Fast Fiction Challenge: Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda
Title: Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda
Word: oddity
Challenger: malkavs_child
Length: 200 words exactly I could have, you know. On another day, maybe even I would have.
Maybe.
Three years later, and I can't get him out of my head.
From that first day in the student refectory, queuing up with people I barely knew, soaking in the sounds.
And there he was. Sitting alone, reading a novel; a shocking neon yellow cover with crimson lettering, an oddity among the conservatively coloured and labelled text books others had.
I'd noticed the book before I had looked at the person holding it. I saw eyes narrowed in concentration, the face betraying someone on the edge of adulthood; features still acknowledging their heredity.
He shut the novel and stretched his long arms out, yawning. Then he stood, placed the book in his bag, and aimed himself at the exit.
As he passed, he gave a cursory look in my direction and continued past.
He stopped at the door, then turned and gave me a dazzling smile...
"I could have, you know. Maybe even I would have... Maybe."
"What's that, babe?" he asks sleepily, stirring next to me in bed. I stare at him for a long moment, thinking that I could have ignored him that day...
© Lee Barnett, 2005
Word: oddity
Challenger: malkavs_child
Length: 200 words exactly I could have, you know. On another day, maybe even I would have.
Maybe.
Three years later, and I can't get him out of my head.
From that first day in the student refectory, queuing up with people I barely knew, soaking in the sounds.
And there he was. Sitting alone, reading a novel; a shocking neon yellow cover with crimson lettering, an oddity among the conservatively coloured and labelled text books others had.
I'd noticed the book before I had looked at the person holding it. I saw eyes narrowed in concentration, the face betraying someone on the edge of adulthood; features still acknowledging their heredity.
He shut the novel and stretched his long arms out, yawning. Then he stood, placed the book in his bag, and aimed himself at the exit.
As he passed, he gave a cursory look in my direction and continued past.
He stopped at the door, then turned and gave me a dazzling smile...
"I could have, you know. Maybe even I would have... Maybe."
"What's that, babe?" he asks sleepily, stirring next to me in bed. I stare at him for a long moment, thinking that I could have ignored him that day...
© Lee Barnett, 2005