Flash Fictions for contests

17 May FlashFic Challenge: Road Trip [299 words]

“You are not going to thumb a ride.”

Dustin glanced up from his work on the paper sitting in the fireproof bowl. “Why not?”

“Because you’ll get picked up by some innocent-looking granny, and four hours from now I’ll be ID-ing your dead ass in a waterlogged ditch in Nowhere, Oklahoma.” Margie snatched the marker from him. “It’s insane.”

“There actually is a Nowhere, Oklahoma, FYI. And I was done with that anyway.” Dustin rolled his eyes. “And that would be some miracle, seeing as we’re in Pittsburgh and I’m hitching to Albany, New York.” Pity the geographically challenged…

“Tell me that from the dark confines of a car trunk.” Margie paced the length of the porch. “Why can’t you take the train?”

Dustin sighed. “Takes forever. This is quicker.” He pulled a pouch from his duffel and began to work.

“Hitching is quicker than a train? Since wh—” Margie’s eyes widened as Dustin completed the salt circle around the bowl. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I told you I took an online course.” He retrieved the candles he’d brought down from his room, setting them equidistant around the circle before lighting them. He grabbed his duffel bag and scribed an intricate symbol in the air above the paper.

“You said you were doing Spellcraft. I figured it was some lame-ass RPG.” Margie snorted. “What are those numbers, anyway?”

“GPS coordinates.” He stepped into the circle. “See you in a couple days.”

“What—”

Margie’s voice faded into a maelstrom of colors and movement. Dustin stumbled as he stepped out of the salt circle into a small room. Behind an elegant desk, a slim woman smiled at him over the rim of her reading glasses.

“Welcome. Thank you for traveling UberWitch. We hope you enjoy your stay.”