The Old School Is a Jealous Ghost

This 100-word story came from this prompt: “write about a magical pencil.” That’s pretty bad but overall I like what I came up with.  I don’t like that an adverb snuck its way in there but that’s one of the limits of the form. I do like the last phrase. And I do love sucking potato guts from french fries. And shooting them at people.

It sunk fast into his thigh like a wax straw through the flesh-pulp of a melon. The thick blood on the floor extended the comparison; he used to suck potato guts from french fries and fill the pockets in with ketchup like a sweet red tang epoxy. The pencil above his femoral artery rolled patiently ignored between the keyboard and the disk drive and he finished the last page of his section of the paper as its deep sting hit his flank. Every newsroom has its legends; that the old school is a jealous ghost became for him a fact.

Tags: Flash fiction, writing, Drabble, microfiction, 100 word story