Warrior: Experiment in Flash

Flash Fiction is defined as “fiction of a type characterized by being very short, typically consisting of only a few hundred words” or “a fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers character and plot development.”

I recently wrote a few flash fiction pieces, some of which I have submitted to a few magazines and journals that publish flash fiction. Here is one piece that I don’t plan to submit and hence releasing it on the blog.

It is an unpublished piece that I wrote during the second wave of Covid last year. Titled “Warrior”, it is inpired by the extreme war-like situation that many healthcare workers were exposed to, out of the blue, for a brief period of a few weeks. Many workers had families to look after and their own lives going on, all of which took a back seat while the war was on.

This story is about one such woman worker, who gets caught in the rush, with several back stories packed in a small flash. Let me know what you think of this experiment in Flash fiction.

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Warrior: Flash Fiction

Ok bye, I am leaving. Did I lock the balcony door? I think I did, but I can’t remember. I start my car.

How was I going to manage the patients that were still in the emergency for close to four days waiting for a room in the general ward? If things continued like this, some of them were going to need an ICU very soon. Even an ICU may not be enough for some. Tough to choose.

A motorcycle zooms past my car from my left. Left? Doesn’t he have any sense? Why is he driving on the right? I curse him while speaking to the nursing head on the phone.

The motorcyclist hurls some abuses after passing me. I look around. I realise that it is me who is on the right side, well on the wrong side that is, of the road.

Ok, my bad. I steer my car and veer it towards the left lane manoeuvring the traffic. I think I am deft. I am not. The bumper still gets a few scratches. And I get more abuses.

Anyway, that’s not important. Coming back to my hospital. Even if I manage to get patients into the ward by hook or crook, how am I going to get the doctors and nurses?

That is a truck in front of me, or is it a bus? And did I just jump a red signal?

Yeah, coming back. Where am I going to get the medicines from? What about the other supplies?

Oh, no! Wait, No, No, Nooo!

Clunk! Thud!

My head is wobbling, I can’t move my leg. How will I reach the hospital? I forgot to tell them that the local administration is sending four critical patients. Not profitable, but critical.

I should call someone. Oh, my phone is broken. I can’t move.

Thump! Plunk!

Oh no! This is bad. The car seat has turned red. Going to the hospital is out of question now.

Oink!

I stop feeling any pain. A feeling of calm.

Phew!

Ok, bye! I am leaving. I did what I could.

But did I switch off the geyser at home? I think I switched off the gas, at least.

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