Two Sentence Stories (Part 14)

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I would have lost my mind in grief when my oldest son disappeared, but at the time I had to focus on my newborn baby daughter. But now she is the same age her brother was, describing the same imaginary friend.

The trick to finding your way through any maze was to keep your hand on one wall and follow it all the way around. But now he noticed the wall ahead already had dried blood on it, at the same height that his raw and bleeding hand had been for hours.

The laptop screen went black and despite her best efforts, everything was gone: her photos, her novel, her thesis. Words appeared on the screen, asking what she was willing to do to get them back.

Stages

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It was only a small bite
But the skin had turned green
And scales had begun to grow,
so he knew for certain that the foot had to go

The next day he awoke and checked
He saw the scales climbing up his shin
and within second he was sure
He needed only take off a bit more

He took the leg off up to his hip
But the next day the other leg looked green
So he made his choice and braced
Ready to cut everything from his waist

He was always certain it was the last bit
Then he would be completely fine
But every day it was a little bit more
Leaving spare parts over the floor

He was a torso, head and arms
But each arm then needed to go
Then his torso began to moulder
so at last he took his head from his shoulders

Now the parts would not stay still
They reached out for each other
and a different body slowly grew
old parts making something new

His head watched from the floor
As hands lifted him onto a new neck
looking in the mirror, he saw the monstrous grin
in his reflection was the monster that bit him.

Office

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It is 9:02 am and I have not slept. My head aches but my heart is beating too fast for coffee. I am at my desk.

I need to staple these papers. The stapler is not where I left it. I look and move everything on the desk, but it is not there. I paperclip the papers and file them. The stapler is now where I left it.

Someone calls. They call me by someone else’s name. They’re probably right. It’s fine.

I spin in my chair to face my screen. I go too far and let myself revolve again. The screen is asleep by the time I stop.

I send an email. It arrives in my inbox, from someone else. It asks if I’m OK. I don’t reply.

I feel in my bag for lunch. I check the time. It is 9:10 am.

At the Bottom of the Well

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There is something living in the bottom of the well
If you drop in just the right gift, it will offer a spell
Teeth, coins, oddities and various bric-a-brac
Once a gift is dropped it is well-paid back

A girl dropped in her doll, a gift from mother to daughter
Her childhood favourite now sunken underwater
She asked for beauty, something for which she had prayed
Each morning she awakes, shining hair in a perfect braid

One lad dropped the blanket his grandma had knitted
Long outgrown but still beloved, his tears admitted
He asked for his muscles to swell without effort
He often wakes sore, like his limbs were subject to violent sport

Most people wish for fortune and small blessings
Careful to offer enough and to be polite in addressing
But some call for darker acts to be committed
But with the right payment, this is also permitted

Enemies disappear quietly into the dark
Nail scratches on floorboards their only remaining mark
But those who ask for this and offer less than their best
Will find themselves facing their own request

There is something living in the bottom of the well
And if not paid its fees, it will take you there as well
But its greatest gift is that it lets everyone believe
That it lives only in the well, and does not leave

Nightcap

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There was a fight in the alleyway.

Half-drunk, Hal considered walking away. He couldn’t help anyone in this state. But still, he found himself shambling towards the sounds of scuffling and muffled curses.

There were two men. One was pale and dressed all in black while the other was in jeans and a faded t-shirt. The pale one was grabbing the other man by the throat and trying to get in close. His mouth was open. He had such sharp teeth. Hal didn’t notice the garbage bin until he knocked into it. The sudden sound drew both of their attention and Hal decided to yell, as confidently as he could, for them to stop.

The man in the t-shirt took the opportunity to throw something to the ground, away from the fight. Following the clattering sound, Hal saw something sharp land on the ground. It had not sounded like metal hitting concrete, it had sounded like… wood?

It landed near Hal and he stumbled as he bent to pick it up. The man in the t-shirt called for his help, that his assailant kept trying to bite him. Hal put it in his pocket and moved forward to try to grapple the pale man.

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