Manip

[Camy]

Manip

by Camy

Head in hands, Martyn sat in front of the monitor and wept. Eventually, as all things pass, so did his tears. He took a deep breath, wiped his eyes, and, steeling himself, looked at the screen again.

His beloved, naked; eyes shut in throes of ecstasy: with another.

Martyn removed his glasses. Even blurred, the image hurt. He felt his first burst of anguish morphing into something a lot darker, and far more malevolent. As anguish begot pain; pain begot anger; anger begot jealousy; and finally, as he threw the monitor at the wall, rage.

As the shards of glass were still falling, Martyn strode to the kitchen, slid a butcher’s knife from the block, and sporting a rictus grin, walked to the bedroom as the doorbell chimed.

* * *

“You’re wicked, Jamie.”

“I know!” Jamie giggled as he rang the doorbell.

“Martyn’s gonna fuckin’ freak when he sees your photo manip of Jarek.”

“Yes, love, that’s why we should be there when he finds it.” He rang the bell again.

* * *

From across the room, Martyn watched his beloved, asleep.

“I love you,” he whispered, wincing as the knife cut deep through his veins. “Now I’ll never lose you.”

The doorbell chimed.

---

This was first published at The Hub as part of their first flash fiction anthology. The theme of the anthology was "Heartfelt", it was a challenge to write a story of no more than 200 words conveying a powerful emotion. 200 words is tough!

The title 'Manip' is short for Manipulation - in this case altering photographs with Photoshop.

[Cole Parker]

And this one's even better!

C

[Trab]

Excellent, but rather disturbing to me. Just this morning I was told by an online AS contact about a co-worker of his. It seems that someone decided to call her, as a joke, to tell her that her family had been severely injured in a car accident, and in her rush to get to them, she was in actuality killed. I don't know if charges can even be laid, but they should be. Practical jokes can be very deadly. That doesn't detract from this story though, as it is in the same theme/concept, that those types of jokes are not funny at all.

[DesDownunder]

Excellent, but rather disturbing to me. Just this morning I was told by an online AS contact about a co-worker of his. It seems that someone decided to call her, as a joke, to tell her that her family had been severely injured in a car accident, and in her rush to get to them, she was in actuality killed. I don't know if charges can even be laid, but they should be. Practical jokes can be very deadly. That doesn't detract from this story though, as it is in the same theme/concept, that those types of jokes are not funny at all.

I would add that Camy's excellent story also serves to create awareness of the consequences of a joke going wrong.

If we do ourselves in, it won't be because Hollywood (and Camy) didn't warn us.

[Jason Rimbaud]

Being a fan of piratical jokes, even I would never go as far as Camy decided to take his characters.

*shudders* Still, I'd love to see this little ditty as a short film. Gruesome.

Jason