Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Wednesday Briefs: Super Trooper #35 (8.2)

 Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.

Chan feels as though he just stepped into a nightmare. How can his parents be dead, how? What will he do now? See what's happening in this week's chapter of Super Trooper. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!

Super Trooper #35 (8.2)

Chan had never been more grateful for Evan’s strength than he was at that moment, standing at the front desk inside the emergency room. If it hadn’t been for Evan, his arm securely about Chan’s waist, he would have probably collapsed. He thought he still might before the night was done.

Would this night ever end? Like a nightmare on a never-ending loop, the words kept replaying inside his mind. There’s been an accident. Your parents are dead. Your parents are dead. Dead…dead… dead…

Surely this was just a joke, a very sick joke. One in exceedingly bad taste. Hadn’t he just seen them two days ago? He and Evan had gone to dinner in their home. His mother had made her usual excellent meal, but right now he couldn’t remember what she’d made. Was it curry?  Tika masala? Or maybe it was something Italian. Lasagna? Thoughts went round and round in his head like the balls in a pinball machine. Suddenly it seemed important that he remember what his mother had served. That he think of anything but…

He came back to the present with a start. What was Evan saying? He gave him a confused look. And when had the doctor joined them? If the doctor was here, then surely everything was all right, wasn’t it?

“Can I see them now?” he asked. He wanted his parents to know he was there for them, and would be until they recovered from whatever had happened. Accident, didn’t they say?

Was he imagining it or did the doctor give him a funny look and look at Evan? He forced himself to focus, to rewind the conversation and listen to what was being said, even though his heart told him not to. He had the sudden urge to close his eyes and pretend the world didn’t exist but he fought against it as being ridiculous. And just then everything came rushing back to him with a sharp pain such as he’d never felt before in his entire life.

They were dead. Maa and pita were actually dead.

“We’ll contact you tomorrow as soon as we can make arrangements,” Evan was saying.

Chan shuddered and Evan tightened his hold.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” the doctor said to Chan. Chan swallowed the sudden lump in his throat just as a thought struck him. His eyes widened in terror and he thought his heart just might stop beating.

“T-the children….” he stuttered. “Did they… are they….” He couldn’t bring himself to complete the thought, but he had to know. What had happened to his brother and sisters? Had he lost them too?

“Children?” The doctor consulted the chart in his hand, then looked up, confused. “There were no children, just two adults.”

What did that mean? He glanced at Evan, whose own eyes widened in sudden comprehension.

“If they weren’t with your parents, where would they be?”

That was a very good question. One Chan needed answered immediately. “We have to find them,” he said, concern edging his voice. “Now.”

“We will,” Evan said confidently. “I promise you that.”

Chan knew he meant what he said. He trusted Evan with his whole heart, and he’d never needed him more than he did at this very moment.

to be continued

Now visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them!

No comments:

Post a Comment