Flash fiction

“I won’t do that again”

She sat up suddenly waking from a restive sleep, disoriented and drenched in sweat. The clock on the nightstand  showed 1.30 am. It was the power outage that brought her awake. The room bathed in darkness and heat. Outside, it danced at large.

The weather remained hot and humid despite the hour-long thunderstorm of the evening before. Creatures, winged or wingless shuffled in the patch of garden by the window.

She got up, placing one leg after another on the smooth mosaic floor.

She turned toward the wash room and moved reluctantly, to answer the nature call. With the help of the light on her mobile phone, she walked to the toilet. I should get the inverter repaired, she muttered.

The light on her cell dimmed, its battery was almost about to drain. She stepped into the attached bathroom enveloped in darkness.

As she bent her legs to sit on the toilet seat, something scaly touched her left foot. She straightened and quickly moved away. She flashed the light, just once more. A small black scorpion was seen crawling to the corner. It must have crept through the drain pipe forced by an hour-long heavy rain, she surmised. Exiting, she shuddered thinking of the ill effects of being bitten by the poisonous creature. She shut door tight after her.

“I won’t do that again,” she vowed aloud, in great relief. “Never will I walk into the dark again,” she told herself.


Word Count: 242
Prompt: “I won’t do that again”
Written for Arakun’s Daily Flash Fiction Challenge.