Blinded
Michael Thomas-Knight
315 words

Blinded with pain, the room comes back into dizzying focus. I look up into my business partner’s face; he’s smiling. I can see him smiling and I know I’m in danger. It’s the same smile he had when we swindled old lady Jenkins out of her retirement savings to pay for the construction work we were doing on her home. The glass I had been drinking from sits on its side, a few feet from me. The spilled bourbon casts a brown splotch on the light gray carpet.

 Jerry’s smile melts as my vision distorts, turning the room into a carnival funhouse mirror. My veins are on fire as the burning spreads to every part of my body. I push myself to stand but my muscles don’t move. Foamy spittle oozes from my mouth. Everything in my vision turns red. I feel the warmth of blood leaking out of my eyes and down the sides of my nose.

 Poison. I am poisoned. Jerry’s greed has led to my demise. Wish I could be there when he finds out I’ve been cooking the books and hiding over a million dollars in debt. I haven’t paid business taxes in years. I’ve been dodging calls from the IRS. He’ll surely wind up in prison. Tax evasion, fraud, no way around it. I signed his name to everything. I cough and blood sprays the carpet before me. Pressure in my head and behind my eyes overwhelms me. My body is on fire, my insides burn. My body shakes violently as snake venom slithers through my veins. I instantly go blind. I feel eternal darkness coming for me, a welcomed relief.

 

 

This flash fiction piece is part of a larger body of work that I call “Moments of Death: 99 Ways to Die” It deals with the last few moments of each character’s life. – Michael Thomas-Knight

Michael Thomas-KnightMichael Thomas-Knight is an author of over fifty horror fiction short-stories and articles published in magazines, web-zines, and print anthologies. Michael’s style ranges from classic ghost stories to atmospheric Eldritch tales steeped in mysticism, cynicism, and irony. When he’s not writing fiction, Michael build’s vintage monster model kits and reviews horror movies, books, and items at his blog, Parlor of Horror.
Blog: http://parlorofhorror.wordpress.com

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/michaelthomasknight