Jun 11, 2014 Original Short Stories
PHOTO PROMPT Copyright-Ted Strutz
This prompt proved to be difficult for me, in terms of what kind of story to write — in the end, I settled for realism and tried to mix in a little humor and menace– and tried to do it all inside 100 words. Hope you like the story! Thanks, as always, to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers, and to Ted Strutz for his evocative photograph-prompt!
(NOTE: I published this originally as “(S)Trapped (Down)!” — but I ended up editing it, tinkering with it, and incorporating some of the dock-and-sea imagery into my story. I also gave it a different concluding line.
Sea of Troubles
©June 11th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
Dr. Drinkwater was drunk. He was old. His breath stank.
Get me out of here! I thought, panic rising in my throat.
I was trapped. Strange instruments held my mouth open (I hadn’t dared to peek, when I’d arrived).
Fool! I thought. You came here of your own accord. Now deal with it!
Mrs. Armstruther, Receptionist, tapped away at her computer. Outside, docked boats undulated greyly.
He advanced.
I whimpered.
Smirking, he said, “It’ll be all right.”
I gibbered.
Eyes narrowing, he snapped “Novocain!”
I fainted.
Awakening, I found myself far from shore, alone, afloat at sea.
I screamed.
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Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Original Short Story, Dentist's Room, Flash Fiction, Novocain drama, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Shakespeare reference "sea of troubles", Strapped, Ted Strutz, Trapped