddle with the parking meter.

Maybe he's not coming back, she thought. Maybe today, this random Tuesday, was the exact day when he decided he'd had enough of her and was just never coming back. He did seem more relaxed than usual as he trotted away from the car. Was that extra spring in his step the result of shrugging off her emotional weight? Maybe this time the grin and the wink as he left the car were meant for himself instead of-

Don't be stupid Sam, she told herself. Of course he's coming back, just like all the times before. Doesn't he always tell you how much he loves you? Still, it's easy to forget when he's away from her. Sam looked out the driver side window and let her eyes wander down the street, searching for something to occupy her thoughts. Not much to see except the same world reflected in the glass windows of the little antique store. The reflected world looked duller and more distant, yet still inviting somehow.

Sam wiped the developing sweat from her brow and couldn't help checking her watch again. The bank was right around the corner; what the hell was taking him so long? Maybe he went to fill out that application for the community college. Kevin had been talking about going back to school off and on for a few weeks now, ever since she told him how her mother had warned her not to get involved with Kevin because he had no direction in life. At the time she had thought 'Great. That's what you say about me all the time too. Sounds like we're a perfect pair.' It sometimes seemed to bother Kevin though. What if today he decided to turn his life around? He was going to start school again and wouldn't want his old girlfriend with no ambitions holding him back. That would mean she'd have to move back in with her mother. God, if she had to see that fucking little smirk on her mother's face as she did the dishes, pretending she was trying to hide her smug satisfaction that once again Sam was wrong and she was right-

The hard smack of shoes on cement startled her out of her thoughts. She looked in the rear view mirror to see little puffs of dust chasing Kevin's feet around the corner toward her. A grin broke across her face and she turned the key in the ignition.

"Go-go-fucking GO!" shouted Kevin as he threw his bag and gun into the backseat, then dove in after them. A blue-and-white screeched around the corner, lights blazing.

Shit, she thought. This is going to be Traverse City all over again.

Her jaw tensed, her eyes narrowed, and she pushed her foot to floor, hard.

[Brenda Starrr]

Awesome!