“Bad Story” by Christian Mayer, XI: flash fiction

Bad Story

Once upon a time, blah blah blah, something extraordinary, or completely mundane, happened to a single person. That person, or their descendants, or simply someone admiring from the box seat, took it as a sign or a clue. Maybe they find a plot, maybe they create it. Love. loss. Dental floss. Then, there is the turning point where everything unravels. Luke finds his father and Dorothy finds the pot of gold and Jill tumbles down the beanstalk after Jack. The characters are forced to adapt to this discovery, resulting in their lives changing, maybe forming connections, or breaking them. There is an end, which may or may not be pleasing, might be a twist, but otherwise, the character’s life becomes this story, so that the story itself becomes a life. You get the picture.

Christian Mayer, XI: flash fiction