Thirty Days, Day 19 - Fast Fiction Challenge 2010: Make It Go
Title: Make It Go
Word: leaflet
Challenger: @chocl8girl
Length: 200 words exactly The leaflet, when it arrived, was plain and short, though no less insulting because of its brevity.
The store manager examined it with a contemptuous look upon his face, though there was fear there as well, if you looked closely enough. He held the note in his hands perfectly still, studying the words though he had read them many times.
Blackmail.
It was an ugly word for an ugly concept.
The threat, and the price to avoid that threat, were stated clearly: the shop, which had only been open a little over three weeks, would close... or the products on the large shelves would be poisoned. The blackmailer did not specify which goods would be tainted, but he did helpfully state which chemicals would be introduced into the range, together with the effects: pain, paralysis, organ failure, death.
He read the date again on the note, two weeks ago, and would have smiled at the ridiculous consequences of the post office delivering the mail late.
He would have laughed, but of course, he thought, looking at the own brand coffee, and half-eaten biscuits, he could no longer do so.
And so he held the letter, and waited for the inevitable.
© Lee Barnett, 2010
This story is part of the 2010 Fast Fiction Challenge, written for the Thirty Days Project. New challenges can be made here.
The Fast Fiction Challenge - The Book; now available from lulu.com and, if you're in the US, via Amazon.com here; 180 of the best fast fiction challenge stories from the first three years' challenges... Buy it now.
Word: leaflet
Challenger: @chocl8girl
Length: 200 words exactly The leaflet, when it arrived, was plain and short, though no less insulting because of its brevity.
The store manager examined it with a contemptuous look upon his face, though there was fear there as well, if you looked closely enough. He held the note in his hands perfectly still, studying the words though he had read them many times.
Blackmail.
It was an ugly word for an ugly concept.
The threat, and the price to avoid that threat, were stated clearly: the shop, which had only been open a little over three weeks, would close... or the products on the large shelves would be poisoned. The blackmailer did not specify which goods would be tainted, but he did helpfully state which chemicals would be introduced into the range, together with the effects: pain, paralysis, organ failure, death.
He read the date again on the note, two weeks ago, and would have smiled at the ridiculous consequences of the post office delivering the mail late.
He would have laughed, but of course, he thought, looking at the own brand coffee, and half-eaten biscuits, he could no longer do so.
And so he held the letter, and waited for the inevitable.
© Lee Barnett, 2010
This story is part of the 2010 Fast Fiction Challenge, written for the Thirty Days Project. New challenges can be made here.
The Fast Fiction Challenge - The Book; now available from lulu.com and, if you're in the US, via Amazon.com here; 180 of the best fast fiction challenge stories from the first three years' challenges... Buy it now.