Short-short #1: Karma

“This can’t be right! Why are you doing this?”

“Hard to believe, I know, but it is what it is.”

“Wait, I can pay you! More than she is. Much more!”

“Not sure who ‘she’ is, but you definitely could pay me more, seeing as I’m doing this for free. For me.”

“Free? You? What the–“

“You don’t even remember me, do you? Heh. Figures. Dumbass. Always were too full of yourself to notice anyone around you. The past two weeks have been interesting, watching you in action again. You’ve gotten smoother, but you’re still the same self-centered little schmuck.”

“Who–? What the hell is going on here?!?”

“Tell you what. I’m going to give you 15 minutes. I’m going to leave the room and let you think about everyone who might want to see you end up like this and be willing to do it themselves instead of hiring someone, and see if you can remember me. Your adult life only, please. You were probably pretty fucked up as a kid, too, but no one deserves to die for youthful indiscretions. Not like this, at least. And 15 minutes goes by pretty quick. Since you like to gamble so much, I’ll make you a deal, too. Remember me, figure everything out, and apologize, and I’ll make it quick. Relatively speaking. If you can’t remember, though, it’s going to be slow and painful and I’m going to remind you of everything, in gory detail, every step of the way. And you’re still going to apologize. That sound fair?”

“You’re fucking crazy! The f—“

“14 minutes, 30 seconds. I’ll be back. Think hard now. Your death depends on it.”

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.