Day 4: Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge

~*~

I’m combining this challenge with the Friday Fictioneers challenge

hosted by the lovely Rochelle-Wisoff-Fields!

~*~

They put her up so high

That she could hardly see

The conspiracy rising against her

PHOTO PROMPT © Lauren Moscato. Thanks!!

Now she’s falling

Through the sky

And taking everyone

Down with her

~*~

The hospital room door creaked open. Evvi held her breath and crouched down, at the ready.

“Detective,” a hoarse voice called.

The door closed. “Did you find her?” Parker asked out in the hall.

“No. Listen, I need you all to continue this search quietly. You heard about the explosion on 84, right? Patients are coming in left and right. I can’t have them panicking even more for a sixteen-year-old runaway.”

“This runaway had a 23-year-old boyfriend who drove them off a bridge, and she was desperate enough to choke one of your staff.”

The two fools kept bickering as they strode away from the door.

‘Explosion on 84.’ So her plan worked. Boss Man Turner would be proud. Evvi shook her head — she had bigger things to worry about.

She waited thirty minutes before going back into the water. There were still too many sharks, so she had to wait thirty more in a bathroom before she politely put another woman to sleep and exchanged clothes — and took her money. All for a good cause.

Weaving in and out of the crowded halls and staircases, Evvi slipped out of the hospital. Hitchhiking wasn’t something she normally did, but nothing about today was normal. Luckily, she got eager drivers who only wanted to look, not touch. When she was close enough, she walked the rest of the way to Turner’s hideout.

Evvi scrunched her nose at the putrid stench in the air. She really hated this area.

The familiar whistle sounded when she passed the blue, dust-covered truck parked by the street pole. She couldn’t see them, but she knew the snipers had taken aim. Turner’s right-hand man, Julio, slithered out of the tall, worn-down building with a beer and a sneer. Evvi shoved past him.

He snickered and followed her inside. “Always a pleasure to see you.”

Boss Man Turner was upstairs in the smoky, dimly-lit back room. He lounged and laughed with other drinkers.

Evvi gripped the back of the chair facing Turner, ignoring the man sitting in it. “Did Rodney come back?”

Turner frowned. “Not even a hello?” He tsked and waved his bottle around. “Anyone see Rodney?”

Everyone sniggered.

Narrowing his eyes, Turner set his beer down and stood. “The explosion on 84 was magnificent. The perfect distraction.”

Evvi stepped up to him. “Did you or did you not see Rodney?”

He wrapped his arms around her, forced her towards the door on the right, and opened it. Sunlight blinded her. She shielded her eyes.

Turner leaned in close and whispered into her ear, “I saw right through him.”

Evvi looked down and gawked at the body splattered on the sidewalk beside the blue truck.

(449 words)

Sonya nominated me for the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge — I’ll continue to thank her ever so kindly! If anyone hasn’t read her stories, you’re missing out. While she completed her series, this is my fourth entry (click here for part 1, here for part 2, and here for part 3). Also, check out Ella aka Jumbleskine’s second entry, Jessica’s third entry, and keep a look out for Stomperdad’s stories (yes, his flash fiction inspired mine ^_^).

The Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge rules require you to . . .

• Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo.

• The story can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or simply a short paragraph — it’s entirely up to you.

• Then each day, nominate another blogger to carry on this challenge. Accepting the challenge is entirely up to the person nominated, it is not a command.

Today, I nominate one of my favorite book nerds, Victoria!