Ficlets

Now or Never

Violet struggled in his grasp. “Shoot him, Casey! Shoot the bloody coward in the ba-”

“Nobody move or this she-devil gets it, you hear?” The stranger pulled the blade closer to Violet’s neck so that a trickle of blood appeared at her throat.

I dropped my gun and held my hands up. “You can have my gun, you already have the map, so just let her go.”

The stranger leered at me, his mouth twisting cruelly. “Oh, I don’t think I’ll be letting this spirited filly run away just yet.”

He dragged her to the side of the ship, where my father stored the rowboat.

“Psst!” My father hissed at me. “Listen, Casey, I’m going to distract him, and I want you to grab the gun and shoot him. Shoot him right through the eyes.”

I nodded in assent, my heart pounding.

The stranger had reached the rowboat. He pushed Violet with the hilt of his sword and she fell into the boat. He turned to us and bent forward in an elaborate bow. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

In that instant, my father cried, “Now!”

It was now or never.

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