Gate Six

Though Mark was well aware of why he was being sent to Florida prematurely, he asked anyway.

“I was supposed to go with you in the car next month.  Why now? You know what happens when I fly.”

His mother stared at him.  She smiled and reached for the handkerchief she always had tucked up her sleeve. Empty moments followed with no explanation as her spit infused handkerchief sought out and destroyed any grunge that dared to soil her son’s face.  Mark squirmed, but stayed quiet.

“You’ll be fine Mark.  ……. Now, I really have to go. I still have many tasks to finish before I can join you and your father in Tampa. You understand, don’t you?”  She stroked his cheek and attempted an awkward hug. “Dad will be there to pick you up or I’ll kill him.”

She handed him a couple of barf bags, smoothed the hastily composed ID tag pinned to his suit lapel and rose to leave.

Mark was not convinced.  His father was dependably unpredictable when it came to him. In that moment he wanted to rip that nametag off and run away as far as he could.  He had twenty dollars.  He could go far on twenty dollars.

Instead Mark sighed and resigned himself to his fate.  He settled on the benches overlooking the tarmac.  He still had an hour before the flight. He would watch all the busy airport workers and make up stories about them until it was time to board.

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Indies Unlimited - Flash Fiction writing Prompt - June 3, 2021

Due Thur, June 10  -  250 words

Jack Top - #2 - Say Goodbye

"Say Goodbye" - 250words
(from the defunct site, Flash Fiction Friday - Starter sentence - "What do you see when you close your eyes?")

"What do you see when you close your eyes".

Zip was not even thinking about closing his eyes. Not with that knife in Jack Top’s hand pressed so hard an inch or two under his left ear.  Jack Top grabbed his hair and roughly tilted his head back. "I said, what do you see when you close your eyes?"

Zip knelt whimpering and losing control of his bladder. He looked up into Jack Top's eyes.  He had always been slow on the uptake. It took him a second, but he closed his eyes. Some seconds later they fluttered open. "Uh, nothing Jack. Don’t see a thing. Black I guess. Why?" Piss began to soak through his pants and into the carpet.

Jack Top closed his eyes. His free hand gripped Zip’s hair so hard he could feel some of it coming loose at the roots. “I tell you what Zip. When I close my eyes, I see red. Beautiful red everywhere. Nothin but red.” Jack Top then sliced the poor bastard's throat open from ear to ear.

Jack stood staring down at the wet red gash he had created under Zip’s chin. He watched the gushing blood drain the life out of his eyes. A look of serenity and calm came over J T’s face. He sighed and closed his eyes again. His knife fell to the floor.

Rivet Head whispered, “If he ever asks me that, what do I say?”

Axel looked at him and said, “You say goodbye.”
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