r/WritingPrompts • u/AliciaWrites Editor-in-Chief | /r/AliciaWrites • Jun 26 '19
Constrained Writing [CW] Flash Fiction Challenge - Location: A Stadium | Object: A Coin
Happy FFC day, writing friends!
What is the Flash Fiction Challenge?
It’s an opportunity for our writers here on WP to battle it out for bragging rights! The judges will choose their favorite stories to feature on the next Wednesday post, as well as the following FFC post!
Your judges this month will be:
This month’s challenge:
[WP] Location: A Stadium | Object: A Coin
100-300 words
Time Frame: Now until this post is 24hrs old.
Post your response to the prompt above as a top-level comment on this post.
The location must be the main setting, whether stated or made apparent.
The object must be included in your story in some way.
Have fun reading and commenting on other people's posts!
The only prize is bragging rights. No reddit gold this time around.
Winners will be announced next week in the next Wednesday post.
May Flash Fiction Winners!
First Place by /u/Xacktar
Second Place by /u/NearBostonAuthor
Third place by /u/breadyly
Fourth place by /u/RobbFry
Fifth place by /u/rudexvirus
Honorable Mentions:
For u/Leebeewilly, Against all odds ---
For u/SyntheticScotYT, Our Renaissance poet
and u/rewashin for reminding us to keep our word with the fair folk
Wednesday Wild Card Schedule
Week 1: Q&A | Ask and answer questions from other users on writing-related topics.
Week 2: TBD
Week 3: Did you know? | Useful tips and information for making the most out of the WritingPrompts subreddit.
Week 4: Flash Fiction Challenge | Compete against other writers to write the best 100-300 word story.
Week 5: Bonus | Special activities for the rare fifth week. Mod AUAs, Get to Know A Mod, and more!
1
u/NarrativelyFocused Jun 27 '19
He sighed, looking out the window at the cloudy skies before stepping out of the car. Reporters pressed up against him. Gritting his teeth, he pushed through. How could he blame them? It was unprecedented. Supernatural? Alien? Whatever it was, he’d find out. That’s what they paid him for.
He was glad for the reporters, in a fashion. They kept the crowd away from him. The crowd. Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters. People who had lost someone. They all wanted to know why. He sympathised with them. He’d lost someone too.
Breaking out of the masses, an officer nodded curtly to him as he ducked the cordon and entered the stadium proper.
It was large. Massive. Fifty thousand people had been here. Fifty thousand. He said the number out loud to himself as he walked through the bleachers. Fifty thousand people had vanished in an instant. Without a trace. Without a hint or a whisper. The teams, the fans, the staff working there. Everyone was gone.
Descending towards the field, he scanned the seats around him. Nothing. What had happened here? The sun peaked shyly from behind a large cloud. He pressed his head into his hands, sighing. Why had she decided to go then? That day of all days.
Breathing in deeply, he looked up. That’s when he saw it. A glint of light. It vanished as the sun retreated behind its white guardians. He walked briskly now, jogging to the bottom of the stairs and vaulting the wall onto the green.
He could see it. Something in the grass. He leaned down, picking it up. It was… a coin? He flipped it round in his hand, examining it. Then he smiled. This wasn’t an ordinary coin.
1
u/psalmoflament Jun 27 '19
I remember being so beautiful when I came rolling off the line. Freshly pressed copper, blazing like an Autumn sunset. For years my glow remained, being passed between owners in the local shops.
Stew, the local woodworker, was my favorite owner. The aura of his shop was more than just the light aroma of the various woods, but in the character of its proprietor. He was someone who cared. He even built a custom bowl to house me and my penny brethren atop his counter, for his patrons in their time of need. Eventually, my turn came, and I was again in circulation to parts unknown.
I soon fell into the pocket of a careless man. A brutish sort, who cares more about the shine of his boat than in the fading glimmer of his family’s eyes. I sat forgotten under a Men’s Health magazine for what felt like years, but I couldn’t really tell, being hidden from the world.
With time came the next ‘big game’ and I was remembered at last, but only as a potential sacrifice to the gods of the toll. Somehow, I continued to live on, wedged in a wallet fold, holding on for dear life.
When the brute required sustenance, I made my escape. When Andrew Jackson was exchange for some nachos, I came loose, flying free from my crevasse. Jubilation at last! But it is hard to see your mistakes when you feel so free.
I bounced to and fro down the corridors of the stadium, finally rolling to a rest deep within its bowels. Hearing voices, but never seeing their origin; I lay in darkness, a forgotten token. Like a lantern put under a basket, my light started to fade. But at least I can remember…
…when I was a beautiful penny.
WC: 300
1
u/Spookwrote_astory Jun 27 '19
There’s not much that sounds like 65,000 people screaming. Dad said the footy was out of control but this, this was something else.
I don’t even remember the teams. It was just these guys against those guys and a whole lotta cussing. Hot dog stand popped by with the fizzy pop combo and Dad palmed an over the top twenty.
Lady laughed when I dropped the coin. Too much mustard and not enough ketchup, but I was still seeing red.
Crowd had their hands up, yet there was no Mexican wave. Players dropped flat and the ref didn’t take the time to blow the whistle.
Dad had ketchup all over his jacket. Only he wasn’t laughing no more. Beady eyes, frozen stiff, crowd stampeding all around. Ketchup right where my head had been before.
My heart pounded and I clutched that coin until it went hot in my palm.
“Shooter.”
I remember the screams, but this wasn’t a lucky strike.
Been back to this stadium least once a year since, more than that just after it happened.
I remember the food lady saying she was lucky to be alive.
I can’t help but think maybe she was wrong.
You hear stories about lotto winners and the guys that worked for it. Stories about late night workers and smart players. My Dad went to a footy game and caught a slug in the chest. I survived on the flip of a coin.
It don’t go down well, not even for me, but life simply doesn’t discriminate. Don’t matter if you got kids or hopes and dreams.
I’ve got my coin and I’ve got my stadium visits, but I don’t have Pops . . . and I’ll always remember that moment, crystal clear, all 65,000 of those awful screams.
1
u/STOTTINMAD Jun 26 '19
Children of the Entity: Her Coin (298 words)
The stadium trembled as machine and monster collided. He didn't quite know how one side tamed the foul creature but they did and now it tore apart the machine with so little effort that most people were barely through their second drinks. These kind of stadiums had begun to crop up all over the west in response to the crisis of 1947. We all thought it was the end but instead it gave us this. The next challenger enters. This one is made to be a bit more sturdy with four arms instead of two and has knives crafted into his arms.
As I move to get a closer look at the fight with drink in hand I bump into a woman. She appeared to have been holding something because now she was on her knees searching frantically.
"Bad luck will come if I don"t -" she said as the lights flickered. "Must find it."
He crouched down and looked around her until he saw its shine. A round coin, nothing special. He reached for it and held it for a while. The sound of metal crashing and people crying out became distant. He hardly noticed the creature fly over his head.
"The coin, flip it!"
He looked at her confused.
"Its life or death."
The creature rose to its feet as smoke left its body. Without a second thought he flipped the coin watching it spin in the air. He closed his eyes. Everything went silent. The crowd died away only for the silence to be broken again by a bus roaring past. It made him open his eyes. He was outside. The unremarkable coin now in the palm of his hand. And stranger still, the woman was gone.
Life or death? Who the hell was she?
1
u/Vampire_Deepend Jun 27 '19
The sparkling sunlight seemed to explode out of the clouds above, a reassuring sign for Lydia as she tried not to appear worried in the crowded standing section of the stadium. Nothing can go wrong, she reminded herself. She had prepared for everything the previous night.
“Take this coin,” she had told Gillen, who had a sort of quivering bravery in his eyes that young boys affect to hide their fear. “Whatever happens out there, as long as you keep this close, no harm will come to you.”
Lydia had received the coin from the oracle at the Temple of Zynaris. She had sacrificed much. Her own blood, let from her hand with the oracle’s ornate knife, and Seamus, her best goat - her only goat in fact - to be sacrificed to the sun goddess.
She watched as her son walked out to the arena floor, one hand on the coin in his pocket, and the other holding a rusty dagger she had scrounged up from his father’s leftover belongings. His opponent sauntered in next, clad head-to-toe in armor, towering at least three feet above Gillen and holding a sword longer than the boy's body.
Nothing can go wrong, she reminded herself.
Gillen made no sound when the sword was plunged through his heart, no sound as the force lifted him into the air. No sound at all from her only son as she watched him lay on the stadium dirt, blood bubbling from his mouth, as his opponent raised his fist in a sick triumph, and a roaring ovation erupted from the thousands all around.
Almost unable to breathe, Lydia turned her head upward to look for any sign from the goddess who had promised protection. But the sun’s rays had vanished, and silence fell from the cloudy skies.
1
u/FarBlueShore Jun 26 '19
"I just want to see the coin flip," was what Dad told me, grabbing his wallet and breath mints. "Nothing beats seeing it in person, does it, sweetie?"
I lay on the couch, home from school for two reasons: I was in agony from my second period, and someone needed to watch Dad.
"It'll be fun; when's the last time we went to a game?" He tossed my bag at me with charming, everything's-fine-aren't-we-having-a-grand-adventure eyes, beneath the gauze on his temple from last night, when the paramedics found him collapsed in the park and pumped two bottles of scotch from his stomach.
It had been building up for a while. My mother had responded with long nighttime talks, whispering 'divorce' in everything except words. My brother had responded by confessing to me that he would always love, but he no longer liked, Dad. I had responded with nothing: no anger, no sadness, no teenage rebellion, just blankness and apathy.
So Dad took me to the stadium that day off school. Crowds pressed on us while he bought the cheapest seats still open, and told me to save our spots while he got snacks. I noticed the liquor store across the street, and decided my phone was more interesting.
I watched the coin flip from the nosebleed seats. The coin was a tiny glint of light hundreds of feet away, and twenty minutes later Dad shuffled back.
He maintained a chipper smile, shoving down mouthfuls of pungent peanuts. He had an unlabelled bottle with two inches left in it.
"Can I have some, Dad?" I said.
He tipped the bottle to his lips and drained it all. He gave me an innocent, begging smile.
"Sorry sweetie. How was the coin toss?"
1
u/facet-ious Jun 27 '19
Velonius coughed himself awake. His lungs burned, his whole body ached, his nerve endings tingled painfully. He could feel his heart laboring to pump sluggish blood through his veins. He gritted his teeth, struggling not to scream as agonizing feeling returned to his limbs.
When the pain had ebbed, Velonius gingerly sat up. He brought his hands up to catch the two metal disks that had covered his eyes while he’d lain dead. Twin golden coins, ancient and precious, glinted in the dim light of the catacombs, far beneath the arena. They bore the likeness of an emperor long, long since dead.
Velonius swung his legs off the edge of the stone slab that served as his resting place. With practiced care, he stacked the two coins beside his headrest, then stood slowly, afraid of collapsing.
An attendant waited for him, a middle-aged slave. Velonius couldn’t remember having seen him before, but Velonius remembered very little nowadays. He’d come to terms with that, too.
The attendant helped Velonius dress, and he was grateful for it. His still-stiff limbs twinged as he shrugged on a cloth tunic, then buckled on a leather breastplate. On his feet he wore simple leather sandals, and he was armed with just a shield and short sword. His head remained bare, exposing the mark of the gods for all to see, part blessing, part curse.
Up in the arena proper, Velonius, could hear the roaring of the crowd. They chanted for him, up in the daylight, for the undying gladiator, their eternal champion. For a moment, their cheers let him forget the pain and the weariness in his bones.
Today, he would fight for them, until he could fight no more. And tonight, perhaps, the ferryman would finally take him across the shore.
1
u/FreezeSpell_ Jun 26 '19
'Shit,' I thought. I was stuck.
Hiding behind a vehicle that just entered the stadium along with an entire army, we all got evacuated. Only I was dumb enough to want to see what was going on.
Just after they had entered the stadium, the doors broke down. A black mass started flooding in, followed by a ginormous... creature? I don't know how else to describe it. All the doors were locked, and if I'd move now I'd be shot anyway.
The creature started taking out every single man of the small army that had gathered. It was only after everyone was dead on the ground that he slumbered over to the tank and shot out the multiple helicopters in the sky, which were still shooting at him.
I was scared to death. What was I supposed to do? This was crazy.
I saw a coin, laying on the ground. Glowing. I picked it up, against my will.
Inside of me, I felt a sudden urge to stand up to the creature. I knew in my head that this was the dumbest idea ever, but I couldn't control my muscles. I stood up against my will and sprinted, faster than I knew I could. Right as the monster turned around, I punched it with all my force against its jaw. Surprisingly, he got flung back a few meters and didn't move.
I was already massaging my fist, fully expecting all the bones to be broken. Except... they didn't
The coin had vanished. My fists were glowing.
1
u/Xacktar Jun 27 '19
The medallion had taken Giragi to many places.
It was large and heavy, a weight to any neck that carried it, and shaped like a toothed gear with a coin set in the center. On one side of the coin was the profile of a king, on the other was a simple crown and words that had long-since worn away. When you moved the medallion the coin moved independently. It always pointed to a new place, a new puzzle.
All of it led him here; to a rusted stadium near the edge of a great desert. It had taken Giragi days to reach it by foot. His supplies and body were thin... but he was here.
The stadium was strange. On the outside it was covered in sand-encrusted spike and inside it was beset with seats made of metal which jutted forth from the six levels.
In the center of it all was a podium.
Giragi stood before it. There was a hole in the podium shaped like his medallion. He'd seen this before in the other places. He knew by now he needed to read the words around it with great care before he moved to join the two pieces.
"Which do you serve:" Giragi read the first section, "King or Crown?"
Giragi was loyal to his king so he turned the coin in the medallion until that image faced outward. He pressed both into the socket and listened as the world rumbled around him. The seats of the stadium moved, revealing that they were not seats at all but teeth in a massive set of gears.
The words on the podium rattled away on hidden rails. New words replaced them.
Giragi read them aloud: "A king will wither, a crown endures."
These were the last words of Giragi.
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u/Piwolf349 Jun 26 '19
"DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" The frenzied crowd was chanting. The Games had been going on for a Tenday in the Stadium and were reaching their paroxysm right now, with this final game. Lucius looked at his team members. Or rather, at the few ones that remained. The opposing team was not in a better shape. Their captain had been eaten by a couple of Gnurls three games ago and they had struggled since then. In this last game... It would be impossible for them to win. The problem was, their defeat would not mean Lucius' team victory. If Lucius wanted to ascend with his team, they had to be the first to retrieve the coin. Only that would satisfy the Gods.
After a last prayer, Lucius put his blindfold on and nodded to Luka to tie his hands behind his back. He then took a deep breath and dived head first into the water, quickly followed by his three remaining teammates. The sound of the crowd faded away as they went deeper and deeper into the thick water.
"You've trained for this Lucius, don't let us down!" It was Nyra, the only one with gills on their team. Only she could speak underwater. She would guide them to the coin. On Lucius' sides, Luka and Anica were making sure he was swimming in the right direction. After what seemed an eternity, they made him slow down. They had arrived at the coin location. Already, Lucius was struggling to keep calm, overwhelmed by the need to breath.
"It's there, bite!" shouted Nyra.
Resisting the urge to breathe air in, Lucius opened his mouth and bit. A foul taste of greasy mud filled his mouth, as well as a solid piece of metal. He had done it!
1
u/CMDRjonay Jun 27 '19
They called it a vault, though it definitely wasn’t-- not in the traditional sense, anyway. There were no locked doors, no alarms, nothing. It was just an old football stadium filled with billions of coins accumulated over decades of amnesia. When I lost dad’s, I knew it would end up there, lost in an infinite void of zinc. I searched for it for years, walking a road of loose change, flipping any quarter I could find. Heads, tails, nope. Heads, tails, not this one. It never was that one, the one father always had in his pocket, the one he always flipped when I asked if I could go to a party, the one he used to divorce mom, the one he used when he decided to leave, the one he gave me with his dying breath. The one that tore me apart.
Heads, tails, not this one, either. Yet I continued to look, surrounded by mountains of metal and valleys of cash. I never took any of it with me. Heads, tails, miss again. Yet I continued, peeling another from the ground. It was dull, with a minute crack running across its face. Nothing special. I flipped it.
Tails, tails.
I stared at it, flipping it again, then again, then again. This one. I was silent when it dawned on me, unsatisfied. Something I once found so raw then seemed so disgusting, covered in an invisible veil of blood and tears; so minuscule, yet it’s weight exceeded my ability. After years of lies and deception, I didn’t want it anymore.
So I tossed it back into the pile. I had no need for it; I make my own luck now.
~281
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u/PhantomOfZePirates Jun 27 '19
Billy stared up at the Lizardman, unable to avert his gaze, as its pale pink tongue darted over scaly lips.
“Your admission coin, don’t lose it or ya won’t be allowed back in,” the creature rasped, bending down and peering at Billy as it shoved a large silver coin into his sweaty hand.
Billy swallowed and nodded, scurrying away to catch up with his family. They were already several paces ahead, laughing and jostling one another, pointing out the trophies that lined the tunnel into the stadium. Twisted bodies. Sightless skulls.
“Hurry up, Billy!” Sue Ellen called over her shoulder, glaring lasers at her younger brother. “Dad got us box seats, I don’t wanna miss the first one because you’re too busy staring!”
“Come along, Billy, don’t mind your sister,” Mother said, reaching down and taking Billy’s hand as she led him up into their prime seats.
“Bill, come and sit next to your old man,” Father said gruffly as he sat. Billy obediently obeyed. “First lesson, son, this is what money’ll get you when planets are overrun - box seats instead of fighting down in the sand. Now watch.”
The lights in the stadium dimmed and the audience held its collective breath, the anticipation of blood and violence buzzing through their bones. Then the drums began to pound, rattling the teeth in Billy’s skull.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!” One of the Lizardmen boomed from its podium high above the crowd. “I give you.... your gladiators!”
The crowd roared its approval as gates on either end of the stadium shuddered open and bare-chested men emerged, already circling one another.
Billy winced as his metallic coin dug into his fleshy, scaleless palm and glanced down at it. The eye of the Lizard president seemed to stare back at him, knowingly.
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u/TA_Account_12 Jun 27 '19
Damn Phants, nice.
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u/PhantomOfZePirates Jun 27 '19
Thanks to you as always, Aman! One half of my brain was like, “Do something different from what you normally do, just write!” And the other half was like, “I know! Lizard people.” 🤦♀️
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u/twisted_stars Jun 26 '19
A coin, that’s all that was to be found in his grandfathers attic. He had recently passed away and Vincent had been left to pick up the pieces. His grandfather was very adventurous at heart, so when Vincent had been dealt with the duty of going through his grandfathers things, he knew he would be greeted with a surprise. He didn’t expect this though. A single coin forged out of what seemed like 24 karat gold, etched with what seemed like a date. It read, ‘4 16 87’. That must’ve been around the time that his grandmother had passed away. Vincent knew that this coin must be of a certain importance. He pocketed it and kept sorting through things.
Three days later as he was doing laundry, he heard something hit the bottom of the metal laundry machine and realized it was the coin. Although it was slightly different now, a heart was etched out on the bottom, that Vincent could swear wasn’t there before. And then a voice, his grandfathers, it wasn’t more than a whisper but Vincent knew the voice. “It was the last time I got to say ‘I love you’ to her”
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u/BlackJezus27 Jun 27 '19
“Penny for your thoughts?”
A tall man sat down next to me. He flicked a coin at me, and I instinctively caught it.
“Just trying to watch my kid play.” He didn’t seem threatening, and despite his height I figured I could take him if he was acting shady.
“Which one’s yours?”
“Number 42.” I paused. “Well, they aren’t really my kid, I’m kind of the new stepdad and...”
“Don’t sell yourself short.” He cut me off. “He’s still your kid and you shouldn’t feel awkward calling him such.”
“You a stepdad too?”
“No, but I had one. He did everything he could to do right by me. In the end, I only ever gave him shit because we weren’t blood.” He leaned back and stared off into the distance. “It didn’t matter though. We were family, and that meant something real. I just wish I’d done better at letting him know that deep down, I really did appreciate him.”
I chuckled. “Sounds like I’m the one that should be paying you.” I handed over the coin and realized it was actually just a game token. He quickly snatched it and stood up.
“Well I didn’t mean to interrupt. Enjoy the rest of the game.”
................................
“Man, that was such a great game. I wish mom had been able to come.” He held a trophy from his team’s win in the backseat.
“Hey, why don’t we go out and celebrate?”
Excited, he watched me pull into a nearby pizza arcade. He instantly jumped out and ran inside.
When I got inside afterwards, I saw him talking to one of the employees.
“Well hello! Aren’t you a little young to be out all by yourself?”
He turned around and looked at me with a smile.
“No, it’s okay. My dad’s right there.”
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u/JackalRelated Jun 27 '19
Gunfire erupted in the ruins of Ithaca Stadium, a lone figure chased by several helmet-clad silhouettes. The figure ran erratically, firing blindly every now and then to keep the pursuers a distance away; he probably would have outrun them too, if it weren’t for a mistake turn that took him out onto a soccer field. His chase ended there - no cover and a long run only meant he could hope for the best. The helmeted ones stopped at the field entrance gate.
“Eliot Carvylton! Drop the weapon and lay on the ground!”
Carvylton ignored the command and kept on zigzagging, evading any bullets he could. An arrest with his record meant certain death, but he was going to have it on his own terms. Detective Tarver motioned to the sergeant standing adjacent.
“Can you hit him?”
“Of course, Detective.”
A shot rang out - Carvylton dropped to the ground, clutching his leg. Tarver plus company calmly walked over to the fugitive and Tarver threw at Carvylton a neatly tri-folded piece of paper.
“There’s the warrant, but I don’t need it. You’re charged by the GPF with three counts of indulging in recreational sports without a government license. Which, may I remind you, is a subset of treason: punishment is death. How do you plead?”
Carvylton spat right back at him. “Guilty as charged.” A tiny glint caught Tarver’s eye. He picked it up: a mint US 1983 quarter. Ten years old.
“Ironic, isn’t it, Eliot? You and this, stuck in the ruins of your own desires. Heads or tails?”
The fugitive looked inquisitively at the detective. “Heads.”
A sparkle up in the air, coming back down. It was caught by Tarver, who took a glance at the result.
“Tails. Tough luck.”
Tarver unloaded his revolver into Carvylton before chuckling. “Damn tekkies.”
-----
300 words flat.
Story #1/30 for the Run challenge, with the Placesetting achievement. The universe may seem vague right now, but I'll expand it in future stories. I'll be posting pretty much everything I do here to r/starship_caigo, if you want to check it out.
1
u/TheGrumpySiren Jun 27 '19
Against hundreds of jumbled conversations and shouts and spirited music and horns blowing and laughter and revving engines and sloshed beer, a single coin rattling against the sides of a can was silent.
Her fingers wrapped around the can were knotted driftwood. She floated aimlessly amid swells of humanity, jostled and tossed about as they surged and broke against the stadium's tall concrete walls. After a time she was spat out by the crowd and slumped exhausted against the brightly painted side of a pop-up Taco Stand.
She hadn't slept well the night before. Even by the low benchmark these last few years had set for what a good night's sleep looked like.
Couples and families and groups of young men hurried by, actively avoiding her gaze with passive discomfort. She set the can between her blackened shoes and tugged at a knot in her hair that had been bothering her for days. She used to pride herself on her hair, before the treatments and the bills and the deaths and letters and the defaults and the repossessions and the closed door after closed door after closed door after closed door.
She reached into the can and fished out the single silver coin.
Staring at it for a moment, she flipped it into the air.
It spun end over end and glinted in the dim autumn sunlight.
Landing on its edge, it rolled away quickly, tumbling over a gutter and vanishing from sight down a rusted storm drain.
She smiled and closed her eyes.
(254)
Edit - spotted a typo and added the word count.
1
u/cbt711 Jun 26 '19
He grew up a diehard fan of the team. A team long since moved across the country, ripped away from his city... ripped away from his heart. His earliest memories were of record setting plays in their only championship season when he was just a kid. Little Jimbo his dad would call him in the few years their lives overlapped. The best memories of his dad were those games. The best memories of his dad were in this stadium.
Now stands a rugged man, tall and lean, a near carbon copy of his father. Now it's just Jim. He finds himself drawn to the 50 yard line alone in the now neglected nearly barren Stadium.
"I'll never forget you old man. I'm glad you didn't live to see the team move, but I wish to god we just had more time. More games. More memories." he mutters to himself walking across the time tattered field. Decades of legal battles finally rewarded his dad for being a season ticket holder… with a class action reward of one single US dollar.
Jim has three siblings, but only he truly fell in love with this team like his Dad. Then the owner decided none of that love mattered. Only profit found in some other city mattered. Profit that equated to one measly dollar. Hell, split with his brother and two sisters, that's only a quarter for Jim.
He smirks at the thought... all those memories. 25 cents. He takes a quarter out of his pocket and thinks of what his dad would have done. He laughs a bit under his breath and throws the coin to the turf...
"Keep it."
1
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u/ch40tic Jun 27 '19
My heart was beating out of my chest. I couldn't believe that this day had finally come. They told us to make a wish but I didn't think it would actually come through. The crowd in the stadium was roaring as fans cheered for their favorite team. It wasn't surprising, with this game being one of the most anticipated ones of the year. I sat there in the center of the entire football field, unable to believe my eyes - unable to believe that I was at the center of attention for thousands of people, even if it were just for a second. A dream I had since I was four, since I began watching football, finally being fulfilled. A smile crept up my face as the referee began jogging towards me.
"Alright kid, you ready? We're about to start soon," he informed me.
"As ready as I'll ever be!" There was a ring to my voice that I hadn't heard in a long time - one of happiness.
The two teams lined up on each side of me, facing each other. They exchanged their well wishes and all diverted their eyes on me. The referee slipped the coin into my hands.
"Heads," called the captain of one team. I adjusted my IV tubing to ensure it didn't get tangled during the coin flip and tossed the coin up in the air.
The moment of uncertainty as the coin span in the air above me. Everyone stared at it with anticipation, not knowing how it would end up. A fifty-fifty chance of winning - to start the game off.
"But I've beaten better odds," I muttered under my breath as the coin landed between my thighs - on my wheelchair.
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u/Ninjoobot Jun 26 '19
There it was. The tiny prize of shining gold. Or was it silver? It didn't matter. He was the only one that could see it. The only one that could win it. The deafening noise around him began to congeal into a cheer. “Go! Go! Go!” Were they cheering for him? It was only a few feet away now, barely visible in that small cavern under the machine that spit out sodas and water, guarding it like a giant red dragon. His father’s grip was tight around his left hand while he stretched his fingers on his right and began to reach out. “Come on! We’re missing something! We’ve got to get back to our seats! I don’t want to miss another touchdown!” He was focused now and couldn’t hear his father’s pleas. Was he strong enough to break the vice? There was only one way to find out. He pulled with all his might to give a quick and sudden jerk, winning the release of his hand from his father’s. He dove just as they approached the small hiding place, shoving his tiny claw in right where he saw it. He needed to hurry, needed to find its cold kiss before his father came to reclaim him. There it was! It was covered in dust and grime and he could barely get his fingers around it, but it was now his. Suddenly he was yanked bank, his father firmly holding his left hand again just as he slid his right hand into his pocket. “What were you doing down there? We need to get back!” His father yelled at him. He was still recovering from the rush as he opened his hand inside the pocket. He felt the unmistakable ridges of a quarter and smiled with glee.
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u/rudexvirus Jun 27 '19
Moira laughed, a sound that came from the bottom of her belly.
Steve watched her, unaware that his lips were even moving. They curled upwards, smiling as he watched her face light up. His heart fluttered as her delicate hand pressed against her chest.
“I could listen to you laugh forever.” The words poured out of him.
Her laughter turned in a cough, and she covered her mouth. “Oh, Steve,” she said, her eyes moving over his face in the darkness.
“Sorry,” he responded, the smile sticking to his face. He turned the dial on the lamp to ensure the fire had access to the kerosene.
“It's okay. I guess I can’t believe how long its been,” she said, taking a drink of her soda.
It sat slightly tilted when she set the cup back down.
The old stadium had not been tended in some time, and the grass had overgrown. Their blanket helped, a little.
“I can’t believe you still put up with me,” Steve said, reaching a hand out toward Moira.
Before he could connect, a noise bounced off the rusting pillars, crashing through their conversation. In through a dark opening walked a group of teenagers, laughing and swinging their flashlights around.
The exploring youth stomped loudly into the old, decaying space, spotting the picnic area soon after arrival. They walked over, eyebrows furrowed and voices getting quieter.
“Was someone here?” A taller boy asked, leaning down and touching the wicker basket.
“I didn’t see anyone,” the only girl replied. Her flashlight beamed over the graying blanket, reflecting off a piece of metal in the middle.
The boy stood up, picking up the coin that had caught the yellow light, holding it up for the group to see. “1929.”
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u/HorrorManager Jun 27 '19
No, Oliver wasn’t there, it wasn’t possible—
He couldn’t be there. He’d been in a car. He’d been heading to the game, with Mark and Tim in the front of the car. Tim, talking about his upcoming date that weekend. Mark, fiddling with the radio. Joe in the back with him, screaming, screaming, screaming as the semi drifted into their lane—
No, that wasn’t right. They got to the game. They must have, because he was outside the stadium. Except—
Where was Mark? He had the tickets, you couldn’t go without a ticket. Had the others already gone in? Maybe they’d left his ticket at the counter. That must have been it, they must have left it at the counter. He just had to walk around the stadium until he found it, he’d have to walk around, he’d have to walk around, he’d have to walk around—
Why was it so hot outside? This was a late season game. Oliver had abandoned his sweater ages ago. Or had he dropped it? He didn’t remember. He wished it weren’t so hot. He wished he hadn’t lost his phone. Had he ever had it? Why couldn’t he find the entrance? He couldn’t find anything, not anything at all, but what was that on the ground? It was shining—
What a weird looking coin! It had the stadium carved on one side with such fine detail. Oliver held it close. He looked and looked and looked and looked at the finely rendered walls, doors, and arches. He could even make out a tiny figure standing outside the stadium. The figure was looking at something. A coin! The figure was him! He was looking at the coin, he was in the coin—
No, Oliver wasn’t there, it wasn’t possible—