The Bag - Decision
A Story Every Day in 2024 June 11th 163/366
This microfiction is part of a series. If you would like to read it from the start, please visit The Bag - The Chapters where you can start from the very beginning should you so choose.
The last episode link is here if you missed it: The Bag - Uncertainty
*
It was like having a piece of apple stuck between his teeth. Jason replayed the girl disappearing in his head. On the periphery of his mind, he could sense something but he just could not land on it.
This was getting him nowhere.
He sighed. Beside him, Ella watched him, invisible. If she could just connect...
And then she sensed it. She had learnt enough to know not to ignore subtle shifts in her consciousness. Others called it instinct but Malcolm had taught her to read these signals more clearly and react. She knew she was being controlled somehow; knew how Disruptors could limit her abilities. While she had been captured, she had not noticed any fluctuations. They had remained constant and as a result, her powers had been kept at a level needed to play His game but not to win.
But there was a shift and it could not mean anything good.
Jason meanwhile was moving himself, scrutinising the crucial items from the bag laid out on the table next to his phone. She could see that he was frustrated too.
He picked up his phone and returned to the article about her.
Look at the photo! she inwardly screamed.
She could see him scrolling, reading. Her picture had been bypassed. Jason sighed again and then scrolled back up. She was staring at his head intently.
Come on! See me!
The Disruptors were being ramped up. She could feel her thinking becoming fuzzy, like an interrupted TV reception. It could only mean one thing. She could not risk being caught here. She had no doubt she was being watched - He loved to watch.
It meant time was running out.
They were coming.
She had to make a decision. Her head was beginning to freeze. Her grasp was slipping, movement was slipping. Her faint self was fading. Debilitation beginning. Immobilisation was imminent.
She heard buzzing. Drones. Jason was staring at his phone, at her eyes.
She had to go. There was the squeal of tyres and the thud of rubber as something rode up onto a kerbside. The door of a Hummer slamming.
Jason! See me!
In desperation, she reached for him but...
Too late.
***
366 words
Or is it? I know, more suspense. But I think that this can't be the end, can it? It's just starting...
Thanks for stopping by! If you do read this, please do leave a comment as I love to interact with my readers.
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Comments (10)
Well-wrought! I find myself understanding the Master of the Games position. Some must get into espionage because they are nefarious people but others unquestionably do it because they understand the nature of the world and want to to turn the tables on the bad guys, so to speak, using their own methods... but oh... the webs we weave, and how often we get caught ourselves!
Oh… so close… but oh so far!
Me to Jason be like, "Boy, is you blind?" Hahahahahaha. Yessss, it's moreeeeee suspense!
No it definitely can’t be the end!
She can't seem to catch a break. Jason needs to come out of his fog!
Put all these together and you have a prologue methinks.
What a great opening paragraph to describe Jason’s inability to put the pieces together! And Ella’s desperation came through so powerfully! Another great installment!
Too bad she didn't pop him upside his head, so he'd pay attention!
Come on Jason, time to wake up and see so that we can learn what it's all about! I actually forgot to breathe towards the end.
My favorite H.G. Wells novel--The Island of D.r Moreau--was originally written as a serial, and it engages because he intentionally made every chapter a cliffhanger! We're climbing a mountain here, so we're bound to hang from some cliffs! This is the tense moment where Jason's recollection can occur just in the nick of time to help him avoid--or confront?--the disruptors. Or... something else...