The Game of Life
Max stared at the iron bars, cursing the day he’d met Sophie. He’d been happy before then, his future stretched out like an unplayed game.
To Sophie he’d been little more than a prize bull, a trophy to display to her friends. One twist of the nose ring kept him compliant throughout each humiliating display. With her shapely body close to his, he’d gaze at her beautiful face and melt all over again.
But when Sophie demanded a diamond as proof of his love, Max panicked. At nineteen, that kind of money was not to hand and robbery had been his only option…
Alarms screamed before he’d left the shop, the old jeweller’s blood dripping from his knife. No hope of evading arrest; surveillance cameras didn’t lie.
He’d stared at those bars for two years now and dreaded the next twenty-three. Early release was unlikely for taking a life…
He refocused on his lonely game of Solitaire and reached for the pills concealed in his shoe. His game of life would be ending here.
Word Count: 174
***
This is my story for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers, a writing challenge hosted by Priceless Joy. It asks us to write a story from a given photo prompt in 100-150 words, give or take 25. If you’d like to join in, follow the above link to see what to do. The challenge runs from Tuesday – Tuesday every week.
This week’s prompt was kindly provided by MajesticGoldenRose.
Apologies for the morbid nature of my story this week. I really am feeling very down at the moment and happy thoughts seem to evade me. Perhaps I need some sunshine…or some fairy dust from Tinkerbelle. 🙂
***
To read other stories or add a story yourself, click on the little blue frog:
Millie Thom 
Max in the picture looks beautiful.
But on the other matter I heard from Tinkerbell that she is out of fairy dust temporarily – too many humans seem to be in need of her help right now for one reason or another. So, can I just for now send you a big big hug all the way from my place to yours and remind you that all those dark dark clouds will blow away and the sun will shine upon you again. Trust me, know what I am talking about, like so many I too have been there and look, i am smiling😁😁😁😁 Carina
Carina, your lovely words are cheering me already. You are a very caring and understanding lady. ❤ Family illness is so hard to bear. We have a long hard slog ahead of us, but we're all determined to be strong.
Poor Max! The things we do for love! Wonderful story, Millie!
Thanks, PJ. I almost didn’t post this as it’s not very cheerful, is it? I couldn’t help seeing the animal pen as a prison…and on it went from there.
I thought you did an excellent job with the prompt photo Millie. I loved the story!
Thank you for that, PJ. 🙂
So sad, poor Max 😦
So sorry you are feeling down Millie, I hope you will feel a bit more perky soon. I wish I could send you some sun, as I am sure that will make you more cheerful. Hugs 🙂 x
That’s a lovely thought, Lynne. I’m at a low ebb right now and some sunshine would work wonders. Hugs to you, too. 😃
Poor Max, also though, a bit of a fool for killing in the name of love. If she really loved him she could’ve lived without the diamond. Nice spin on the prompt.
Yes, the stabbing was a bit drastic – but I’m thinking it hadn’t been intentional. Perhaps Max hadn’t anticipated resistance and had taken the knife just to make sure the diamond was handed over. Panic set in. (Well, something along those lines! Another fifty words and I could have put all this in my story. Lol) I’m sure Sophie didn’t love him at all. He was just her willing puppet. Thanks Iain 😃
Ah, love, it makes the world go blind. I wish Max could have seen that Sophie couldn’t have truly loved him, because if she had, she would have been happy, diamond or otherwise.
P.S. I hope you feel better soon 🙂
Thanks, Jade. It’s a family member who is seriously ill and I’m just upset about it. It’s hard feeling so helpless to do anything about it.
I definitely agree about Sophie. She didn’t love Max at all.
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that. I wish for a quick recovery for your family member.
Thank you! ❤
A sad tale that rings too true, well done.
I suppose many young people (and some not so young) are filled with the idea that they’d ‘do anything for love’ as the old song from Meatloaf goes. Hopefully none would take things as far as robbery and murder. Lol Thanks, Michael. 😀
Talking about the content of your story now (not the writing, which was excellent!), that started off bad, got worse and ended up terribly for poor Max. The things he did for a pretty face…
Yes, I’m holding to the thought that Max never intended things to get so out of hand: a robbery that went wrong sort of idea. Perhaps the jeweller made some threatening move and Max used the knife as he panicked. Still murder, though. (I don’t know why I wrote a story with such a disastrous ending!) 🙂
I love where you took this Millie! It is so sad that his love drove him to murder and then a life alone. Great job!
I think such stories are even sadder when the relationship / love affair is one-sided to start with. Sophie was just using Max to get what she wanted and didn’t love him at all. Thank you for liking the story, Antonia. 😀
A great story – very Hollywoodish. Do hope your low time is a short time. A good song might help if the sunshine is not available.
You’re right, Russell, a good song always helps to lift the spirits. Being down isn’t normal for me so perhaps that’s what I need. I like the word ‘Hollywoodish’! 😀
🙂
Hi, I’m majesticgoldenrose, and I am glad you used my prompt. Great post, btw, morbidity is okay!
Thank you. It is a lovely photo and inspired a lot of nice stories. 🙂
What a great story you created with this prompt. I enjoyed it! I am however, sorry you were feeling down this day. 😦 I hope all is well now Millie. 🙂 Hugs sent your way!
Thank you for liking my story, Cheryl. I’ll be OK soon and your kind words and hugs mean a lot to me. ❤
Hope you are feeling better. This is a sad story about a wasted life. Stabbing adds some drama, but there are many other ways to waste one’s life away.
no apologies necessary! though a very sad tale! I’ve been not well myself!