Friday, July 5, 2013

If You Are In Crisis - #FridayFlash Fiction


IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS CALL 1-800-XXXX-TALK read the neon welcome banner before the bridge. If she closed one eye and focused on the water, it was the bridge beneath her feet that was ambling upstream on iron-veined legs.

He answered on the first ring.

"Crystal, babe, you can't call me here, the line has to stay open for emergencies." Matter-of-fact with an amuse-bouche of tenderness. Had he really said those vile things to her just an hour ago?

Despite her best intentions, a distinctly snotty sob escaped her lips.

A fraction of a second passed; time enough for her coordinates to appear on his screen.

"Oh Crys, no, wait..."

Crystal sailed through the air, tumbling and winking before hitting the water, skipping cheerily along the surface, then sinking through the green, brown, and ultimately colorless depths. It would take a few minutes for emergency crews to arrive at the scene, for Adam to lurch away from his desk at the call center, fling himself into his car, fumble the keys, hold himself rigid to control his shaking hands, review everything he'd said and done, beg God for a miracle, and wonder what he would say to...

...Robyn, who (having gleaned immense satisfaction from the vicarious murder of Crystal the Tramp) bade goodbye to the bridge and hopped on her scooter. She knew it wouldn't be long before Adam discovered that Crystal was very much alive - and scratching her blonde bovine head over what had happened to her cell phone. Still, she would always cherish those hours during which her so-called boyfriend's heart was raw and bleeding.

She would, of course, offer him a very helpful number to call.


25 comments:

  1. OOH Vicious .. A dark slice of twisted lives ..Excellent!

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  2. Wonderfully dark twist! Loved it!

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  3. That is a really twisted way to exact revenge. Excellent, Lisa.

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    1. Thanks Alex. A woman scorned can be rather inventive!

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  4. Oh wow Lisa, I love the twist after twist here, and you said so much in so few words. Terrific story!

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  5. I'm still not sure if this is about a love affair, superheroes or both. The call and split-second action, flying through the air... Am I seeing things that aren't there?

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    1. Whatever you wish to see :-) I wrote it as "murder by proxy" - a woman with a cheating BF (who working at the call center) steals the other woman's phone and chucks it in the water, hoping that the name and coordinates will show up on his screen and he'll believe the other woman jumped. I could work in a superhero. Or, perhaps the cellphone acts like a sort of voodoo doll and the owner, though miles away, DOES die. Hmmmmm

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  6. Damn. That's a mean thing to do.

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    1. Yeah, but he was cheating on her. PLUS he verbally abused her while saving his kind gentle self for strangers and another woman.

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  7. Li, you're the master of the dark twist. This is so sardonic. Feel sorry for Adam....

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    1. Thanks Denise - a lovely thing to say! And, don't feel sorry for Adam! (See reply above.)

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  8. Remind me never to get on your bad side. You are vicious! ;-)

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    1. Nah - I'm a sheep in wolf's clothing! (With a vivid imagination.)

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  9. That's an awful lot of twists to pack into so short a story. Well played!

    Poor Adam -- just a pawn in the larger mindf**k.

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    1. Thanks Katherine! I was afraid it might be too much, but I also wanted to keep it under 500 words. :-)

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    1. I have no clue how this reply to Tom ended up here at the end even though I hit the reply button under his comment. Sorry, Tom!

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  11. Wow, that's cold. Wasn't expecting the twist.

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  12. Now THAT was a delightfully wicked twist! Bravo:)

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  13. Following you from Bloggerdise New Blog Follower Club=)


    Thanks
    Jeanie Huston
    http://womensintuition79.wordpress.com/

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