Ficlet Fragment: Today

Clutered by Tommia Wright

Today’s ficlet comes courtesy of the Daily Prompt: Walking down the street, you encounter a folded piece of paper on the sidewalk. You pick it up and read it and immediately, your life has changed. Describe this experience.

Today

Royce Roberts stretched for the piece of paper that fell to the ground, elbow and shoulder popping in lieu of knees. The nonstandard quality of the paper made for sharp corners, one that dug under the surface of Royce’s fingernail, right to the quick. He muttered just as he bit down on the finger to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t in time to keep the white surface free of red specks that now smudged over the first half of the addressee’s name.

Wiping away the droplets with his free hand, he felt the remains of the drink make its way up the back of his throat. Middle finger still in his mouth, he clenched the remaining four fingers of his other hand, as he forced the bile down, willing the anger he felt to evaporate the bitter brew along with the virulent news in his hand.

The last time Cary Joyce Roberts opened such a mailing, it had cost him his legs, birthed a life based on a lie, and killed any hopes to keep the family together.

Staring down at the illegible initials, there was a fifty-fifty chance that Royce’s time had come or worse – Gail Julia’s calling would kill them all.

(Another piece of the story may be found here.)

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