SandwichMan

 ~ Kook kannan

Winning entry of PRADHARSHINI '24, Flash Fiction

Prompt: You get the ability to speak with the dead after touching an ancient book. But you can do so for only one minute.

Word limit: 180


SandwichMan:

Speaking with the dead was never my hobby until I touched that book. And the first person I talked to was a thousand-year-old mummy buried beside it.

But that's how learnt the rules for this power. One, I had to touch the dead in order to speak with them - which is not an easy feat. Two, I can speak with them only for one minute. Three, never again. Somehow, that mummy wasted the whole minute just to explain these three rules to me.

I had talked to many dead bodies ever since then and learnt a lot more nuances about it. But the most shocking one was what I learnt yesterday - it was not just my hands that wielded the power.

I went to the nearest 'SandwichMan' joint yesterday with my friends for a dinner party. And as soon as the allegedly chicken sandwich hit my taste buds, I started hearing the screams of a man in unbelievable agony. I couldn't even make out what he was saying. 

I finally understood what the 'Man' in 'SandwichMan' actually meant.

 


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