While criminal trials may drag on for months or even years, a criminal act may take but only a moment.
Blink, and it's over.
You are hereby charged to write an entire crime in just fifty-five words. No more, no less.
How short is that, you might ask?
This little piece is exactly fifty-five words.
Once again there were some excellent entries. Thanks to Pat, Mary, and Dave for your help!
Here are the runners-up and winner:
UNBALANCED by Angela Epps
It was dark; cold steel pressed against sweaty flesh. Unseen fingers ripped one button, then two. The night air like an attack on exposed skin. A pause, tortuous in itself. Then a searing pain consumed to the soul. In moments innocence ripped away. A violent crime for which even years of justice can not rectify.
NOT SO FAST by Anne Wilkes
Tragic, really, how she slipped and fell under the wheels of the Monte Carlo. And right after Harold took out that big ole' life insurance policy. Now he and that young dish Amber can get married and not worry about the old bag. Or their sunny storybook future together. Wait, here comes Detective Fisher again...
THE END by E D. T.
"My boy would never hurt me," the old man murmured to the nurse while she fluffed his pillows "He's an angel."
"People do amazing things that you'd never expect," the nurse replied.
"Not my boy," the man wheezed.
"He's sleeping," the nurse whispered to the handsome man.
"Sweet," he said, as he pulled the plug.
BANK ON IT by Aaron Wells
Put the cash in this bag. Don't look around, just DO IT! Look, lady, quit stalling - don't you know I have a gun? You want me to wave it around? Shoot someone? Prove it's real? There you go, nice and slow. Now step back and sit on the floor. Stop crying, it ain't YOUR money!
And our winner:
A LITTLE TRICKY by Shelley Burson
No cars in the parking lot. Seth makes his withdrawal while John hooks the chain to the ATM. Another car pulls up. Seth pulls ahead a little, pretending to count his money. The other people finish and pull away. Seth quickly pulls away too, letting the bank think the other car yanked the ATM machine.
Congratulations to Shelley, who wins a copy of The World's Shortest Stories of Love and Death: Passion, Betrayal, Suspicion, Revenge, All This and More in a New Collection of Amazing Short Stories.
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