The Trifecta Challenge is to write anything, in whichever form, that is between 33 and 333 words based upon a word and definition given. This week’s word is “decay.” My personal challenge is to weave the entries into an actual story. Word count verified by Written? Kitten!
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“Perjury, Sahara. Do you know what that word means?” Dean shoved the last suitcase into the backseat and shut the door.
“Doesn’t that only count if you’re under oath?” She shrugged and went around the back of the car to the driver’s side. “It’s filling out a bunch of forms, not sitting on a witness stand.”
“It counts on your taxes, and filing for unemployment is the same thing. I think it even says ‘under penalty of perjury’ on it somewhere. If you keep this up, you’re never going to make it onto the witness stand.”
“Oh come on, Dean, there’s never been even the slightest hint of a problem,” said Sahara, nettled, then added “Yet.” She slid behind the driver’s seat. “Despite your constant dire warnings, I doubt I’m in any danger.”
“I’m talking about from me.”
“Do you think I like this?” Sahara slammed the door hard enough to make Dean’s ears ring for a moment. “Do you think I like the name Karen? It’s a stupid name. Why couldn’t I have picked my own name?”
“Really? We’re back to the name?” There was an ugly, metallic clatter against the door as he shut it and Dean grimaced. “Oh, goddammit.” He flung the door open again so he could remove the seatbelt from it. “You bitch and moan about your own name all the time.”
“I would have picked something better than Karen.” Dean looked up at her warningly as he bent over to untangle the shoulder strap from the door. “My least favorite aunt’s name was Karen. She was a zealot.”
“Hey. Hey you kids.” Before Dean could answer, the homeless man tapped him on the shoulder and grinned, displaying a picket fence of decaying teeth. “You gotta—”
There was a collective inhale of breath from the crowd on the sidewalk, who scattered in a screaming cacophony a moment later when Dean pulled the gun out of the waistband of his pants and turned it on the homeless man.
The Geekerella Report 
Oh! I didn’t expect that ending. I bet the homeless guy regrets stopping to ask Dean for money.
This is intriguing – I definitely want to read more of this. Terrific suspense. Terrific dialogue. The argument felt so real, even if what they argued about isn’t.
Thank you! I’m doing my best to make sure every week ends with a little humor or surprise. I’m curious; when you say “not real,” do you mean the scene is fiction in general or that the information is inaccurate? I very often with challenges just write by the seat of my pants and research while editing.
Whoa! Dean is really on the edge. That cliffhanger sounds like it is going nowhere good…
Binding till the last word. I enjoyed it.
That is one volatile couple. Thanks for joining in with us again. Trifecta rules state that we need the word as stated in the post, not any other variation of it. In this case decay instead of decaying. We hope to see you(and Sahara) back for the new prompt tomorrow.
Thank you for the reminder! I didn’t even think of that, I got so wrapped up in the writing of it! I’m looking forward to this weekend’s prompt!