Week 624 and 12 YEARS of #ThursThreads!

So this week celebrates 12 years of #ThursThreads going strong lead by Siobhan Muir. Its one of the longest flash fiction contests I know of (granted my knowledge of flash fiction contests is somewhat limited). Either way, I am happy and honored to be able to participate. Check out all of this week's entries, and prior years entries on her blog: #ThursThreads

I missed last week, but I had the pleasure of winning Week 622 with my little tale of the end of the world. That was very cool. 

Apparently I must be on a theme or trend as this week's takes on a similar but different bend.

Prompt:  “I made that last one up.”

Zakaria’s eyes scan the paper in his hand, his eyebrows raising the farther he went. “This is quite the list.”

Adain rubs the back of his neck and stares at the floor. “Well, you asked for what we needed.”

“That I did.” Zakaria looks it over one more time before folding it up and tucking it in the inside pocket of his jacket.

“No questions?” the younger man asks, still refusing to look Zakaria in the eye. He shifts his weight nervously from one foot to another.

“Should I have any?”

“Uh, um, that is-uh.”

“Out with it, Adain.”

“Imadethatlastoneup,” Adian rushes, looking everywhere except at Zakaria.

Zakaria chuckled and debated whether he should put the younger man out of his misery or not. Watching him squirm certainly was entertaining.

“What was that? I didn’t quite catch.”

Adian sighed and stared at the floor again, his face flushed. A beat later, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and finally looked at Zakaria. “I made that last one up.”

Zakaria laughed and clapped Adian on the shoulder. “I know.”

The younger man’s eyes bugged out with a look of incredulousness. “H-h-how?”

“I was your age once, a long time ago. I know how it goes.” Zakaria wrapped an arm around the other man’s shoulder in camaraderie. “Now, let’s go see about fulfilling this list. You only take over the world for the first time once.”

#ThursThreads Week 622 - It's the End of the World as We Know It

 And I feel fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.  

Ah yes, that R.E.M song is quite fitting for this week's #ThursThreads courtesy of Siobhan Muir's weekly challenge. 

I've missed the past few weeks due to various conflicts - work being crazy, personal family stuff going on, life in general... but I made sure I was able to post for this week. 

The prompt for this week is:  “We all said it wasn’t enough.”

And the tie in with the R.E.M song? Well, read on, my dear reader and all will be made known. 

It was really happening, The world was ending. The apocalypse was nigh and there wasn’t jackshit anyone could do.

Of course, when the news broke of the prophecy, mass anarchy broke out. Looting, rampant crime, the complete and total breakdown of modern society. If the world wasn’t already ending, the current state of the world certainly would do it.

Wait.

The prophecy never said how the world was ending, just that it was. Everyone assumed they knew how, well every religious fanatic nutjob did. Fire and brimstone, hellfire and destruction.

We didn’t have to wait for the end of the world. We did it ourselves.

Shit.

The ultimate self-fulfilling prophecy.

With a long-suffering sigh that only a being who wasn’t quite immortal but certainly older than any human could make, Josiah cracked open a beer.

That first cold, crisp swallow coated his throat and down to his stomach. He sighed again, this time in relief. The fires were getting closer and the ever-present smoke in the air was irritating his throat.

His companion, another quasi-immortal like himself, leaned back in the chair across from him, his boot-clad feet propped up on the table.

"We all said it wasn’t enough.”

Josiah looked down at his dwindling beer collection as the other man grabbed a beer from the cooler.

“I know, but how does one properly stock enough beer for the end of the world? I bought ALL of it.”

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Thanks for reading!