Friday Prose Grab Bag
For the prompt "Cards".
His dry throat made him want to swallow repeatedly but he clamped down on that urge, concentrating on stilling his breathing.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Slowly, he tried to tell himself over the deafening noise his wild heart was making. He could feel its erratic beats in all the veins of his body. His opponent looked at him impishly, radiating a confidence born from the fact that he had been dominating the game since the beginning of the evening.
All is not lost. I can't lose now. Not again.
A sudden memory from a book came back to him: a player could control every twitch of his face but he was always betrayed by his hands. He reflexively tightened his grip on his cards to still his too obvious trembling. His opponent noticed and smirked lazily, silently urging him to play. He tried to give an awkward smile back but his facial muscles wouldn't comply.
I can't afford to lose again.
He looked down at his cards. A bead of sweat tickled the side of is face as it went down his temple, his cheek, his chin... Could he muster up the courage to play? But they both new he had no choice, he was backed into a corner. Running away wasn't an option. It had never been one in this duel. Yes, he finally recognised it: this wasn't a friendly game of cards, it was a duel. Always a duel. Even if they had both forgotten why they fought a long time ago.
If there is any deity around, were it God, Zeus or Odin, please help me.
He moved his arm jerkily, far too suddenly for the calm attitude he was trying to fake.
He played.
For a few seconds that seemed like an eternity of pounding blood in his ears, he stared dumbly. He couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. Then he let his first genuine smile of the evening creep up his face, letting out a sound that could have been a hacking laugh. A sound of relief.
Finally. Luck had changed sides.
"War!"
Note: I wanted to try my hand at building tension but I think I'll post something on crack (my usual corner) for the prompt "Weather" for fun in the next few days. Well, I hope I didn't fail that experiment too much.
His dry throat made him want to swallow repeatedly but he clamped down on that urge, concentrating on stilling his breathing.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Slowly, he tried to tell himself over the deafening noise his wild heart was making. He could feel its erratic beats in all the veins of his body. His opponent looked at him impishly, radiating a confidence born from the fact that he had been dominating the game since the beginning of the evening.
All is not lost. I can't lose now. Not again.
A sudden memory from a book came back to him: a player could control every twitch of his face but he was always betrayed by his hands. He reflexively tightened his grip on his cards to still his too obvious trembling. His opponent noticed and smirked lazily, silently urging him to play. He tried to give an awkward smile back but his facial muscles wouldn't comply.
I can't afford to lose again.
He looked down at his cards. A bead of sweat tickled the side of is face as it went down his temple, his cheek, his chin... Could he muster up the courage to play? But they both new he had no choice, he was backed into a corner. Running away wasn't an option. It had never been one in this duel. Yes, he finally recognised it: this wasn't a friendly game of cards, it was a duel. Always a duel. Even if they had both forgotten why they fought a long time ago.
If there is any deity around, were it God, Zeus or Odin, please help me.
He moved his arm jerkily, far too suddenly for the calm attitude he was trying to fake.
He played.
For a few seconds that seemed like an eternity of pounding blood in his ears, he stared dumbly. He couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. Then he let his first genuine smile of the evening creep up his face, letting out a sound that could have been a hacking laugh. A sound of relief.
Finally. Luck had changed sides.
"War!"
Note: I wanted to try my hand at building tension but I think I'll post something on crack (my usual corner) for the prompt "Weather" for fun in the next few days. Well, I hope I didn't fail that experiment too much.