Welcome to the Wednesday Briefers
flash group. The short stories have a maximum of a 1000 word count plus links
at the bottom to the other flashers. The prompts for this week are:
"If I thought you would..."
or use: pestilence, sigh, wrath
or "He laid his hand upon my..."
or use: train, cow, platitude
or use a Pokemon or a pocket monster in your story
or "When did you get to be so...."
All That He Desires #2
“What the hell?”
Under his windshield wiper was an envelope. Quickly
he opened it… and inside was a scratch lotto ticket—a winning lotto ticket. A
fifty thousand dollar winning lotto ticket. Jules staggered against his car,
staring at the damn thing. “Oh my—! Oh my fucking God!”
A piece of paper fell out of the envelope and
drifted to the ground. He picked it up, hand trembling, and read the one
sentence—
Maybe
this will help your year be all you desire.
*
* * *
Head spinning, hands shaking, Jules stared at the
note as a cold breeze swept through the parking lot. Jules shivered slightly
and pulled his threadbare coat closer around him. Those words—that was very
close to what the stranger had said to him just a few hours earlier. Could he
be the one that gifted him with this? And why? Why would a rank stranger do something like this? It had to be
him, just had to be. There’d been no one else to stop by the store. Dear God,
people didn’t just up and give away thousands of dollars without…
What did he want in return?
“God,” he breathed.
Well now, wasn’t that a sobering thought? Random
acts of kindness were one thing, but this… this went way beyond that. Should he
keep the ticket? His mother’s voice played in his head: There’s no such thing as getting something for nothing. Jules bit
his lip remembering, then shrugged. This was the same woman who’d loved him
until she found out he was gay too. So how trustworthy was she, really?
Besides, now that he had the money, he didn’t have
to work this dead-end job any longer, and he’d probably never see that guy
again… if he was the one that left
him the ticket. Which was a shame since the stranger had been drop-dead sexy.
Jules turned the slip of paper over in his hands, but there was no phone
number, no email address… nothing. No way to get in touch and ask why, or to say
thank you for…
The money.
“Jesus H.
Christ! Money! Lots and lots of money! I’m fucking rich!” Jules yelled at
the night sky, every thought in his head scattering.
For a moment his vision grayed and his knees went
all wobbly. Little black dots flashed before his eyes and it was really hard to
breathe. Money! Jules fell against
his piece of crap car, sliding down until his ass hit the pavement as reality
slapped him upside the head. The money…
“I’m rich,” he mumbled softly, stunned.
He didn’t feel the cold bite of the night, nor the
brisk breeze that ruffled his hair… oh, no. All he felt was freedom. Okay, yeah,
he really wasn’t rich, but this would
allow him to pay for his last semester without working himself into a early grave,
maybe buy something a little more reliable to drive, and move into an apartment
that wasn’t on the ‘should be condemned’ list. He should have enough left over
to make it to his first paycheck without living on nothing but Ramen noodles
and air for the next year.
Oh God, he was going to survive… thanks to a
stranger who was so sexy it made his teeth hurt.
Jules leaned back against his car, tilted his head, and
stared up at the nighttime sky. A full moon shined down on him, its cool,
silvery light brightening up the parking lot. For as long as he lived, he would
never forget this night… the night his life changed. Bathed in the moonlight,
he said a quick thank you to the one that did this for him, whoever he was….
his own guardian angel.
“Thank you, Guardian Angel!” Jules yelled. He
giggled at his own silliness; but hell, it was two am, and he just won fifty
thousand dollars. He deserved a little silliness.
Maybe this next year would be all that he desired.
Jules stood up, did a quick little jig around the
parking lot, then manhandled his car door open. He was going home, turn the
damn heat up in his shitty apartment to ‘hotter than hell’ level, then have a
drink. Possibly two. Hell, maybe the whole damn six pack. A buddy of his had
given him a couple of wine coolers for helping with an essay and he’d been
keeping them for a special occasion. And damned if this wasn’t a special
occasion!
Tomorrow, when he claimed his winnings, his life
would change. Things were looking up, finally. Hell bells, now that he didn’t
have to work every spare minute of the day, perhaps he could find someone to
date. And okay, yeah… maybe it was horrible of him, but he hoped his parents
saw the news. He wanted them to know he was going to be all right… with no help
from them.
*
* * *
Quite a distance down the road, an expensive car sat
idling on the side of the highway, the headlights turned off. A tall man in a
long black leather coat and a green scarf stood by the car, watching what was
going on down the street in the gas station parking lot. Amusement shimmied
around him. He tucked a stand of shoulder length dark hair behind his ear, a
smile on his face at the surprise and wonderment of the young man who had just
found the winning scratch ticket.
He laughed slightly as the wind carried the young
man’s words to him. “Guardian Angel, my ass. Oh, little one, that’s the last
thing I am.”
Soon the one he’d marked would know that.
TBC
Don’t forget to visit the other briefers!
Chris T. Kat m/m
Nephylim m/m
Tali Spencer m/m
Cia Nordwell m/m
Elyzabeth VaLey m/f
Victoria Adams m/f
Julie Lynn Hayes m/m
