Tag: Crime

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

Gone in a Flash

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicornchallenge – October 18, 2024

Photo Prompt @Ayr/Gray

She knew they shouldn’t be here, but Jim was insistent that they visit this club that had great rock and roll music, It was on the South side of Chicago in the U.S. It was a rough part of the city.

She gave in after he assured her it would be safe. It was a thrilling taxi ride from their place to the street where the club was located. The streets were teeming with people. All ethnicities, She didn’t see anything worrisome. Just a lot of very diverse people having a good time.

The taxi pulled up in front of the club. They found a table very near the stage. It seemed like the music included all of her favorite songs.

It was closing time and they started to leave. They got to the door and she felt a tug on her arm. She turned and the world went dark. She heard lots of fighting and screaming around her. She realized she had on a hood. She kept calling for Jim having no way to know he had been knocked out and put in a nearby van.

She was pushed into a taxi and yanked off the hood. Another passenger was sitting there.

After they started to move, he looked at her and said, “Sorry about your luck with your date. He was the one with the money.”

There was no answer when she called Jim’s cell. The police had no luck. Jim was gone in a flash.

Thanks to C.E. Aye and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge!

Posted in #JSWChallenge, Challenges, Flash Fiction

The Escape – #jswchallenge – June 10, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

“Isn’t this the way you wanted it,” Emil asked Portia as she lamented her small social circle.

“I wanted to escape my previous life. Not my present life,” Portia responded to Emil.

“Portia,” Emil responded, “I’m not sure that you can be certain you have yet escaped your previous life. How can you possibly take the chance of putting yourself out there socially?”

As Portia contemplated Emil’s question, Emil thought about how he met Portia soon after she arrived in the small Portuguese town and they became fast friends.

Portia was a fun-loving, social person who had sought a way to rid herself of baggage in her life in the U.S. A drastic way, yes. Probably not a reasonable way. Portia had been desperate and had simply walked off and left her old life behind.

Emil said, “Portia, it isn’t easy to vanish in today’s world. Even though you have a fake passport and you don’t use your credit cards, he will probably find a way to trace you if he wants to.”

Portia would never go back to him or work for him again.

Ten days passed and Portia stayed in seclusion other than having Emil with her. One night, there was a knock at the door. She opened the door to find several law enforcement officers standing there. They announced that she was under arrest and would be extradited back to the U.S.

She went with the officers, crying and screaming, with Emil following. When they got to the jail, there he stood.

“Portia,” he said, “You can stay in Portugal. I don’t want you back. I do want the million dollars you embezzled from my company back. You almost bankrupted us.”

“I don’t have it now,” she said as she cried and begged for his mercy.

Thanks to A Writer’s Life for hosting the #jswchallenge.