This was my entry in the first round of the NYC Midnight 100 Word Microfiction Challenge.
It won First Place in my group!
How the competition works is that everyone who signs up is assigned to a group. Each group is then assigned three things: a genre that the story must fit in, an action that must happen in the story, and a word that must appear in the story.
For my group, our genre was Romance, our action was “breaking a window”, and the word was “idea”. As you can see, I took a pretty liberal definition on these three requirements 🙂
Her life of crime began by stealing a dozen Snickers, stuffing them in her pocket in front of the camera, her devotion recorded.
He came to her. Shining badge, jangling handcuffs applied gently as he walked her out of the bodega.
Gradual escalation was her idea.
Speeding, her hands sweaty on the steering wheel.
Disorderly, her proclamations fueled with rum.
Finally, knife, blood, splatter, cruiser.
He sat in the front seat, only inches away, flashing lights, squawking radio, and the kick of her heels against the window that temporarily separated them was the beating of her heart, only for him.
Here’s what the three judges had to say about my entry:
“Wow, this is possibly the most messed-up romantic story I’ve ever read, which is a compliment, even if it doesn’t sound like one. This girl has major issues, and the fact she just keeps escalating crimes to get a cop’s attention is ridiculous, but still believable in the framework of the story. This feels emotionally complete, if a bit disturbing, but it’s very well executed. Props.”
“You do a great job of using concision to give us all the sordid details of this unsetting story of romantic obsession. The implications of the final line are absolutely chilling.”
“What I enjoy most about this piece is the concreteness of the overall plot, which is an especially impressive feat given the length of the narrative. I enjoy how this story has a set beginning (literally the line “Her life of crime began”), middle (where the protagonist is continuing to escalate her unlawful behaviors), and end (the violent attack that lands your protagonist in real trouble). I also appreciate how much we get to see your central character grow throughout the progression of the piece as her obsession with the officer continues to evolve, and her actions become even more reckless and dangerous.”