It’s Friday! So that means it’s the day I muster up some courage and write some flash fiction. If the prompt sparks inspiration for you, please share your flash fic with me! I’d love to see it.
Today’s prompt is:
“It feels like letting go.”
Spite can be fuel. It can be a fury buried deep within a person that pushes them to do more, to prove others wrong.
“You’re not good enough at this, you should quit.”
The words echoed in Karrie’s mind. John had said them, nearly two years ago, but they still popped into her head now and then. Despite his words, he had come to her numerous times before she ended the–Friendship? She never really thought they were friends, more just acquaintances of a sort. He had come to her for advice on his writing, on his stories, even asked her to help and contribute through collaboration.
But the hammer always fell as soon as she pushed back against him. If she explained to him that he really needed an editor, he would tell her she just didn’t understand his work. Her work just wasn’t on par with his, according to John. If she told him an idea did not work and required revision, he would tell her she just lacked vision.
Those words and what he had done stuck with Karrie for a long time, until one day they didn’t. Spite and fury had become tools in her arsenal, mechanisms that pushed her to work harder and be better, if only to show John he was wrong about her. That day she didn’t need them anymore, as she held her first publication in her hands. It was no passive act, letting go of his poison, but it was certainly a gratifying one.
The Taming of the Muse 