I entered a short story competition that required me to write a 1000 word short story in 48 hours. The story needed to meet three things, a genre (A Ghost Story), a location (An Igloo) and an object (A Coffee Mug). It took me a while to find the right idea and to get it to work in a way I was happy with. But like the last time I entered something similar, I enjoyed the desire to find the story that sparked the right way for me. So, for the sake of creativity, here is 1 of the 24 rejected stories in a 100 word format..

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What Cannot Be Unseen

 

His fingers twitch, as his teeth bite down on the nails and the flesh that they sit upon. His eyes squint, and tighten as he pulls away, tearing the fingernail from the flesh in grotesque fashion. Without flinching he spits the nail to the ground and bears down upon the next. Then, freezes in place as the room’s temperature drops suddenly.

“Go away,” he whispers, as tears quickly well up in his eyes and run down his cheeks. “L-L-Leave me alone.” he hisses as he shuts his eyes tightly and squeezes his hands together as if he was kneading clay.