Fiction Fragment Friday
Hey everyone. Today will be day 13 of NaNoWriMo and I am currently at approximately 20,000 words. I have no doubt I will hit my word count today and continue to be on track to complete the challenge. I have been very happy with the story as it has developed and I can’t wait to get rewriting and editing. I’m sure some of these snippets I share for Fiction Fragment Friday will be shared again in an edited form months down the line. I wanted to share a scene today that is a bit more action oriented.
I sat perched on the corner of a building looking down a convenience store. I really wanted a fountain drink but this costume didn’t have pockets for money. I was just about to give up on the idea when I saw a man step out of the alley and pull on a ski mask. He was heading right for the front door of the store. I smiled under my mask. “Time to get to work.”
The man stepped into the store and pulled his gun out of his pocket. He aimed it right at the clerk. “Empty the register now and if you reach for anything else I’ll blow your brains out.”
Leaping from the roof my mind was racing trying to come up with something witty to say to announce myself. I slipped in the door trying to be as quiet as possible. I wanted to and make a memorable entrance. It didn’t matter if there were only two people to witness it I needed the practice if I was going to be a big time hero. What I didn’t know was that the door had one of those chimes on it so the moment it opened the robber spun around and leveled his gun on me. I leapt on instinct and just barely missed being shot as the bullet shattered the glass front door. I did a twisting somersault and landed behind the gunman facing his back. As he turned I grabbed his gun arm with my left hand to keep it facing away and then punched him in the face with my right fist. He flew through the air and smashed into a spinning rack of potato chips destroying it. His gun clattered on the floor next to me.
It was hard to make out his words when he spoke, “You bastard. I think you broke my nose.” He went to get up, but I did a spinning kick and hit him in the stomach. Grabbing the chip rack I bent it around him as a restraint.
I looked back at the clerk who was wide eyed. “Uhm thanks, but did you have to break the door and rack? Do you know how much that will cost?”
“Oh come on insurance has to cover that and the door is totally his fault.”
“Yeah but I bet they will raise the premiums. Still he could have shot me so I guess I do owe you. Any way I can say thanks?”
“Oh yeah, a 32oz Dr. Pepper would be the perfect thank you.”
“Oh, uhm sure go ahead. You do know that’s just something people say to be polite. They don’t actually expect you to take them up on it.”
I grabbed a cup and started filling it with the crushed ice. I moved it to the Dr. Pepper spout. “Hey you offered. Don’t go offering if you don’t mean it.” I stuck the straw in and pulled the cup up to take a drink. The straw poked into my mask instead of going in my mouth. “Aw damn. Ok, I think you got this from here, I gotta bounce.”
“You are just going to leave me here with him until the police get here?”
“What can I say, I’m thirsty.” I stepped through the broken front door without opening it and leapt up to the roof. I found my perch on the corner, lifted my mask so I could drink, and kept a watch over the store until the police got there. As they were loading him into the car my straw started making the annoying slurping sound of an empty cup. “Ahhh. A drink well earned.” I tossed the cup off the roof at a trashcan and was kind of surprised when it actually went in on the first try. “Oh yeah three point shot.” I jumped around making cheering sounds.
As I started home I found myself singing. The theme song from the Gummi Bears, or at least it’s chorus, had somehow gotten into my head so I made a theme song for myself out of it.
“Ricochet
Bouncing here and there and everywhere
Super hero beyond compare
He is the Ricochet”
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