We asked you to write a story inspired by the photo and you only had 300 words or less. Congratulations to the winners and especially to David Edwards.
1st Prize: £295.00 David Edwards
2nd Prize: £195.00 Pat Smith
3rd Prize: £100.00 Alan Fisher
It’s Criminal
by David Edwards
It seemed extreme but there was no option. He’d dressed for the role, dark suit, shirt and tie and one gun clenched in his sweaty hand, this was crazy, he couldn’t really do this, could he? He swallowed nervously. There was no way out, he had to go through with it.
“Ready Alex?” A hand squeezed him firmly on the shoulder and he winced, it hurt.
“Ready.” He gulped his voice a higher pitch than it had ever been.
“Go!”
Alex stood up quickly, ignoring the intense feeling of nausea and raced towards the door, kicking it open. He ran towards the figure tied to the chair. “You deserve this!” He shouted and fired a round of shots into his chest before racing from the room panting.
He felt elated, it had worked, he felt a million dollars. The advert had been right, this course was amazing. Do the impossible it had said. The ultimate assertiveness course. He was ready to own the world and to even ask his miserly boss for a pay rise.
“Here’s a passport, a new identity and some cash. You need to get away now.”
“What?” Alex cried, “I don’t understand”
“You’ve just killed someone” His coach laughed.” You can’t stay here. ”
Alex looked with horror at the corpse in the blood splattered room. With the light on, he could now see it was all real. The body was grotesque. “But the advertisement about the course?” He croaked.
“Yes, you wanted to be able to stand up to others and now you have. There’s nothing more empowering than murder. For us, we don’t like having blood on our hands so it’s a win win situation don’t you think? Congratulations Alex -here is your diploma!”
