PHOTO PROMPT © Yvette Prior

Olena came to America from a war-torn country in Europe for a better life. Home was hardly the place to encourage her, but then great music comes from pain.

The last thing she felt in her life was pain. Riding a light-rail home she didn’t know she was in danger until the first stab. He stabbed her six more times before running. Five passengers watched as she bled out.

Templar stood at the statue he made to honor her but that wasn’t enough. Tonight, he would begin his hunt for all the murderers out there who prey on the innocent.

It’s Wednesday and time again to participate in Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ 12 September 2025 edition of Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words. My word count is exactly 100.

I have a nasty virus given to me by my grandkids so I already don’t feel well. Add to that the news and social media being flooded with stories of senseless, violent attacks against the innocent, and all too often the victims are at least partially blamed while the behavior of the attacker is partially excused.

The story of 23 year old Iryna Zarutska hit me particularly hard.

Yes, by all indications, the killer’s psychotic, but that doesn’t make Iryna’s death any less unjust. I’ve read other articles over the past few days outlining a stunning number of similar unprovoked and senseless murders and it’s demoralizing. This isn’t a political thing. It would have happened no matter who was President.

My story is accurate in that the five people you see in the photo in the news story did absolutely nothing to help her, even after the attacker fled. That’s almost worse than the murder itself.

Cover art for the anthology “Fantastic Schools Familiars”

I know my comments are unpopular and various political and other “experts” would criticize them. Any attempt to defend the innocent in a “Batman” or “Punisher” style-action would be met with further criticism and worse.

But something has to change. I’m just afraid of what has to happen to make the change occur.

To read other stories based on the prompt, visit inlinkz.

My fantasy occult short story “Dead Cat Fever” will be featured in the anthology “Fantastic Schools Familiars” sometime in early to mid October 2025. What happens when a fifteen-year-old girl has to retrieve a powerful magic book from a murderer and her only helper is a demon-possessed cat? What happens when that cat is a zombie?