They are watching me. (Flash Fiction) |
Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300. The prompts: This story must contain the words: Blind, Ring and Chosen Paranoid - Maybe I know they’re watching me. They know I know and somehow that makes it worse. Not that it makes any difference. I have a job to do; what happens after that doesn't matter. I am jolted back to the moment by the phone. I reach into the booth and grab it on the first ring but no one is there. It must have been a test. Yes, a test. The watchers pretend not to notice but I saw a few heads turn. They saw me see and turned away quickly; as if interested in a storefront window or a bit of something on the ground. A “passer-by” hands me a flyer and disappears into a crowd hustling across an intersection. It looks like an advertisement for some sort of bookstore. I know better. I can see things that others are blind to. I try decoding it but the message is illusive. They always make it hard; just in case it’s intercepted. It wouldn’t do to have the “others” know what I know. I squint at the words and let the message come to me. My implant shuffles through complex algorithms, looking for patterns. Finally, I see it. “Go five blocks east and wait,” it says. I pretend to cough and slip the flyer into my mouth. I swallow quickly just in case “they” try to intervene. With a casual look around, I pretend to have made a random decision and head east. Most steer wide of me as I push my cart of possessions along the sidewalk. If only they knew who I was. If only they knew that I walked amongst them. But I remain anonymous. I do so only because the “others” are watching – waiting for an opening. The others fear me because I am the Chosen One. Word count 300 |