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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2296523-Tangled-in-Deaths-Embrace
Rated: ASR · Short Story · Comedy · #2296523
When I tried to get my wallet from the pond, something else waited in there.
Staring into the murky green, I shook my head. “I’m not going in there.

Shauna laughed. “No one said you had to but you’re the one who dropped your wallet in there-”

“You knocked it out of my hand!”

She continued, “I’m not going in. It’s not deep but I’ve read about flesh-eating bacteria.”

“Really? You’re gonna bring that up now? That’s not even real,” Max said.

Shauna said, “Dude, I’ve read the news. It’ll kill you.”

“Guys!” I gestured at the soupy pond. “Can we not when I’m trying to figure out what to do about this? My rent money’s in there.”

Max said, “You’re so screwed.”

My nose wrinkled but I didn’t have a lot of options. “I’m gonna have to get in. Can you all help hold me up so my head doesn’t go under, or something? Probably no flesh-eating bacteria, but just in case.”

They nodded. I squatted at the side and stared at the thick, pea sludge. I tried to slowly climb in. My feet hit the slick muck and whipped out from under me.

Shauna and Max gripped my shoulders, all three of us coming this close to tasting the scum.

“You owe me dinner after this,” Shauna groaned.

“This is your fault.”

My hand groped around the slime and then I found it. My fingers clasped it and skeletal bones tangled around my appendage.

Panic surged. I thrashed at the side of the pond, shrieking with the escape attempt.

My friends yanked me out of the water before they cracked up.

“There’s a dead body in there!”

They laughed more so I glanced over my shoulder. Rotting limbs drifted at the surface, pulled from their resting place. My shoulders slumped.

I’d claimed my wallet but a tree branch owned my dignity.


This is an entry for
Daily Flash Fiction Challenge  (13+)
Enter your story of 300 words or less.
#896794 by Arakun the Twisted Raccoon
© Copyright 2023 Siobhan Falen (shadowsnflames at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2296523-Tangled-in-Deaths-Embrace