© A Mixed Bag 2009
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Keep Your Head
I grew up thinking monsters were inhuman. They were the bogeyman in the closet, Pennywise in the sewer, and the unknown grab-monster under the bed.
The true face of evil stands across from me, holding my father’s head by the hair in his skeletal fingers.
“Your father didn’t play the game,” he says, his voice reminiscent of Boris Karloff. His eyes hold cauldrons of ebony evil.
I glare at him, while his henchmen hold my struggling arms. I spit at him. It hits his face.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he says and nods to his henchmen.
I grew up under my father’s teachings: never do harm unless harm is done to you.
My body grows cold, ice forms on my skin, the men holding my arms cry out, their hands ice-burned. I whir.
There is a fine line between defense and revenge. As I kill, no thoughts linger in my mind, until I am stumbling along a darkened corridor lined with mirrors and the face of evil thinks to escape, having tossed my father’s head aside as if it were trash.
He cowers, finding no exit.
And there’s a fine line between defense and revenge.
I’ve crossed.
end (198 words)
Sascha Darlington
7/31/2017
there’s a fine line between defense and revenge. And there’s a fine line between very good and excellent. You’ve breached that with this spooky tale. Well done, Sascha. I, especially like the neat structure in which the story flows.
Wow! Thanks so much, Neel!
Reblogged this on Covert Novelist and commented:
WOW Please read, this is spectacular!!!
Thanks so much! 🙂
You are one of the special ones and very dear. I’m so glad I met you. Although not in person, it’s the next best thing 🙂
When revenge is called for the line has to be crossed. Your story allows the protagonist to cross it in style. Really well done.
Thanks so much!
One of your best stories Sascha. I love it. The fact that you said “There is a fine line between defense and revenge” twice brings it more home and the anger that boiled over for him.
Thank you. I don’t usually write stories like this, but I guess it must be inside me somewhere. Maybe I’ll write more like it. I appreciate your comment. 🙂
Great story, I really liked how you put it together.
Thanks, Michael. The picture freaked me out and I originally wasn’t going to write, but you could say I ran with it. 🙂 I appreciate your reading! 🙂
Can’t say thank I liked the picture either. But like you I ran with it.