Short Story I wrote

Silence. That's all there was as Flan stared up at his ceiling. The lack of noise seemed to penetrate deeply into his soul, filling all the nooks and crannies of his mind. He was bored. Something seemed amiss among all the daily ponderings that were going through his head.

Why am I so worked up over nothing? he thought. It wasn't really that big a deal.

 Up until yesterday, everything had been going so well. He had finished catching up with some friends whom he hadn't seen in weeks, he had tuned out some amazing art pieces, and he was drinking enough coffee to satisfy his inner craving. The day seemed to be going by so smoothly, that is until.....

He shook his head firmly. No, he thought, best not to think about it. It was the last thing he wanted to consciously devote his attention to. Remembering painful moments wasn't really helpful. It just seemed to make situations worse.

And yet, sometimes it felt as though he couldn't control how he felt. It seemed to be too big of a task to handle. He had enough trouble dealing with the drama in his life as it was.

Whatever, he concluded. He had things to do. And worrying over things he couldn't control was just a waste of time. He slowly rolled over, then got out of bed. It was a normal day today, nothing special. However, Flan decided that he would attempt to enjoy the day the best he knew how. He was already dressed, so all he had to do was grab his keys and off he would go. Like a hopping toad, he leaped down the stairs, imagining himself as a giant leapfrog, ready to spring at the next step. He stumbled clumsily into the den.

The den was his place of excitement. Every time he hosted a party there, he felt like a king, who owned his own castle. Everything fit together so perfectly, like a puzzle that one had just finished.

He grabbed the keys off the pool table and exploded out the door, securely locking it first. After making it over and into the car, he started the engine, and off he went. Now..where to go first? he thought to himself. The local coffee shop looked tempting, but then again, he wanted to eat some food too. And not just coffee shop food. He pondered it over for a minute, then decided he would just eat at the coffee place. Their food is passable, he thought, barely.Worse case scenario..he would only gag a little bit. In a split second, Flan rammed his foot on the pedal and the car came to a screeching halt. He was at a stoplight, and had stopped his car just in time. A few seconds later, and he would of rear ended the car in front of him. Apparently, someone had just stopped their car in the middle of the intersection. Flan stuck his head out the window. The outside traffic had stopped.

"It's okay!" the guy yelled,"I got it!"

Flan let his head slam against the steering wheel. He sighed. Some crazed lunatic had stopped his car just to pick up a stupid penny! In the middle of a intersection, too! How did that guy even see the penny, with everything going on around him?

 Flan lifted his head back up. Admist the honking horns and drivers yelling expletives, the guy had gotten back into his car, and taken off. Shortly after, traffic resumed like normal.

As he pulled into the drive-thru at the coffee place, two men in black ski masks came over to his car. As Flan sat, paralyzed with fear, they broke open his car window, cobbled him in the face, and pulled him out of the car.

They dragged him into a nearby van and took off.

Flan trembled as the two men tied him up and slapped him several times.

"Wh-what do you want from me?" Flan stammered.

As the van continued along, one of the fellows next to Flan pulled off his ski mask and spoke in a stern voice.

"The world is going to end. We are part of the grand high council and we won't let that happen".

"What?" stumbled Flan.

"We need funds to make sure this never comes to pass", said the man.

The man pulled a magnum out of his pocket and shoved it into Flan's face.

Flan was breathing heavily now. "What do you want from ME?" he cried, his face wet with fear.

"How much money do you have?"

"Uh...I don't know. Forty dollars?" he stammered again.

"Good enough".

The van pulled over to the side of the road. The backdrop was a country setting, with no one around for miles.

One man shoved Flan out and next to the protruding lake.

"Wait! There must be some mistake!" he cried.

In the next five seconds, one man held him down while the other pointed the magnum and fired.

With the sun still in the middle of the sky, the two men loaded the body into the lake. Then they got in the back of the van and took off.

Flan's last wish was to tell his family how much he loved them.

And loved them he did.