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.
Vinnie calls Troy McGarrett to satisfy his mind that certain loony actresses are still safely locked up, but he still feels uneasy. See what's happening in this week's chapter of Bad Karma and the Family Plan. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!
By my reckoning, we were maybe an hour and a half,
more or less, from our destination of Imperial, Georgia. Smooth sailing, right? Drop Sarah and Alex
off at her friend Mercy’s place, bid the pair a fond farewell. Maybe talk about
future plans to get together once all this was behind everyone, particularly
Benny. Not to mention Sarah and her again ex—did that make him an ex twice
removed or something? Then continue on to Atlanta, spend a couple of days at a
hotel with Benny until it was time for him to testify and put his own ex away
for a very long time (lot of exes going on here, I’ve noticed. Glad I don’t
have any).
And then I heard Sarah ask, “Ethan, can we get off
at that rest area? Alex needs to go.”
How could a trip that seemed so short take so long?
Not that I was anxious to be rid of Ethan’s relatives, that wasn’t it at all.
The reason for the journey aside, it was nice to spend time with Sarah and
Benny and little Alex. Make it seem as though we were having a nice, cozy
family occasion…until one examined the reason why we were all there. Suddenly
not so nice or cozy.
It also didn’t hurt that we seemed to attract
misfortune every time we stopped for something. First the flat tires. Then the
woman who resembled you-know-who. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I didn’t
particularly want to find out what was behind Door Number Three.
I still couldn’t entirely rid myself of the feeling
that maybe Chip was stalking us. If not personally, then through some misguided
flunky who was willing to do his master’s bidding through a strange sense of
loyalty. Okay, even I could tell how off-the-wall that theory was. Didn’t mean
I wasn’t apprehensive about seeing that maniac serial killer again, but I knew
we would be notified if he should so much as come up for parole (which he
wasn’t eligible for, ever) or if he somehow managed to make a daring jailbreak.
That hadn’t happened, clearly.
Sarah was saying something about diapers and potty
training but I was only half listening as Ethan took the exit to the I-75
Welcome Center. I was too busy examining the parking lot, which contained a few
other vehicles. As we parked, I noticed people getting into a couple of cars,
heading back toward the highway, leaving only two others. Nothing suspicious that I could see…yet.
The welcome center resembled a gray log cabin.
Inside, the motif was continued, with a fireplace on one wall, in front of
which sat a few wicker rocking chairs, displays of local interest, and a long
counter filled with brochures from end to end. No one was in sight, but an
older gentleman came from the men’s room. He paid us no attention, but browsed
through the available brochures before selecting a few and exiting the
buildings.
Sarah started down the hall toward the rest rooms.
“Maybe you should take him to the men’s room?” I
suggested. She gave me a look as if to say why the hell should she do that?
Ethan seemed to understand my line of reasoning. What if the unknown woman was
lurking there? We certainly couldn’t accompany her there and she’d be
defenseless.
Okay, maybe not defenseless, but she’d have Alex,
and that could make things tricky.
“It’ll be okay, Vinnie. But just to be safe, maybe I
should go in first and check it out?”
“To the ladies room? Be serious.” Sarah snorted. I
guess the idea was a little ridiculous, and just as likely to get Ethan busted
for being a pervert.
“I can check,” Benny offered, but that idea was
quickly shot down as well.
“Guys, if I don’t go right now, Imma make you lot clean up the mess. And trust me, you
don’t want to do that.” Not waiting for a reply, she carried Alex down the hall
and through the restroom door. The three of us looked at one another and
shrugged, as if to say what can you do?
We stood there for an awkward moment, but when no screams were forthcoming from
that direction, we settled ourselves in the rocking chairs and waited.
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