Ten Minutes

This short text is actually part of a literary challenge set up by a French blog where you have to write a short story centered on a given theme. I liked the idea and gave it a shot for the fun of it. I wasn't supposed to write in another language, but I thought it would be interesting to see if I could and how different it would come out from the original in French. Quite challenging because I'm very fond of puns and colourful expressions which often get lost in translation. But I really enjoyed doing it as I had absolutely no idea what I would come up with. Words just flowed out of nowhere. It never was my intention, I could hear the characters talking inside my head and so I felt compelled to follow them. I took some liberties from the given theme though (you had 10 minutes to pack up your bags and run away from whatever danger you were in), but it doesn't really matter, does it? Besides, had the story been any longer, who knows what my nameless character might have done with that briefcase. Maybe take it away with him? It's up to you to imagine what's next and let me know. That was actually the initial purpose: unlock your imagination.

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Ten minutes. That was the short time left to stick it in the briefcase and clear off. Ten fucking minutes with the furious thumping of his heart pogoing in his mouth and the rhytmical clatter of his trembling knees.

“Ten minutes won't make it. Holy shit, we're dead!”

“No, you are if you don't move your ass and just stand here petrified 'till they bump you off.”

“All the same, it's hot as hell! Hot and cold... funny how we're all going to burn before we end up in the freezer. That's one great equation. To be or not to be...”

“Move it, goddammit! This is not the time to get philosophical about the irony of language.”

“So what? Don't you like Shakespeare?”

“Nah, but you'll end up like Schrödinger's cat if you don't get moving.”

“I'd rather be the Cheshire Cat. Now, where's that bloody case so we can get it over with?”

“Over there, on the desk to your left. You should see it. You unlock the code and insert the device. Careful not to touch the sensors.”

“What if it doesn't work?”

“It has to. It's our unique chance and you know it.”

“Silence is consent.”

“Shut up and do it!”

Ten minutes to be a hero and save humanity from a permanent nightmare. That was all he had left to make a difference. He suddenly felt filled with a new, almost supernatural strength he never suspected he had. He was about to save the world and no one would ever know about it. Yet, it didn't matter because at that moment, he felt he and the world were as one.

© La Pensine Mutine. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited.

Cover picture: radiuoz

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