Fiction

In the Details

I’m not going to lie. My use of two of the words from this week’s 100-word flash fiction prompt feel like cheating. Pairing ‘lemon’ and ‘bun’ was far too easy.

But I followed the rules, so the fact that it didn’t take much effort doesn’t constitute a violation.

Sometimes flash fiction prompts are that way. I’ve tackled prompts that made me feel like a contortionist. The words or specific scene required were so bizarre, so out of the ordinary, that I had to bend in all kinds of directions just to make them fit.

Other times the stuff just flows.

I suppose I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. (I don’t really feel inclined to look ANY horse in the mouth.) When it works, it works.

The only thing I really don’t like about this short piece is that it’s nothing more than a teaser. Sometimes I’m okay with that. This week it leaves me feeling ill at ease. Maybe this is a part of something bigger I just haven’t conceptualized yet.

I’m counting on Vye to clue me in.

Regardless, the prompt is from The Prediction:

100 words maximum, excluding the title, of flash fiction or poetry using all of the three words above (‘bun’, ‘imperfect’, and ‘lemon’) in the genres of horror, fantasy or science fiction.

in the details

“It’s the devil,” he said.

He was entirely sincere, and that made his simple proclamation terrifying. The fact that he said it while eating a lemon sticky bun only made the entire situation seem surreal.

He was hunched over a massive tome, a finger of his free hand tracing a line of archaic text written in a language that could have rightly been labeled ‘dead’ even when it was spoken.

“What do we do?” I asked.

He looked up, still chewing.

“We face him,” he said matter-of-factly. “In our imperfection. You know, when I’m done with breakfast.”