1

She used to be proud.

He said he would call her, so she would wait, but never call him before he made the promised call.

A day passed and no word from him. 2 days, 3, 4…. She has hurt, thinking he didn’t care.

She meets a friend at the mall, who asks about him. She says they’re not together anymore.

A few more days pass and a common friend calls her asking about it and saying he heard the ‘news’ from someone else and was very hurt himself.

She calls him and decides never to be proud again.

2

Many years pass and she’s on a relationship with someone else.

She has never forgotten the lesson from her past. Never forgiven herself for having hurt her first love.

So, she’s still living by the rule of not being proud, and even if her new current love said he’d call, if it takes too long, she just goes ahead and calls him herself.

A bit too much on his opinion, tough.

He gets tired. He says the spark is gone.  She’s too pushy, too much, too insisting. Sort of suffocating…

They break up. And humiliated, she’s hurt once again.

This post was written for the Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest #4.

The rules for contest #4 are to write 2 chapters of 99-words each (198 words total), telling a story that shows a scar. It can be memoir, other forms of creative non-fiction,  any genre of fiction or a BOTS (based on a true story).

This one is based on a true story. The first part at least. The second is fiction, as it never really happened, although it portraits a very real fear…

The winner for this contest was announced yesterday at the Carrot Ranch.

Congratulations to D. Wallace Peach!

Good job to all the participants!

Portuguese version: Ligar ou não ligar?