Flashes of Sanity #147: Face-Off

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your daily dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Face-off

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Sam reached a square. His laughing pack of warriors climbed the walls.
In the middle of the square stood he. The man. The enemy. The once a friend.
“Donald!” Sam shouted. “We finally meet! I have missed you old brother.”
“I wished I could say the same.”
Beside Donald stood a group of seven. Sam only recognized one. The Reviewer. The fact that Donald stood next to the man and that they stood visible in the middle of the street was enough to raise suspicions.
They probably knew that.
Sam scanned the buildings. How many friends do you have Donald? The elves spread across the walls. They entered each house. Soon screams echoed in the empty square.
“We found them!” The elves laughed.
“Continue searching. There has to be more.”
The group around Donald flinched at every scream that followed. All except The Reviewer.
What are you planning?
“How many have you found?”
“Seven. Shall we continue searching?”
“No,” Sam said. “Pull them out. Line them up.”
Every part of the square looked exactly as one would expect. Asphalt with blood stains. Tables and benches broken into pieces. Windows smashed. A hotdog stand burned and flipped. Sam halted by the hotdog stand. He tossed a grenade into it.
“You think you are so smart. But, Donald, you always forget, I was always smarter.”
A woman threw herself out if the hotdog stand right before the grenade exploded. Sam grabbed her by the hair and held her up for all to see.
“Do you really think you can win?” He threw her to the line the elves had created. “Answer me, Donald?”
“Sam?” Donald said. “Do you have a cup of coffee?”
The smile on Donald’s lips sealed their fate.
“You always was an idiot, Donald.” Sam pushed a button on the com-radio in his ear. “Mart, show yourself. And while you are at it. Blow the whole square up.”
“Got it father.”
Mart’s troops appeared from every street. Every building fell apart as they passed. The asphalt bled under their feet.
Fear me, Sam thought.

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Flashes of Sanity #146: Run

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your daily dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Run

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Donald Diamond’s hand went to his mouth. The cup was not there. He tied the hand into a fist.
Sometimes life was shit.
Another wave of laughter echoed through the sewers.
”Where should we go?” It was Aresh who said it. The questions man. The annoying man.
”The opposite way from the laughter,” Dale Riderstorm said. ”Lets go.”
Within seconds everyone had packed their bags and was on foot.
“We should find an open space,” Dale said. “Somewhere were we are not trapped from two directions.”
“We need to go out,” he continued after a moment of thought.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Dale threw himself onto a ladder and began climbing. “We are safer above ground.”
The group halted. Then Cassandra grabbed the ladder.
“You heard the man. Lets get going!”
The fresh air above ground was rejuvenating. The notion that they now were where everyone could see them was stressful. Dale took direction towards the square. Donald followed without questioning.
“Do you think we can outrun them here?”
“No,” Dale said while quickening his steps. “But we have a chance to fight back. At this time, it is all that matters.”
Cassandra caught up to them. Her reaching them made the speed go up to a jog.
“What is your plan?”
“Nothing right now. I need to know what we are working with.”
The square opened up in front of them. And behind them the laughter reached the surface. Donald scanned the abandoned square, and all the shops lining up around the square and its fountain. Cars that otherwise had been driving on the roads around the square was thrown in every direction. Two had even landed in the empty pool. Beside it all a hotdog stand had been tipped up-side-down.
“I need you to be where they can see you,” Dale said and walked to the fountain in the middle of the square. “Here. Captain Crisis?”
“Yes, Dale.”
“Who are your best shoters?”
Cassandra smiled. “I believe you know that already.”
Dale nodded. “Yes, I do. Cassandra, I need you and your team to do exactly as I say no matter what happens.”
“And Carl,” Dale continued. “We are working with dangerous people. I will need you to be my eyes on set to make sure we make the right decisions.”
“You got it Dale!”
Donald Diamond looked over his shoulder.
Let this work, he thought. Please let this work.

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Flashes of Sanity #145: Meeting the President

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your daily dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Meeting the President

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”Sir? What do you want us to do with the red cloud?”
President Gool’s receiver blinked red for mute. He breathed through the pain spreading from his wrist. The hand lay lifeless on the floor. The man responsible still held the knife against Gool’s throat. The blood wandered down Gool’s shirt. Another man held a hand against the mute button.
“Don’t even think of it, sir.”
“What do you want?”
Gool oriented himself through the squad who exploded into his shelter and shot everyone within seconds. Marge Umington walked in with another woman.
“You,” he said.
“Yes me, Charles. Of us two you are the one least suitable to be here.”
“How do you dare insulting me?” Gool threw himself up from the chair. The knife against his throat pushed him back in place.
“Sir?” The voice on the receiver said. “What should we do?”
“I have to answer.”
“Yes, you do,” Marge said. “You will also tell them that you are resigning with effect immediately.”
President Gool stared at his former assistant. Then he laughed.
“Are you dumb? Will you take my place? I am elected by the people! You can’t just throw me away.”
Marge checked a woman. “You know exactly how dumb I am Charles. If you don’t resign, you know there are ways for me to make it look like you resigned.”
The knife pressed harder against Gool’s throat. “And if I don’t resign, will you kill me?”
Marge looked up at him. She smiled as if she just looked at a child failing to stand up for the first time.
“Don’t fool yourself Charles. Killing you at this time is impossible. We will cut you up and run you through a meat grinder instead. What do you say Charles?”
President Gool felt his neck go warm. He locked at all those who lay on the floor. He looked at his hand.
“I will resign,” he said. “But don’t you believe this will get rid of me.”
“I never believe anything Charles.” Marge turned to the man blocking the receiver. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The lamp flashed to green.
“Wait and see what the cloud will do. Keep us updated on its movements.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Sergeant Tarch, effective immediately, I will no longer be president. To contact your new president use this line.”
“Noted Mr. Gool. Thank you for your service.”
The lamp flashed red again.
“I did what you wanted,” Charles said. “Now let me go.”
Marge gave him one of her annoying smiles.
“Charles, that’s not how this works.” She nodded towards the knife holder, and the knife went through Charles’s throat.
Charles screamed. The soldier cut him in pieces.
“Take the others to the grinder too,” Marge said. “And president Queen. Why don’t you take your seat and await your next call?”
Two knifes stabbed through Charles’s eyes. Then his ears. And Charles was left in a world of silence and darkness, and pain.

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Flashes of Sanity #144: Sloppy Skin

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Today’s entry: Sloppy Skin

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”That hat is one bad fashion choice,” Carl Messinger told Aresh.
Aresh laughed. Kara felt a laugh gurgle in her throat too. She stopped it. This was not the time.
They already look at me too much anyway.
She corrected the skin of her jaw. It still had her mouth open at all times showing her flesh under what was the real her. No one saw the real Kara anymore. They only saw wrinkled skin hanging on what once was human.
“You are right,” Dale Riderstorm said. “It is a terrible fashion choice.”
The man who had mocked the police for years smiled. He glanced at Kara. In contrast to everyone else he did not look away when she noticed him. He excused himself from the discussion and walked towards her.
He thinks I am a monster, Kara thought.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” Dale asked.
Kara didn’t answer him and Dale took that as she didn’t mind.
Here it comes, she thought.
“I am curious of what happened to you,” Dale said. “If you feel like telling me of course.”
The question hit Kara through the chest in a sharp spear. Her heart stopped. Then it broke when she realized someone could actually go past the horridness. Then she realized that he was the Reviewer, and the cold spear turned burning within her.
What was the catch?
“I am not comfortable telling you that,” she said.
Dale nodded. He turned and put his focus on Mr. Diamond and a teenage girl.
“People think they are so good at hiding secrets,” he said. “The truth is none of them are. Everything leaks out. The truth is there for those who are willing to find it. Not that long ago there was a rumor of a man walking in other men’s skin. The rumor began when a man named Bill went from Billionaire to church rat because he suddenly couldn’t handle the economics anymore. Then it spread as a house fell apart because of a faulty carpenter known for his attention to detail. I have studied you, Kara. Just as I keep tabs on every officer in our beloved country. Lately, you have lost touch with your own passion. To me this is the closest you have been to the real Kara for several months.”
Kara’s lips tasted salt as small droplets walked under her skin. The spear turned comforting within her chest.
“Really?”
“Yes, if you need someone to talk to, you know where I am. If you know others who could need the same favor show them to me.”
Dale arose. He walked to the teenage girl and Mr. Diamond. He talked to them like nothing had happened.
But everything happened.
Kara used the inside of her skin to dry the tears and corrected the skin of her jaw again.
Further into the sewers, she heard the same devilish laughter she drowned not that long ago.

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Flashes of Sanity #143: Shaded Sailor

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Today’s entry:

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Gary crossed the deck. He forced the boat to turn. Then a wave crashed into him and he was thrown ashore. The wave pushed him down to the bottom.
It had taken Gary a half an hour to realize that research wasn’t his thing. It hadn’t been back when he acquired SurgeRay and saved 50 kids from a gruesome death, so why should it have changed until now?
Gary opened his eyes under the water. He inhaled the salt liquid and pushed his body to the shore.
His lungs screamed, but why should he care? It was a body believing that it was about to die. Nothing more.
Everything went dark. Everything blurred back into the light.
The island was completely cut off from the outside world now. It just took the TV and the radio to go down for that to happen. The last they heard about was a murderous Santa and his elves creating chaos.
Gary crawled his way up on the shore. He forced the water up from his lungs.
“Why are you torturing yourself son?” Frank one of the bartenders asked.
“Because why not?” Gary answered.
“The only thing you have accomplished is turning your skin grey from the exhaustion.”
“Isn’t that wonderful.” Gary arose. He stretched his back and scanned the horizon for his boat. “I am in shades.”
“You will never find the answers at the bottom of the sea.” Frank said. “It is a waste of your time.”
“Maybe not at the bottom of the sea but when I get that boat going, I can go wherever I want. And then I can find any answer I want. One of them might be about dragons and the other one might be about Santa Claus.”
Frank sighed. Gary waddled back into the water.
“When I grew up there was talk about peppers that made you breath fire,” Frank said. “They where at the top of the snowy mountains on the mainland. If you are going to mindlessly search you answers, maybe, that’s a good place to start.”
Gary looked back. He was up to his wait in the water.
“Thanks Frank. I will look into that.”
As Gary dove back into the water, Frank spread his wings. He smiled as he took off.
When Gary reached the boat, Frank was already up above the clouds. And another Frank walked the shore. This Frank tugged at a dancer’s arm and pointed at Gary. They both laughed at Gary’s pointless quest. And they both walked on unknowing of the winged monster glaring at them from above the clouds.

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Flashes of Sanity #142: Political Heist

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your daily dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Political Heist

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”We want everyone to feel safe,” President Gool said in Marge’s ear. ”That’s why we now have initiated protocol ’wall’. No one gets in or out of our precious country, and any attempt of coming in will be treated as an attack.”
Charles still likes his protocols, Marge thought. If she recalled right, the project of sending 50 kids into alien spaceships had been called protocol ‘Baby Boom’. He had at least had the brain enough to never say that aloud to anyone he worked with, except Marge. But Marge was an exception.
“If you carry Dina up this ladder, you will find a bedroom.”
“Great.” Susanne never released the two elves carrying her daughter from her guarding eyes. “Who will be with her?”
The two elves looked at her. They leaned closer to Dina and wrapped their arms around her.
“I have people who will gladly take care of her,” Marge said. “She will be safe.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, she is the one person I would put anything in the hands of if necessary.”
The two elves looked at each other, then they giggled and threw Dina into the arms of Susanne.
“Let’s go find a diamond,” they screamed and ran off.
Susanne disappeared up the ladder with Dina. Marge took the opportunity to give out orders to the part of Mart’s army he had let her have.
“We walk 100 meters that way until we hit a circular door. Only I know the code for that door.” And maybe some other jerks, she thought. But her feeling was that those had gone away with Xander. And President Gool had never been a man of details. Once we are inside, I need you to quickly immobilize everyone you see. Preferably without making too much noise. President Gool and his closest staff will resist, but they wont be a problem. The problem is a button below Gool’s desk. It will set of a chain of actions that will put every military resource in our direction.”
“We remove his arms,” one of the soldiers said.
His companions agreed.
“Are you that fast?”
“Ma’am, we are faster than that.”
Susanne came down from the room above. Her mouth was a thin line.
“Do you trust her?” Marge asked.
“I don’t trust anyone, but if I would trust anyone, she would be it.”
“Great!” Marge turned to her army. “Now, prove to me how fast you are.”

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Flashes of Sanity #141: City Runner

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your daily dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: City Runner

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Kyle jumped three steps at the time. As soon as he reached the end of stairs, he heard Sam reach five.
”Go on! Take him!” The red demon said.
The elves laughed. Their bodies bounced against the walls and the stairs. All of it haunted Kyle in echoes.
Please, he thought, just this time.
A laughter closed in on his neck. Kyle dodged and the body crashed into the wall. The bells on its feet rang. Blood gashed out through its skull. It still laughed.
“I am catching you now!”
Kyle threw himself down the next stair. He stumbled and bent his knee sideways. It hurt, but Kyle continued running.
“Sinners never die,” he mumbled.
We end up in an elf’s stomach if we are not careful though.
He tackled a door in. And took the first room to the left. He shut the door just in time for the two skinny bodies to crash into it with full force.
“Sinners never die.”
They were still ten floors up. Kyle looked around while the elves scratched their way through the door.
One of them cracked the door with his skull teeth first.
“You can’t hide,” it said as it spat the splinters out.
No, Kyle thought. I can’t.
He saw the window. It faced right out the street.
“Sinners never die.”
He threw himself at the window. The shards carved into his skin. They tore at his mouth.
And Kyle fell. He spread out his arms and his legs to catch as much wind as possible. He caught the hole in the road and crashed into the sewer water.
The water was still hard enough to break every bone in his body into small pieces.
His world went dark, just to fade back into the light.
The elves laughed as they came falling after him. They hit the asphalt.
Kyle sank to the bottom of the sewer.
I failed, he thought in the lonely waters, I failed you all.
Within the waters a tiny shrimp found him. It dug into his skin. Then another on came. And another one.
With time they would pull him up and help him to stand among the living again.
Insects would join their army. And finally after the world turned red, Kyle would meet a cockroach with nothing but revenge in his mind.

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Flashes of Sanity #140: Red Chaser

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your daily dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Red Chaser

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”So this is where you met him?” Sam looked out through the broken window. Donald had had a full view of the city and all the movements on the street and in the air.
Clever, as usual, Sam thought. What did you drink to come up with that?
Probably coffee, Sam recalled. The one who needed alcohol for his ideas to flow turned to coffee after more ideas proved unnecessary. The fun guy turned dull awfully fast after that.
“Yes,” Kyle said. “I promise this is where I met him. He must have moved after you came.”
“Then this one is useless,” An elf said. “I think we should eat him just like we did to his friends.”
“Yes, I love the way they scream in my inside.”
The two elves inhaled Kyle’s legs. The pathetic example for a man shivered.
“Kyle,” Sam said. “Were there others here with your father?”
Kyle hesitated. “No.”
Sam felt warm all the way to his core. There is still hope in finding you old friend, he thought.
“Then he is yours my dear friends?”
The elves giggled. One put his teeth against Kyle’s legs. The other licked his hands. The panic in Kyle’s eye was something Sam would cherish for long.
“Wait!”
“What Kyle?”
“It was someone here with him. The Reviewer they call him.”
“The Reviewer.” Sam took another look out the window as he let the name rest on his thoughts.
They saw us on the streets and in the air, he thought. Then he smiled.
“Right where I want you.”
“Kyle, I would run if I were you,” he continued.
Kyle stared at Sam. Still paralyzed in his boots.
“I will give you a ten seconds head start before I release my two friends here.”
That snapped Kyle out of his state. He ran.
After five seconds Sam released the elvess. Then he touched his red crown.
“Go to the sewers,” he said. “And if you see my son, tell him we are winning.”

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Flashes of Sanity #139: Evaluated Risk

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Today’s entry: Evaluated Risk

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Cassandra Crisis. Aresh David. Lukas Sandell. Paul Brynk. Kim Hang. Laura Warr. Roger Gerth. Raul Saref. Regina Julius. And lastly Kara Tagert. Only Kara was hard to identify. The others looked exactly like on the pictures Dale Riderstorm had seen.
”You are the Reviewer,” Cassandra said.
”Correct,” Dale said. He would never have expected anything less of the Captain. He put his hand on Mitch’s shoulder. ”And this is my apprentice Mitch Sooly.”
Cassandra raised her eyebrow. “Apprentice?”
Her team only observed the fight between the two. Only Aresh showed the total confusion harboring in them all. All of them were wounded in ways that would have been deadly at any other time except this one.
Not surprising, Dale thought as he recalled their files.
“Yes, apprentice. And this is Donald Diamond. Donny Waterfield. Joe Harbera. William Faulter. Donna Maldo. Miko Sonder.”
Cassandra nodded. Her face remained frozen as she calculated what to do next.
“That’s quite the patchwork you got there,” she said. “You will have to forgive my impoliteness, but I suspect an introduction of my team is unnecessary.”
“You are correct Captain. So, you have seen an elf up-close?”
“I call them goblins, but if elf is what you prefer go for it.”
“Elf will probably be more accepted by Santa, don’t you think?”
Dale studied the bloodied cloth tied to Cassandra’s ear. The blood was still fresh.
“These elves are quite numerous. Meeting an army of them could prove quite dangerous for a small team. Don’t you think so?”
Cassandra let Dale go with her eyes to look at her team. Her eyes locked on Dale again.
“What are you suggesting?”
“Just what is better for both of our survival.”
An elbow hit Dale in the side. Dale ignored the pain and kept his eyes on Cassandra.
“Calm down, Donald,” he mumbled. “These cops are smart. They know what is best for them is best for us.”
“You want us to join forces?” Cassandra scanned Donald’s team once more.
“I agree on one condition,” she continued. “You tell me why you are with Donald Diamond.”
“Is that all?” Dale smiled and stretched his arm out towards Cassandra. “Donald pays far better than anyone else for my services. Do we have a deal?”
Cassandra looked at the hand. She turned to her crew of stone faces, and Aresh.
“We have a deal.” She took Dale’s hand and shook it.
“Great!” Dale said. “So where did you dump our lovely elf?”

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Flashes of Sanity #138: Elaborate Schemes

Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your daily dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

Today’s entry: Elaborate Schemes

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The gun felt heavy in her hands. It was the first loaded gun she had ever held. Just that fact was a rush. She pushed it against her legs so it was covered by the bodies in front of her.
Once upon a time her words and plans were all she needed. Was that time gone? Did she have to step up from the shadows?
“Ready.” Dale said. Mitch stood beside him in a suit and held the gun with a comfortable hand.
I created that, Donna thought. On purpose.
I have killed too. The gun’s metal became warmer in her hands. She took a deep breath and felt her pulse slow. She held back a smile.
I am a killer.
The steps echoed louder. Now Donna also heard the voices.
“But why did he sing Christmas carols?” One voice said.
“Shut up, Aresh. We don’t want another one to find us.”
The voices went silent. The ten cops stood eye to eye with the little group where Donna stood in the middle.
“He sang Christmas carols because he is an elf,” Dale said. “Is it anything else you would like to know Aresh?”
The cops all looked at Aresh whose tanned skin turned red.
“No, that was all.”
Could I hit the first woman between the eyes? The coagulated blood told Donna someone already had.
“I am Cassandra Crisis,” the woman said. “Are you people we can trust or should I shoot you?”
“No need for shooting,” Dale said. Everyone’s shoulders relaxed. All except Donna’s. “I am Dale Riderstorm. I have heard a lot about you Cassandra Crisis. Lets hope some of it is true.”
A hand grabbed around Donna’s gun. She looked up. Cat-Scratch shook his head.
“Don’t be young and stupid.”
With shaking hands, Donna let go. Cat-Scratch grabbed it, secured it and put it away.
“Dale Riderstorm?” Cassandra said. “I have heard about you too.”

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