© Sally-Ann Hodgekiss
“This is the man I saw when I was in Piazza Navona, Officer. The one who vandalized the Fontana del Moro.”
“Thank you, Mr. Russo. We have your statement and the court will contact you about his trial.”
Giovanni Russo left the police station and two police officers escorted the vandal to an interrogation room.
“Sir, you have no identification. Who are you? Why did you decapitate the figures on the Fontana with a rock?”
“Stop questioning him, Romano. He should have a lawyer.”
“He isn’t asking for one, is he, Bianchi?”
Both officers looked at the mysterious man. They’d never understand the thoughts transpiring behind those ancient, haunted eyes.
Piazza Navona had been built on the site of the 1st century Stadium of Domitian where the Romans went to watch the games. That was where he’d died for the first time. Since then, an endless stream of reincarnations brought the horror back with each lifetime. Now in 2011, his current incarnation was quite insane.
Written for the Sunday Photo Fiction – May 14th 2017 writing challenge. The idea is to use the photo above as a prompt to create a piece of flash fiction no more than 200 words long. My word count is 164.
On September 3, 2011, the Fontana del Moro was really damaged by a vandal, though he was photographed by security cameras rather than seen by a live witness.
Also, the Piazza Navona really was built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian. I used these two bits of history to craft my wee tale this morning.
To read other stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.
Nice take. Have you been to the Piazza? Such a beautiful part of a beautiful city.
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The only time I was in Rome was in 1985, so probably yes, though I don’t remember it specifically.
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I went about 14 years ago, one of my lasting memories, of many, was this square.
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Good one. I would go crazy myself, I think, from so much reincarnation…
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I don’t think a lot of attention is traditionally given to the mental state of someone with that many unpleasant memories.
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I wonder if there’s an upper limit somewhere.. My laptop has 400 gigabytes. Hopefully my brain has a bit more
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I read somewhere that human memory is holographic, but I don’t know how accurate that is. Still, I don’t think we compare favorably with computers.
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We probably don’t, and I would say that’s a good thing.
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Agreed…except for stories about cyborgs. 😉
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A story which covers centuries in so few words, an interesting concept,
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Admittedly, I didn’t use a lot of details, Michael. 😉
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Interesting take on immortality, and very believable, that reincarnating over and over, especially with such horrible memories, would drive you insane.
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I mentioned in an earlier comment that I think the mental health of immortal or repeatedly reincarnated people is underrepresented in literature.
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Yeah, coming back over and over again wouldn’t do much good for one’s stat of mind. I can hardly blame him.
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He’s too far gone for anyone to blame. I wonder how many more reincarnations he has before he stops being viable at all?
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I like that. Good story James, and the tidbits of history as well 🙂
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Thanks. Wikipedia is my friend.
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What a great story!
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Thanks, Barbed.
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Great story based on history, James. We can’t beat real history for stories like that. It’s a miracle there aren’t more mentally deranged people considering the trauma many have gone through. Good writing. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks, Suzanne.
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