IntShoWriMo 2014: Day 8

Day 8: King’s Law

Today’s Prompt: “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude,” said Martin Luther King Jr. imagine a character who needs to forgive someone. Who does he or she need to forgive? What was the nature of the injury? What were its implications? Does forgiveness come easily to your character or is retaliation a more natural impulse? Does your character try and fail to forgive initially? See how your character’s desire to forgive creates obstacles and ultimately, fuels your plot.

— Courtesy: PW.Org

Word Count: 1,152

            “He ought to have known better. It’s supposed to be his job.”

No answer.

            “Damn, I should have killed him on the spot. I should, too.”

            “It would have increased the fatality by one. That’s bad arithmetic.”

            “It’s good equation, though. It is too, considering who’s involved. Leaving him alive creates a chemical imbalance.”

He rolled off the bed and walked around the room in an arc heaving heavy sighs. He turned around abruptly, retraced his steps and sat on the edge of the bed.

            “You can’t resolve this issue with a mathematical formula.”

            “My point,” he said. “Is I didn’t fulfill my obligations to him.” He stabbed the pendant lying in a tangle beside the bedside lamp.

            “Let it rest now.” She reached out and touched his hand. “Come to bed.”

He took her hand in his but kept his back turned to her.

            “You know what, everyday I remember that cussed day, every night the memory of it weighs down on me, and I feel like I played the role of the actor who forgot his lines at the defining moment of the play. The jerk who ended the play before it truly ended.”

She remained quiet. She’d heard those lines rehashed over and over again these past months she might as well live in an echo chamber. Read More Here: IntShoWriMo 2014

Eneh Akpan

June 8th, 2014