Flashfiction : Beware of the Night

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     Crickets chirped in the cool, quiet night as Earl sat on his porch. His hand cradled a warm cup of coffee which he occasionally sipped.

     It would have been a comfortable evening, but the mosquitoes buzzing in his ears made annoying companions. His left hand slapped on a mosquito who was fortunate enough to escape his wrath. 

     Earl grumbled when he examined his empty palm. The buzzing around his ear continued.

     “Is that you, Earl?” A man by the road called out and started to walk towards him.

     “Of course it’s me,” Earl grumbled back to the man he recognised as Pat Mc’kenzy. “Who else would you be expecting to be sitting on my porch?”

     Pat gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head.

     “Give me a break, Earl.” Pat came closer. “Things have just been very weird tonight.” Pat showed Earl his bleeding right arm.

     “Geez, Pat! What happened to you? Wrestled a cayote or something?” Earl nearly jumped back at the sight.

     “It was Old Man Monroe.” Pat wiped off the blood from his arm. The wound was not that large, and the blood was mostly stains on the sleeves of his plaid shirt.

     “Yeah, Old Man Monroe must be losing it…” Pat’s index finger pointed to his temple.

     “What he do?”

     “The crazy sonofabitch jumped up and bit me, that’s what!”

     “Say what?”

     “Yeah, jumped up and bit me. Probably aiming for my neck, but I fought him off and he took a chunk off of my arm.”

     “Anything I can do fer you? Bandage you up, at least?”

     “Nah, I’m fine. This is barely a flesh wound. I was on my way home and saw you here. Figured I should  warn you should you ever see Old Man Monroe.

     “Anyway, I better get going and patch myself up. Nothing that a bandage and a shot of whiskey wouldn’t fix.” Pat chuckled and walked away.

     Earl took a sip on his mug then realized that the mug was empty. He sighed and gazed up at the full moon floating up in the night sky.

     He never figured Old Man Monroe to be one for the loony bin. The man is mostly quiet and kept things to himself, but the man always greets him with a grin of what was left of his teeth whenever they meet. He seemed respectable enough, despite living alone in his house for years. Earl could not remember if the man was ever married and had kids or was always alone all this time. His train of thought stopped and he decided to call it a night and head back in.

     He stopped when he heard the crunching of leaves on his lawn.

     “Anything else you need, Pat?” He could see Pat standing at the foot of his porch standing still.

     Earl strained his eyes to look at Pat who stood quietly without a reply to his calling.

     Like a whip snapping, Pat’s head pulled back. A hiss and a growl and he grabbed Earl by the arm. Earl’s arm broke under Pat’s strength and he cried out in pain.

     Pat pulled him in closer and Earl came face to face with Pat’s glazed eyes and wide-opened mouth.

     Earl tried to scream, but Pat bit off his larynx which left him a gurgling mass on the ground.

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Hello everyone, it’s my first fiction write-up for the year. I haven’t been writing any stories in a while and I was feeling a bit rusty.

I hope the way I told this one was clear and understandable. What about the dialogue?

Anyway, I do welcome constructive criticism for I do understand that as a writer, I still have a lot more improvement to go.

I hope you liked this short story of mine.

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I hope you have a nice day.

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