“Land ho!” Aaron cried excitedly, startling Phillip, who’s half-asleep at the back of their dingy.
Phillip groaned and lifted his straw hat from his face. “Dude, what are you? A pirate?”
Aaron pointed at the island and looked at Phillip. “Tell me you’re not glad.”
Phillip pretended to think. “Okay, I’m not glad.”
“What?” Aaron shrieked.
“Dude, we’ve been drifting in this damn thing for five days. We have no food and now we’re landing on some remote island in the middle of the ocean. So tell me why I should be glad.”
“Man, just look at it. This island’s got to have everything we need.” He said optimistically and handed Phillip an oar. “Come on, let’s get to shore.”
Phillip saluted, “Aye, Captain Brightside,” and began paddling.
On their second day on the island, as they settled themselves on a log, several squirrels skewered on the spit before them, they heard a rustle behind them. Aaron jumped. “What’s that?”
“It’s probably nothing.” Phillip muttered as he felt a sharp pain shooting up his every nerve and cutting off his breath.
(~175 words)
I am participating in Priceless Joy’s flash fiction challenge, Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writer, where we write a piece between 100 and 150 words (more or less 25 words) in length inspired by the photo prompt above.
This is tres Cool!!! 🙂
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Thank you for reading and reblogging! 🙂
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No Problemo 🙂
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Reblogged this on mondozeitgeist.
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Nice!
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Thank you.
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It seems that Phillip was right not to be glad! Good read!
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Thanks.
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Excellent story Yinglan! Poor Phillip! He got bit by a snake! Your story keep me interested the entire time. Very good!
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…or he’s been shot with a poisonous dart for trespassing on the native inhabitant’s land. Either way, he and Aaron are dead men. Thank you for reading. 🙂
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I actually though of that too! In fact, at first I thought that was what it was, but since the story didn’t say anything about natives, I went with the snake.
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It’s mostly open for interpretation. That’s what’s nice about an open ending, it can be so many things.
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I know, that is true! Everyone can think what they want and not be wrong.
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Yes!
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Wow, a great read! I think Aaron should have trusted Phillip’s intuition.
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Thank you so much! Yes, I think in this scenario, I would rather trust a pessimist than an optimist.
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Oh, come now, Simple Life. Don’t leave me stranded.
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I’m afraid I have to, it’s all part of the fun of writing flash fiction, to leave readers stranded. If it’s any consolation, you can think of an ending and write it.
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Loved the ending!
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Thanks.
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Oh dear. I’d say that Phillip was right not to be glad. Good story. 🙂
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Yes, I think so too. Thank you so much for reading.
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I bet the islands have people that eat outsiders.
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Ha ha, maybe.
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Love the action. Great story! 🙂
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Thank you.
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Aw, I guess being optimistic doesn’t always pay off :D. At first I thought, maybe he’s been attacked by a lion, but then I saw your reply to priceless Joy and i realized, that made more sense :D. Very well written.
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Thanks and yes, sometimes being optimistic can lead you to some nasty situations.
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Great show of how desperately wanting something to work out — and — it actually working out aren’t the same thing. I feel for both of your characters and their worsening predicament (or so it seems). There’s still hope yet! Kind of (lol).
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Thank you and maybe there is hope, you’ll never know.
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Yep, we never know, so we should never give up hope.
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Can’t argue with that.
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