The challenge ~ Fictionally "Bump Off Your Enemies" in 200 words or less during the March 15, 2013 Facebook literary event hosted by authors Candace C. Bowen and Paul De Lancey.
Forty-six authors took the flash-murder challenge, now compiled in the e-book anthology,
Bump Off Your Enemies, available on Amazon.
My *Bump Off Your Enemies* Anthology Submission ~ The Yellow Canary
The nursery reeked of bourbon and shame. Every night, Jonathan returned
with a new bottle clutched in his hands. Returned to the last place he saw
their smiling faces. Empty bottles lined the floor and crawled up the walls. He
drank. He waited. He knew they would come for him. Elsie made sure of that
before her and the baby left this world.
The shadows blew passed the windows, lit only by a faint streetlight in the distance. The yellow canary sat patiently on the windowsill. As Jonathan stood in the center of the dark, shadowed room, he heard the old nursery rocker creak and closed his eyes. It was time. He knew he deserved what was to come.
A light breeze encircled his body as the shadows
moved closer. The songbird’s cold, gentle feet perched on his shoulder. The
cooling calmness rapidly vanished as the second canary perched on the opposite
shoulder, followed by dozens more.
The shadows surrounded him in an icy hurricane of
wind as the whispered chanting began. “I know…I know.”
Jonathan tried to open his eyes and scream, but it
was too late. He belonged to the shadows and the pecking canaries would devour
him.
© 2013 M.J. Sydney
