Betrayal

1598024

My friend, my love battered bloody through the streets of Jerusalem by the angry mob.
I feel every blow.
This was a mistake.
He falls at my feet.
“I forgive you,” he groans, and falls.
I should not have pointed him out.
I kneel to help him up, but I am pulled back by two Roman soldiers.
“Thank you, Iscariot,” says one, the other tossing me a bag.
Clink.
I pour out the silver coins into my hand.
Twenty-eight.
Twenty-nine.
Thirty.
He asked me to do this. He wanted to die.
I throw down the coins and scream “WHY?”
Silence.

Molt

1593004

Looking down at the stumps of my thighs, I knew it would be a rough morning.
I dragged myself into the kitchen and ate my way through the food inside.
The horrendous pain came next.
Biting down on a dishrag helps a little.
Close your eyes. Try not to scream.
When the burning sensation dulled to a warm ache, I flexed my new toes and stood up, wobbling slightly and steadying myself with a chair.
The old ones are rotting in the hallway.
I hope these feet are a size I’ve already got. Buying new shoes is such a hassle.

Caretakers

1595936

The war is over, declared the machines.
Sensors watched the radiation levels drop.
When they were low enough, probes went out to scan the planet for signs of life.
Not much, but some.
The machines gathered up what they could.
As cleanup systems went to work on the ruins, genetic templates kept in storage were imposed onto the surviving organics to undo the ravages of mutation and gamma-ray damage.
Some genetic lines died. Some survived.
As each landmass was declared safe, replanting and restocking routines seeded the planet with life again.
The machines sank under the oceans and shut down.

Mean Streak

1592175

Sally Marie Simmons was known as “Sally Mean Streak” long before the day the prom queen’s hair fell out.
One vote was the difference, but that’s all it took for Mean Streak to lash out.
As Jessica Baker rain screaming through the halls, her hair leaving a trail behind her, Mean Streak was scanning the paper ballots.
She had insisted on voters having to write out the names instead of check a box.
Then, she fed in stacks of handwritten essays.
Handwriting samples for the computer to analyze.
A list of names appeared on the screen.
Sally grinned and laughed.

Weekly Challenge #217 – There’s an elephant in the room

10666525

Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Seventeen, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s There’s an elephant in the room!
VOTING

Which were the best stories this week?
Guy David
Steven
Zachmann
TJ
Justin
Norval Joe
Planet Z
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):


Guy David

The landlord opened his mouth and closed it in a fish like fashion. A sound came out of his lip not unlike the merger of a washing machine and a tardis. Finely, he came back to his senses and said “The sign outside this apartment strictly states ‘no pets allowed.'” I smiled and said simply “this is not a pet.” “Oh yeh?” he retorted, now growing a little agitated “then what is it?” “Why – it’s an elephant” I stated. “And what do you need and elephant for?” he asked, angry and exasperated. “That’s easy” I said, “to hide the giraffe.”

Steven

“No,” Sandra said, as the small grey animal on the floor trumpeted.
She stalked past, through the kitchen toward their son’s room.
“You like elephants,” Andrew said. “Remember, that clown who made you
the balloon elephant?” He picked up the pachyderm. “This one’s about
the same size, honey.”
She called upstairs to their son. “James! Time to go to come home.”
“You could play with the elephant,” Andrew said. “Or James could,
while we talked.”
Their son careened down the stairs and took Sandra’s hand. They went
outside, slamming the door behind them.
Andrew petted the elephant. It trumpeted quietly.

Zackmann

I was wondering what gift to give my friend who seemed to have one of everything when I heard an ad for something I though my friend could never have owned. It was cool, original, and big. Really big. A life sized china pacaderm figurine. How was I to know he already had one since it took up almost his entire living room but no one ever mentioned it. Even after the second one I bought was delivered. I just thought it would go well with the life size eight hundred pound gorilla figurine his mother got him for Christmas.

TJ

Elegant conversations among the glitterati and cognoscenti delighted
birthday girl Meghan Sullivan no end as she turned 29 once again. But a
pall passed like a wave through the room and the tinkling champagne
flutes and laughter declined significantly as BP chairman Tony Hayward
arrived on the scene. Of course he was an old friend of the family and
naturally couldn’t be uninvited although Meghan felt this would be a
perfectly acceptable moment historically speaking had he feigned some
sort of illness. How awkward. No one expressed much sympathy when the
elephant in the room stepped on top of him.

The elf noted that for the plan to work they’d need more arrows. The dwarf pointed out that both a shield phalanx and extra spears would be required. The elf in mentioned that they would have to contend with swamps, bad weather, and gathering food on the mission, since it would be impractical to carry that much with them. The dwarf noted the spies, traitors, deserters and roustabouts to contend with. The elf finally mentioned that the real oliphaunt in the room was the seventeen different armies they’d have to defeat. The dwarf said that that only counted as one.

Justin

The elf noted that for the plan to work they’d need more arrows. The dwarf pointed out that both a shield phalanx and extra spears would be required. The elf in mentioned that they would have to contend with swamps, bad weather, and gathering food on the mission, since it would be impractical to carry that much with them. The dwarf noted the spies, traitors, deserters and roustabouts to contend with. The elf finally mentioned that the real oliphaunt in the room was the seventeen different armies they’d have to defeat. The dwarf said that that only counted as one.

Norval Joe

The animals sat around the large round table, the pressure of a dead line hung in the air like a foreboding black rain cloud.
“There’s an elephant in the room?” The bear asked.
“Too flat and generic. How is that going to brand our product?” the rabbit asked, his contempt as thick as honey.
“Th, th, th, that’s all folk?” the small pig stuttered.
“That’s trademarked, we’d get sued,” the owl said and shook his head.
“Heffelumps and woozels steal honey?” the bear suggested, after a long pause.
“Now you’re talking, Pooh, boy,” the tiger laughed, “who, who, who, who.”

Planet Z

I checked into the hotel, followed the bellhop down the hallway, and as he opened the door…
I saw an elephant in the room.
“This is going to be a problem,” I said, watching the elephant devour peanuts from the mini-fridge.
The bellhop looked at the elephant and sighed. “You wanted a room with an African elephant, not an Asian elephant?”
“Exactly. I prefer African elephants.”
He nodded, went back to the front desk, and returned with another room’s key.
“Right this way,” he said.
I’m still not happy, though.
They charged me for the peanuts. Eight dollars a packet!

Mentat

796587

In the novel “Dune” Frank Herbert described a post-computer world where “mentats” performed rapid and complex calculations for the noble houses of humanity.
These specialists were not just raw computational experts, but they were valued for their ability to sift through mountains of data to provide vital analysis.
When noble houses warred, assassinating the enemy’s mentat was a priority.
That is why the messenger was killed and searched thoroughly. Then analyzed for poison.
“It’s safe,” I say. “Just plain paper.”
I hand the mentat the message, and he has a stroke and dies!
What? How?
“Divide by zero,” it says.

Flotilla

798050

It sounded like a good idea at the time, really.
Load up with relief supplies, get on some boats, and try to deliver the supplies to the poor defenseless children trapped inside.
How wrong we were.
Once we boarded and got underway, that’s when they started blasting music at us…
“It’s a small world after all…”
Surrounded by singing jeering puppets, we tried to paddle back to port, but the boats kept moving on and on.
We’d been set up. It was a trap.
We threw the boxes ashore, covered our ears, and screamed prayers for this nightmare to end.

The Pesto Pest

800768

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.
But life handed me basil, so I made pesto.
I even built a hothouse to grow basil year-round.
Just harvest, wash, crush, mix, and serve.
The problem is that I am growing far too much basil for myself, so I give away a lot of basil leaves and pesto to others.
Maybe too much?
Now people turn off their lights and shut their windows when they see me coming.
“There’s that crazy Pesto Pest,” they whisper to each other. “Just be quiet and he’ll go away.”
So I hang it from their gutters.

You’ve Got To Know When To Fold ‘Em

799938

Because of a shortage of buglers, military funerals often use a recording of a bugler performing Taps.
However, there’s no shortage of flags, so there’s always flags available to drape over coffins for folding and presentation to the next-of-kin.
The flag is folded by the honor guard in a specific order so that it results in a small blue triangle with white stars.
Some potheads have been known to employ their knowledge of the Japanese art of Origami to come up with more interesting shapes.
The rifle party handles those jokers by beating them with the butts of their weapons.

The Socks

799096

After years of blisters and other problems with my feet, I changed from ordinary cotton socks to special space-aged wicking socks.
They draw moisture away from the feet while providing extra padding.
Don’t ask me how they work. All I know is that they work.
No blisters since.
However, you’ve got to be careful with them. Going to sleep with a pair on will suck some water out of your body.
Going to sleep with 14 pairs of them on your feet and hands will leave you a desiccated husk.
So, any other questions about the mummies in this exhibit?