Friday

Friday Flash Prompt: Make a Discovery : FlashFiction.Net

So the other day I was over at FlashFiction.Net and there was this cool prompt:

Under a bench in a park is a duffel bag with an old photo, a cd player, a flash drive, and candle inside. Whom do these items belong to, what do they mean to this character, and how did they end up in the park?

This is what I wrote:

I must have walked by the bag several times without noticing it that week.  The brambles in December are completely covered with snow and they are really creepy. I only noticed the duffel bag after I heard a grunt and small breathy “help.”  Then I saw the old crone festooned in garbage bags  crawling out from under the blue tarp at the edge of the path.  I’m frightened of the homeless but I shuffled through the snow, pulled her up and pushed my steaming cup of coffee up to her lips.  She slurped at the coffee slowly and seemed instantly better.  Her eyes brightened as she looked me over and she laughed.

“Ya know sonny, I’ve asked at least ten people to stop and help me, none of them did.  You’re the first one to stop.  I’m actually fine.”  She paused and pointed towards the snow covered bench and continued,  “Under that bench is a park is my duffel bag. Bring it here.”

I brought the bag to her and she started to pull stuff out onto a dirty red scarf spread on the snow.  “This bag now belongs to you.   I want you to take it and find the building in that old photo, it’s in Cleveland Ohio.  Listen to this cd in the  cd player, it will tell you where the key is and where to find a laptop hidden in that building.  You’ll need this candle to light your way.  Once you have the laptop take it home and turn it on, it will only open up if you put the flash drive in it.  It will make you rich beyond your dreams.” 

You probably know what I was thinking. 

As she stood up and grabbed my arm and shoved the bag hard enough at me that I fell backwards in the snow with the bag across my chest.   I scrambled to my feet and she was gone and that’s why I’m a millionaire today.  Next question?




2 comments:

  1. Clever! It tells the story, but leaves some openings for the reader to fill in the blanks on their own, which I like.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have helped lots of homeless people... just my luck I didn't help this one, Fun story!

    You could do something more with this... I think the woman festooned with garbage bags has a lot of draw... and maybe there's a backstory there.

    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete