Fast Fiction Challenge 2010, Day 137: Died Of Fright
Title: Died Of Fright
Word: earlobe
Challenger: @LunaTinx
Length: 200 words exactly The earwig had obviously died in excruciating circumstances; the look of panic on its features gave testament to that.
I'd gotten the call via the grapevine; a stoolie heard the news, climbed the vines The Human put up years back, and found me by the rock I'd crawled to last night, sleeping off the stagnant water from the previous day.
And now we had a murder. OK, put like that, it's damn stupid. There are millions of murders every day, but this one looked like to be other than from hunger. Besides, whoever killed the earwig was an ignorant speciest; they'd scrawled “earlobe nibbler” on a nearby leaf.
I got there as fast as I could; it only took me three and a half days. My partner was already there.
Every time I see him, I wince; Fifty times my size, the personality is enough to put most creatures off, but he holds a unique position in our society: hunted by the Humans and a hunter among ourselves.
There are eight hundred billion creatures in the naked gardens.
Somewhere in the grass, or the earth, or the farms, someone has a story.
My name's Friday. I ride with a badger.
© Lee Barnett, 2010
This story is part of the 2010 Fast Fiction Challenge. A list of the first one hundred and twenty-five stories in the challenge can be found 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... Fast Fiction Challenge 2010, Day 135: The Drugs Do WorkFast Fiction Challenge 2010, Day 136: Not For A Second
Word: earlobe
Challenger: @LunaTinx
Length: 200 words exactly The earwig had obviously died in excruciating circumstances; the look of panic on its features gave testament to that.
I'd gotten the call via the grapevine; a stoolie heard the news, climbed the vines The Human put up years back, and found me by the rock I'd crawled to last night, sleeping off the stagnant water from the previous day.
And now we had a murder. OK, put like that, it's damn stupid. There are millions of murders every day, but this one looked like to be other than from hunger. Besides, whoever killed the earwig was an ignorant speciest; they'd scrawled “earlobe nibbler” on a nearby leaf.
I got there as fast as I could; it only took me three and a half days. My partner was already there.
Every time I see him, I wince; Fifty times my size, the personality is enough to put most creatures off, but he holds a unique position in our society: hunted by the Humans and a hunter among ourselves.
There are eight hundred billion creatures in the naked gardens.
Somewhere in the grass, or the earth, or the farms, someone has a story.
My name's Friday. I ride with a badger.
© Lee Barnett, 2010
This story is part of the 2010 Fast Fiction Challenge. A list of the first one hundred and twenty-five stories in the challenge can be found 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... Fast Fiction Challenge 2010, Day 135: The Drugs Do WorkFast Fiction Challenge 2010, Day 136: Not For A Second