Six minutes...

Was that really all he had left? Three hundred sixty seconds? Well, less than that, now.

He looked into the eyes of his family, gathered around him atop the hill.

What was a man supposed to do in a situation like this? Pray? Meditate? Impart wisdom? Plan some last words? They'd have to be really special... You only got one chance at Last Words.

He thought for a moment. Two hundred seconds, now.

He nodded imperceptibly, straightened his back, and reached for a pair of scissors. With a confident, even snip, he pulled away a handful of hair and held it to the wind.

"Here and now," he pronounced, "I cast myself, my life, to the winds of the world."

He released the hair, and it scattered and separated, some gusting into the sky, some fluttering to the ground, and some coming to rest on the eyes of his children.

"You're so melodramatic, Dad," said his son.

"Sorry," he said. Then he died.

Comments

Want to comment? Login or Join

Login Sign up
1
bespectakate about 13 years ago

Utterly beautiful

TimSevenhuysen (joined about 13 years ago)
Visit Website

I write 50-word stories at www.FiftyWordStories.com. I post a story every weekday, with guest submissions featured on Mondays.

I enjoy writing all kinds of microfiction, and I love seeing what other people come up with.

2 favorites

Story information

License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 3.0

genres

drama

tags

wind dead sorry die last words apology hair blow

Prompt

Blank Prompt

Freeform prompt. Every Friday, writers face a blank page without any prompt. They write whatever they want in six minutes or less.
Prompt suggested by Galen

Contact


We like you. Say "Hi."