I’m participating in The 250-word Microfiction Challenge 2019 through NYC Midnight. In this fun contest we have 24 hours to write a 250 word story. Each writer is in a heat of ten other writers then given the same assignment: a genre, an action and a word. The best go on to another round at the end of November with the third and final round early in January 2020.
At 11:59 on October 3, 2019 I was given the following assignment:genre: Ghost Story
action: clapping
word: unconscious
It was my first stab at fiction since the fourth grade and I had a blast writing it. Here’s what I came up with:
Ghosted
We never did like Melissa’s new boyfriend. Granted, we were a tough group to break into – we’d all known each other since our freshman year at Colgate – but over the ten years since, our circle expanded to include new friends and significant others. Dax disgusted us. Every other word was fuck, he wore clouds of some cloying drugstore-brand men’s cologne, and had the obnoxious habit of twisting Melissa’s earlobe, hard, to keep her attention. Inexplicably, the obvious pain in her eyes quickly turned to adoration. Melissa was brilliant and beautiful. We didn’t understand her choice. But we held our tongues because she loved him and we loved her.
Six months in, Dax dumped Melissa. No calls, no texts, no emails. His Facebook and his Insta went dark. The cruel love of Melissa’s life ghosted her. She couldn’t eat or sleep. She stopped attending our regular happy hours. Then Melissa began skipping work too. Worried, angry, we swore to find Dax. Melissa deserved an explanation. Finally, we found his only living relative, a cousin, who revealed Dax had called 911 early one morning with chest pain. When the EMTs arrived he was unconscious. Dax died on the way to the hospital.
Years later at Melissa’s bachelorette party someone cracked “I guess Dax really did ghost you!” We all clapped, not at all guilty for joking about a dead man. We laughed until a cloud of cheap men’s fragrance overpowered us. We couldn’t breath. Melissa winced and grabbed her earlobe.
