Tag: 100 word story

The lockdown commenced. I had to cut the door with the arc welder, not using my craft for construction but rather for destruction. The sparks bit into my flesh, leaving burn trails blistering on my fingers. But it was a worse danger trapped here behind glass and steel. 

Gathering my might, I punched out the square etched in the door. I wouldn’t condone the murder of innocent people. It was time to disrupt “The Hunt“ the psychopaths organized annually. They thought it fun to watch the challenge of people attempting to escape only to suffer and die trying. 

Not today.

I began to shuffle my feet again the moment the wraps loosened around my ankles. If my trusty blade were on me, I’d cut through these moist yet stiffening powdery rags my captor had applied to my legs. It’s as if he wanted to mummify me. The man seemed a titch broken by hallucinations or manifestations he was experiencing. He appeared to shoulder the heavy burden of being righteous; I was one of the evil ones who had to stand and face the punishment I was due.

I was nearly free from my bondage. Thankfully all I heard was silence.

Josh was to my right, me trying to resist the urge to slap him. Once again, his behavior created a matter with the locals. Oh, to fly away, far away from the fire he had ignited within them. 

“Get in, or I will drive my foot up your butt! Take the boat down to the North dock now. Because of your shenanigans, I have to speak to the oil riggers to preserve the peace. And if you open your mouth just once, I swear I will shoot you up close. They might like that, actually, so DO NOT tempt me.”

He was lurking behind me, his breath on my neck as I attempted to wipe the spill. It was yellowing my grandmother’s favorite lace table runner; now, how to bluff myself out of this one. Probably would have been better if I’d torn it since grandmother was the fix-it fairy in the household. My face was flush with fear, and the only thought that soothed me was leaving this greedy man’s house to be back at mine safe and sound. He let out a raspy hiss indicating he had seen what had occurred.

I did not feel safe anymore. Help!

I was on my own now, only the fire’s flame keeping me company. Well, that and ants marching through a gap in the stones. I reached down to touch them, intruding on their world. They hurriedly and excitedly split up their formation, scrambling every which way in the light of the fire.

My fingers were numb now, but the burning sensation in my hands from the night’s cold temperatures was still a fresh memory. 

I wrote my goodbyes on the cave walls with the ashes from the fire. I was longing for my family that I would never see again.

The boys tried to plead with their captors. “Free us!” But where would they go? Trapped on a ship sailing the Philippine Sea, they could crave their freedom, but then what? They’d actually only get as far as the ledge of the boat.

Their situation tested their will. Cursing their fate, they angrily rattled the chain connecting them. “Why did we let them steal us from our families? Wouldn’t you rather be dead than enslaved?” The boys thought of the games that distracted them, leading to their imprisonment. 

Just then, the main doors opened. It was the infamous Christopher Columbus!