Fiction Fragment Friday
First as a quick update I successfully won NaNoWriMo. I wrote a 50,000 word novel in November with a day to spare. That leaves me a lot of editing work, but this novel will be self published in 2021. Future novels I will shop around and try for a publisher, but Richocet will always be self published.
This weeks Fiction Fragment Friday is a Flash Fiction I just wrote. I am trying to do more of these just to improve my writing. I also have purchased Pro Writing Aid Premium and am using it to improve on my editing. So far I am impressed with the tool, but I have only used it a few time including on this story.
I pulled into the intersection, not knowing that this one act would change my life forever. The sun was shining, and the temperature was just perfect. It was the type of morning that makes you regret not having the day off to spend outside. I didn’t have the day off though, so I was driving in to work like every other weekday. The intersection was the last one before the work parking lot, and by this point I was on autopilot. It was just a typical Monday until I glanced over and saw the large pickup truck running a red light taking up my entire driver’s side window. It was then that time froze.
When I say that time froze, I don’t mean that as a metaphor or some sort of cliche about my life flashing before my eyes. Time literally froze. Neither the truck nor my car was moving. I looked out the front windshield and saw that the birds in the sky were just hanging there instead of flying. A man on the sidewalk was staring at the wreck that was about to happen with wide eyes open. He had dropped the fountain soda he had been holding, and it was hanging in midair. I opened my door to get out of the car and the silence was staggering. I had never experienced a true lack of sound before.
A bright blue light coming from the sky blinded me. As it lowered approaching me, I could make out a man with a flowing blue cape at the center. He glided down and landed effortlessly on the ground in front of me. With the glow fading, I could make out a mostly scarlet red costume with a blue belt, boots, and cape. There was a symbol of some sort on his chest, but I couldn’t figure out what it was trying to represent. The man was larger than life, and I could feel the energy coming off of him in waves that nearly drove me back. I said the first thing that came to mind. “Are you an Angel?”
The man laughed, but it didn’t sound like a pleasant laugh. “I am no angel.” He pointed to the truck. “I’m the drunk driver behind the wheel of that vehicle.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Your death is something I have never forgiven myself for. The guilt drove me to be a better person and when I gained powers, it was the action I dedicated my life to redeeming. Now I’m left with a dilemma I don’t feel I can decide. I can stop this and save you, but if I do, all the people I have saved since getting my powers will die. I need you to understand.”
He touched my head and my mind filled with a lifetime of memories. I saw the wreck from his eyes and witnessed my death. Two years in prison filled my mind with moments of horror and moments of education. He jumped from a bridge trying to kill himself and an alien energy bonded with him, both saving his life and turning him into the man that stood before me. His daughter had drawn the symbol he wore on his chest. I saw ten years of lives being saved from disasters and violence, with an alien mind providing every face in crystal clarity. I could feel their gratitude and love. Complete understanding of the role he would play in the world was more than I could comprehend, but just what I could grasp was enough. I felt his thoughts and knew that it had all happened because of guilt over my death.
“Now you understand. If you step over to the sidewalk you will live, but I will cease to be. If you get back in the car, you will die. The choice is yours because it is your life that would be forfeit.”
Without hesitation, I got in my car and closed the door, pulling on my seatbelt. My hands came up and gripped the steering wheel tightly, trying to fight off the shaking. In my mind, I heard his voice one final time. “I knew I chose correctly.” A bright blue glow surrounded me as time flowed again. I felt the impact of the truck and watched as my car wrapped around the front of it. My windshield shattered, and it filled the inside of my car with glass. The whole time the blue light surrounded me. As the car came to a rest, I found myself with a car twisted around me but not a single scratch. I felt the alien presence in my mind. “With your willingness to sacrifice yourself, you will be an even greater hero than he was.” My perception of the world was now filled with more colors, sounds, and smells then I could have ever imagined and I knew that my life would never be the same.
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