Friday Fictioneers – Leaving

Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!

PHOTO PROMPT © LIZ YOUNG

Leaving

It’s little things that betray her. She’s wearing perfume. When I ask how her day has been, she says, “Oh, you know…” She’s not telling me where she’s been in her car. She’s happy.

And I’m not.

I provide for her, protect her. All I ask is that she puts me first.

So be it. She’s using her car to cheat on me; her car will end the affair. Last night I made a pinhole in the hydraulics.

*       *       *

“You’re leaving him? Thank goodness.”

“Yes. Tomorrow. Thank you for so much support, Jenny.”

“Take care as you drive home, Sarah.”

InLinkz – click here to join the fun!

69 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Leaving”

    • Dear Rochelle
      Thank you for your kind comment.
      Sarah may be lucky. A pinhole will cause progressive brake failure – the brakes will go spongy before they fail completely. Let’s hope she’s alert!
      Shalom
      Penny
      xx

      Like

    • Thank you for your perceptive comment, Tannille. You spotted the deliberate ambiguity. The story leaves it uncertain as to whether Sarah was cheating. However, her conversation with Jenny is quite a hint that she’s been with her rather than with a lover.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you for your interesting comment, Sheldon. You’re right up to a point that it’s a shame they didn’t talk things through. However, some men are control freaks and use both physical and psychological force to get their own way. It’s not easy to confront, or have meaningful dialogue with someone like that.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. The most dangerous time for someone in a relationship with an abuser is when they try to leave. He could see the writing on the wall and did a pre-emptive strike. I hope she survived and immediately slapped a restraining order on him and left town. Hoping the insurance people investigate the accident and toss that bugger behind bars.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you for your indignant comment, Jade. I love it when my story stirs up the emotions! It’s not in the text, but in the back story Sarah realises there’s a problem with the brakes and pulls over before it becomes dangerous. Her abuser was pretty incompetent. If she’d had a fatal accident, the chances are high that the hydraulic fluid vented by the pinhole would have been spotted and he would have done time. And of course he was wrong about the affair; Sarah was visiting with Jenny.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you for your compassionate comment, Linda. It’s not in the text, but in the back story Sarah realises there’s a problem with the brakes and pulls over before it becomes dangerous. Her abuser was pretty incompetent. If she’d had a fatal accident, the chances are high that the hydraulic fluid vented by the pinhole would have been spotted and he would have done time. And of course he was wrong about the affair; Sarah was visiting with Jenny.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Gabi, Thank you for your generous comment. I’m delighted you ground your teeth; domestic abusers are horrible. In the back story, Sarah survived the accident. A pinhole would lead to progressive brake failure, and Sarah noticed in time and pulled over.

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Ooh, nicely done. The mind of the jealous person.
    I hope she decides to leave him the car and get her friend to ick her up!
    (Sucker for a happy ending, which I don’t think is going to happen.)

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you for commenting, Athling. A pinhole in the hydraulics is going to cause progressive failure of the brakes – they will go soft before they fail entirely. Maybe Sarah pulls over and calls a mechanic?

      Like

    • Thank you for your thoughtful comment. Sabotaging the car is certainly drastic, but is it out of character for a man who demands to be put first, I wonder? Demanding to be first in someone’s life is very different from a partnership of equals.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Oh dear, He is capable of endangering her, then it is time to get out quick. In lots of ways when people feel undermined and hurt, mostly without real justification they tend to overreact as the red mist forms.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Quite a story…and looking at the photo I’m going to let her walk away intact with the car a wreck and all her instincts about him confirmed…And of course she’s having an affair. I’ve always liked the name Jenny! Great story Penny.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Thank you for your thoughtful and entertaining comment. Sarah’s having an affair with Jenny! That adds a whole other dimension to the story, and the text doesn’t rule it out. I like your reading, Miranda!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you for your kind comment. In the backstory the plan backfires. The brakes fail progressively, Sarah notices they’re getting soft, pulls over and summons a mechanic. Sarah is saved, and we can breathe again!

      Liked by 1 person

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