Ficlets

Conflict

The character contemplated his plotline. “This should be easy,” the character thought.

“Not so,” cried the antagonist, throwing a twist into the character’s path.

“I’m undone,” the character said. Knowing that he drove the plot was one thing, but discovering that the plot shaped him was too much to bear. Rather than risk failure, the character turned and ran.

The antagonist watched him disappear over the horizon. In the silence that followed his thoughts wandered. What was he to do now? He looked at his feet, his twist seemed suddenly melodramatic and deus ex machinaic.

“That was pointless,” the antagonist said to no one. “I’ve only hurt myself, dragging that out here, leaving it in my own path more than it ever lay in the character’s.”

The sun moved, slowed over the horizon, and dipped. As night fell, a realization rose in the antagonist.

“I am now the character of this story.”

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