Friday, January 15, 2010

Something Simple -- flash fiction

I found it in a basket in a garage sale. I had one just like it in junior high. Those wide staring eyes. The stumpy feet. The strange lack of genitals, but a belly button and a fully formed backside complete with buttcrack.

Its hair was hot pink. I reflexively stroked it as I picked it up.

"That's a quarter miss."

I stood frozen to the spot. Watching a story play out in my mind's eye.

"Miss? Miss that's a quarter."

I still don't really believe that my wishing on something made of rubbery plastic with glued in hair could have caused everything that followed, but sometimes……

"Miss? Are you alright miss?"

I sat down before I fell down on a rickety lawn chair and put my head between my knees. All that money on therapy. Did seeing a stupid rubber doll in a basket just undo several thousand dollars worth of therapy?

My clothes were soaked through. I could see sweat from my forehead dripping onto the driveway between my sandals.

"I'll get you a glass of water. It must be the heat…..you just sit there a minute."

It was all coming back. Washing over me. The humiliation. The feeling of powerlessness. Cindy, Rosie, Dianne. The terrible trio. The ones who stood in the door to eighth grade homeroom passing judgment on my overbite, my hair, my hand-me-down clothes.

Then the wish on the wishnick. Something simple. Just a little bit of power. Dr. Joseph said that their disappearance had nothing to do with me. And over the years I had come to believe her.

I had oral surgery and six years of braces. I finished top of my college class and got a good job. I wore comfortable yet stylish clothes. I smiled at myself in the mirror. Now holding this stupid grinning troll doll had made me unravel.

It had only been that once. Ever since I had been able to hide it, or beat it back into submission.

This is the first time that I have had a meltdown like this in public. And in the daytime. I just hope that I can manage to drink my water without showing the lady my fangs, or worse yet, ripping out her throat and burying her in the woods right next to Cindy, Rosie and Dianne.


 




A second offering for those who dare... Fresh is Best... my new flash piece at Flashes in the Dark


And lastly a link to this week's 67 #fridayflash stories at Mad Utopia

43 comments:

Marisa Birns said...

Wow oh wow!

We had those troll dolls too. Didn't realize the power could have been mine too.

Of course, I don't have fangs (though I do like those bad boy vamps!)

Always am happy that I've read your work. It impresses!

Eric J. Krause said...

Ooh, good twist. Guess the doll really did help get rid of them in a way. Good story!

shannon esposito said...

Wow, I thought she just wished for them to disappear, but she actually wished herself into a vampire so she could tear them apart herself! Brutal! lol Go troll dolls! :-)

Anonymous said...

But if she was a vampire then why the oral surgery and the braces? Why the mirror?...

I think she turned into a troll. Wait! A troll in daylight? Madness.

Were-bunny?

Karen from Mentor said...

Thank you for the opening Anton....I knew I was taking a chance with mentioning fangs... but when I was writing it I didn't see her as a vampire...just as a being who is more powerful than the average human...in the I can have claws and fangs and rip your throat out if you piss me off kind of way...you know...something simple... no opera cape required....

Karen from Mentor said...

@ Marisa and Shannon....yes troll dolls and ouija boards...the POWER is real....the price is nominal...at least at first....[insert dramatic music]

Karen from Mentor said...

Thanks for stopping in Eric glad you liked it.

You guys are so much fun!

Karen :0)

Alan W. Davidson said...

Those evil little trolls bring out the worst in me too...great job, Karen!

Unknown said...

Beautiful. The braces to fangs threw me a bit. A deliciously dark delivery.
-David G Shrock

Laura Eno said...

So that's how the hot pink troll dolls work...

Mine had lime green hair, totally different method to them.

Bwahahaha! Fun story!

Karen from Mentor said...

Yes and don't quote me on this Laura but I'm pretty sure the ones with Purple hair are for any and all wishing about sex....

purple...it's such a Passionate color...

Karen from Mentor said...

Alan it's funny that you would say "evil little trolls" cause they just are...cute but evil somehow.....shudder shudder shudder....
Thanks for the "great job"

*skips happily off....*

Karen from Mentor said...

Hmmm David..come to think of it..when I got MY braces off my eye teeth were somehow LONGER....I always did wonder a little bit about my orthodontist....

thanks for stopping in...

:0)

dan powell said...

Great opening that really builds to your climactic reveal. Nice example of rising action. :)

Anonymous said...

Love it, nice one! Vampire in therapy... very interesting! :)

PS: The trio didn't disappear, they just didn't know where to look :P

Laurita said...

I've been trying to comment on this all day. It started off with that odd humour and took a definite and awesome twist. Loved the ending. This character could be one of my Neighbours.

I knew those troll dolls meant trouble.

Anonymous said...

I was totally sucked in to that story!

More! More! More!

~Tim said...

We had little plastic Rat Finks at the same time as troll dolls. I think they kept each other in check. [Or did they? bwa ha ha...]

I love stories like this that draw in common objects from our youth.

Weezel said...

Oddly I've always been drawn to the evil little monsters also and as a child I had several different colors. Wonder where they all went?

Something to ponder . . .

John Wiswell said...

This feels like the beginning of something interesting. Will you keep this troll-doll-lover around?

I'm assuming the hot pink butt belongs to a troll doll.

Anonymous said...

haha love the twist - that was fun. :)

Cascade Lily said...

Troll dolls and fangs. What more could you wish for in a piece of flash? LOL

Karen from Mentor said...

@ Lily strippers? or cookies? or strippers bearing cookies...hey there's an idea...

@ Michelle glad you liked it!

@ John W. re: the hot pink butt...I see you're thinking along the lines of what more could you ask for ...see my answer to Lily... :0)

Thanks so much for stopping in and for taking the time to comment guys!

Karen from Mentor said...

@ Weezel...DO NOT look in your closet...don't! just sayin...

@ Becky..."sucked in" ....hee hee hee
[and don't worry I'll make more]

@ Tim "objects from our youth?" ...um...yeah from my youth...not sitting on the dash of my car in varying sizes and colors...yeah...from my youth...

:0)

Karen from Mentor said...

@ Dan RE: "Great opening that really builds to your climactic reveal. Nice example of rising action."

*happy sigh* that was just so nice I wanted to have it in the thread twice.

And if you notice...I'm taking the high road and not even referencing the joke I want to make about rising action.

Thanks so much for stopping in Dan....

Karen from Mentor said...

wow Laurita...thanks for coming back then to comment...I love that you thought about it all day.... [feels all warm and fuzzy]


And Estrella? They should look behind the [edited] for the [edited] cuz that's where [edited] buried them.....

Genevieve Jack said...

My kids have those troll dolls and now every time I see one, I will think of you and your secret fangs. Clever piece of writing! Well done!

mazzz in Leeds said...

Troll dolls were scary, IMO!

Fun twist, but the build-up was most excellent!

Karen from Mentor said...

Thanks so much Maria. It was fun to write..

...your story this week? oh man!!! Them bones .....them bones...them...ham bones.....

hee hee hee

:0)

Karen from Mentor said...

Ah GP...making the ordinary frightening...that's what we do...hey I think I'll put that on my business card.

thanks for stopping in!

:0)

Karen from Mentor said...

Thanks to Jen, Jon, Laura, Marisa, Paul, Mazzz/Maria, Marc Nash, Emma, Skycycler, Anne, Shannon, Estrella, Michael, Sean and Sam for leaving comments over at Flashes in the Dark on my other offering Fresh is Best...

You guys ROCK!!

Chris Chartrand said...

I knew there was more to those creepy little things than I thought. Maybe I could still find a purple haired troll. If what you say is true it could come in handy.

Karen from Mentor said...

Just about any dollar store has them Chris. Just wait to start the wishing til you're back in the privacy of your own home. :0)

Melissa said...

I love that you mention that the doll has no genitals but a fully-formed backside. Nice interesting detail that no one usually mentions (a detail true for most dolls in general). (Maybe I like it b/c I wrote about that in a poem one time... :) I like the imaginary element in this and the power it can have in the "real" world. (Depending I guess on whether you assume she's a vampire--I think you said somewhere she wasn't necessarily one?) "Don't mess with me. I've got an imagination that will F**kin' take you down..."

Skycycler said...

Ha ha! I love it when discovered things suddenly remind you of forgotten things - your first childhood crush, a trip to a special place, the classmates whose throats you ripped out and buried in the woods! Brilliant, funny, twisted piece Karen!

Anonymous said...

What an ending! Great story.

Karen from Mentor said...

Thanks Dennis, and thanks for stopping in. :0)

I really enjoyed reading your flash this morning.

I hope you join us soon for fridayflash, we have a blast each and every week.

The community that Jon Strother has assembled under the #fridayflash banner is full of creative warm and welcoming writers. I think you'd fit right in.

Karen from Mentor said...

@ Skycycler YAY! no one has called me twisted in at least two weeks...laughing...but man, I read this REALLY twisted piece by Gary Raven this morning...[I'll send you the link]
Thanks for stopping in with a "brilliant" in your pocket. See you next week.

Karen :0)

Karen from Mentor said...

Wow Melissa, you've just sent me in a different direction for a story for this character.....excuse me while I go scribble frantically....

Thanks for stopping in and taking the time to comment. Loved your piece this week as usual.

*skips happily off to play with the power of troll dolls some more.....*

:0)

CJ Hodges MacFarlane said...

Heh, amusing dark piece - and for the record? I think those trolls are scary too, not cute. Not at all.

Karen from Mentor said...

Noted for the record CJ ...troll dolls are scary.... but just making sure.... you do realize that that opinion is now on your permanent record?

[And the trolls check that stuff periodically]

just sayin...

Thanks for stopping in.

Karen :0)

Cat Connor said...

So the troll dolls with orange hair are for?

Karen from Mentor said...

Curing athlete's foot of course....

[silly Cat]