Monday, October 10, 2011

FICTION: Sneeze by Trina Jacobs

It was Saturday, so there were enough people in the Super Wal-Mart in populate a good-sized town. Yet, when Brandon sneezed in the paper goods aisle, sending packs of Styrofoam cups flying, no one said, “God bless you.”


He wiped his nose on his sleeve, then looked around in disbelief. There were people everywhere. They glared at him and stomped the cups flat as they passed him, but nobody said those three magic words.

That’s how the demon got in. SnurIt hadn’t planned on possessing anyone in the store, he was only passing through, but he wasn’t one to pass up such an opportunity.

Once inside Brandon, SnurIt looked around. The young man was terribly evil. In fact, he was hardly evil at all. The demon rubbed Brandon’s hands together and mumbled, “This will be easy.”

SnurIt quickly settled on his first demonic task: he would not pick up the fallen cups. He stomped down the aisle, and shoved an old lavender-haired woman into the air fresheners. Her butt hit the floor and cans rained down on her head.

As the demon passed, Brandon’s nose caught the stagnant floral scent of old lady cologne. Though SnurIt felt the sneeze coming, he couldn’t stop it. This sneeze was even stronger than the last. It blew the demon out of Brandon, along with a bunch of snot. He landed among the cheese. There was snot all over his favorite flame-red shirt.

The dazed old woman fixed her gaze on Brandon and muttered, “God bless you.”

Brandon wiped his nose on his other sleeve, then shrugged and walked past the mess he’d made and continued with his shopping.

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