© Liz Young
Arthur stopped off at his sister’s last night, realizing he was too drunk to drive home from the bar. Staggering into her backyard the next morning, he discovered the apparition. Melissa followed him, looking bemused.
“Like it? I’m putting it out front for Halloween tonight.” It was then he noticed she was pointing a pistol with a silencer at him.
“Hey, what’s that?”
“Last year, you got off on that drunk driving charge where you killed a little girl. I’m fixing justice.”
That night, Melissa got a lot of compliments on the realistic display of a monster in a cage.
I wrote this for the Rochelle Wisoff-Fields writing challenge. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt to craft a piece of flash fiction no more than 100 words long. My word count is 100.
For some reason, I thought of a man who was hung over coming across this scene and being totally bewildered. The story wrote itself after that.
To read other tales inspired by the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.
poweredbyrobots.com 
Will be carefully checking any Halloween displays that look a little too realistic this year!
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You never know, Iain.
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Dear James,
Poetic justice perhaps. Grisly story. Well told.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you. It’s tough to get a lot of depth in just a hundred words, but I do my best.
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Justice will have its way, I guess.
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Indeed. Thanks, Sandra.
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Damn, what a charming sister! I really love the ending in this one – it’s really powerful.
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Thanks, Emily. I was originally going to make the victims their parents, but especially in a hundred words, it would have been too hard to develop.
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Well, I think you pulled it off very well; you could always rework it into a longer version involving the parents, but I don’t think you need to! I really enjoyed it.
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There are few things creepier than an animatronic robot, I will admit. Chuck E. Cheese filled with screaming children too terrorized to eat their pizza.
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There’s a horror “jump scare” video game called “Five Nights at Freddy’s” that leverages such a theme (no, I don’t play video games, but my grandson found out about it by watching videos on YouTube.
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Nice sister. A family of monsters.
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I’m sure she sees herself as more an agent of justice, but yes, capping your brother in your backyard is a little over the top. Thanks.
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Whoa! There’s more than one monster in that family. Though, I can’t entirely blame her.
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If I had more than 100 words to play with, I could punch up her motivation a bit more.
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I was surprised his sister shot him the day he seemed to have learned his lesson, by staying over rather than drunk-driving. Dreadful thing, drunk-driving. Almost as bad as murder.
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He was still drinking and driving a year after he killed a child. I guess she’d had enough.
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Grisly bit of rough justice here. Well done.
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Thanks, Jilly.
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Wonder why she left it until then – after all, he’d stayed at her place rather than drive this time.
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Maybe she didn’t know he was still driving drunk until he showed up at her door sloshed in the middle of the night. It was probably the final straw.
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A bit of the macabre in your story. Good write …
Isadora 😎
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Yes, it is. Thanks, Isadora.
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You know what? I’m with Melissa….
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I admire “gun-totin'” women. Thanks.
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Ah the joys of sibling relationships. Definitely curious about the backstory on this one.
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It would be complicated to be sure. Thanks.
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Poetic justice. I have to admire the sister.
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Admire, yes, but I wouldn’t cross her. Thanks.
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Revenge is sweet, How long will it last. Great little tale.
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The “sweetness” of revenge is usually short lived, James. Thanks.
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So eerie. Love it!
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