The Cereal Wish | Part 8
Fast & Short is a flash fiction collaboration between eight Literate Ape writers. Each was tasked with authoring one piece of flash fiction that would be combined to create a single short story. The writers’ flash fiction needed to serve two purposes: 1. Stand alone as a unique piece of flash fiction and 2. Serve as a vehicle for building a larger story and driving that story forward. Over the next two weeks, Literate Ape will publish all eight flash fiction stories individually with a link to the growing compilation. We hope you enjoy this literary experiment.
—DH2 , co-editors
By J.L. Thurston
I TURNED BACK TO THE WINDOW. The drones hovered only a moment, then toured to the right to spy through another apartment window like hornets trying to find their way into a hive. Some bored dudes in quarantine were probably trying to score a peep show.
Maybe.
“Hello?” Sarah was growing impatient.
Maggie was still barking out the window. I went to look. Down the street, almost out of my line of sight, was a black limo. I don’t know why I went after it, exactly, but I was having the weirdest fucking day of my life. I was operating on pure confusion and instinct, by that point. And Maggie was disturbed. So, I was disturbed.
Sarah shouted something about me scaring her as Maggie and I ran out the door. We were in front of the limo before I even knew what I was doing. I banged on the tinted window.
Surprisingly, it rolled down.
My genie stared out at me in her red Chanel suit, with two other beautiful women who looked like they were models for the L.O.L. doll company. All genies, I realized. The three of them wore these sassy little smirks on their faces.
“I need to know what the hell is happening here.”
They watched me for a minute. Sizing me up, maybe. Toying with the idea of using their cosmic powers against me.
At last, my genie shrugged. “I like you, cereal man. You’re a dog person. So, I’ll let you in on a secret.”
The window began to roll up and she threw me a wink. “We’re just running a trial for the apocalypse.”
The moment the window closed, the limo disappeared, and I was standing by the street half covered in crushed up melting cereal with my dog barking at thin air.
