For this weeks Flash! Friday we had to incorporate the theme of Deja Vu into a story about the following prompt:
Train wreck at Montparnasse, 1895. Public domain photo.
Derailed
I’ve watched this scene a hundred times. I’m missing something. I stare at my translucent pocket watch, counting down. There’s the toot of the horn, the crunch of the barricade, then screaming passengers, before the train crashes through the wall. I’m stood below, selling my papers. I never see it coming.
I’ve tried everything. Each time I get a little stronger, my options expanding.
I toss the papers away in a breeze, but my genial self just stands there laughing. Toot, crunch, scream, crash, dead.
I possess a bird and poop all over myself. More laughing. Toot, crunch, scream, crash, dead.
I make it rain. Damn, I have an umbrella. Toot, crunch, scream, crash, dead.
Eventually I’m strong enough to swerve a nearby horse off course. I’ll dive away just in time. Instead I stand there gormlessly and get trampled to death. Progress, I guess.
I’m running out of ideas when it strikes me. I only care about my precious papers. I concentrate hard and throw a wheel from the delivery wagon. I watch in amazement as I finally leave that fateful spot. I’ve done it, I’ve saved myself.
My joy is short lived. I should have known my wife would cover for me.
Toot, crunch, scream, crash, dead.
