Flash Fiction Contest - Digital Pill

The wonderfully talented Becca J Campbell is running a flash fiction contest in honor of her soon-to-be-published novel Foreign Identity (awesome novel BTW you should totally buy it!) and guess what?! I decided to enter. 

Normally these contests stress me out. No matter how hard I try to think of something, I just can't. I wanted to enter the lovely Anna's contest Once Upon a Time, but each time I sat down to write it, my mind froze up. Incredibly frustrating!

So this time I just sat down and started to type jibber and what do you know...it kinda made some sense. Sort of. Well maybe. Anyway here's what I wrote. I'll let you be the judge.

Digital Pill

There were three things Adora needed to remember in order to stay alive: Willa was safe at home, the pill was in her left pocket and she needed to find the weapon to end this horrid dream. If she could keep those three things at the front of her mind she’d stop running after the Willa holograms and finish her task much quicker. But that’s what they wanted, didn’t they? For her to get confused and fail. She clutched at her pocket feeling the tiny capsule hard against her fingertips. All she had to do was find the weapon and then she could swallow the pill; return to Willa. The droning sound of static startled her from her thoughts and she swung around searching out the source.

“Hello, love. Looking for me?”

“No!” Adora backed away with caution. Her eyes locked on Willa.

It’s not Willa. It’s a hologram. The pill is in my left pocket. I have to find the weapon.

She ran through her mantra for the hundredth time.

“Stay with me, love. We could be so happy together.” The hologram moved forward, her hand outstretched, reaching for Adora.

Duality by Cocoaspen

Could we be happy? Adora wondered.

“It’s possible - here.” The hologram replied, taking another step.

So they can read minds too.

She stepped further back, feeling the wall push up against her. There was nowhere to turn, but maybe this Willa was right. Maybe they could be happy here.

“Come to me. Let me end your suffering.” Willa’s voice was pulling her in, she wanted to stay; she was sure of it now.

She reached out her fingertips to touch Willa’s outstretch hand; the soft hands that once loved her back. But these hands weren’t soft, they flickered in and out. It was too late to turn back.