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Writing > Users > Joy12 > 2010

Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction


The following is a piece of writing submitted by Joy12 on November 20, 2010
"There are lions among us only to be tamed temporarily by circumstance."

Leo in the Driver's Seat


(Daniel and the Lion prompt – From the viewpoint of the lion}


Leo loved them all, even those females he buried haphazardly. The burials tired him, much more than the many ways he killed them. After the kill, what came was boring and unpleasant, a mockery really. He had tried to internalize a mechanism that controlled his impulsiveness, to no avail. He imagined that sometime in his early life, an unmanageable spirit had to have entered into him, a spirit infernal and powerful, and it was beginning to stir again, sending disturbing thoughts to his mind.

He took a bite from the burger he had bought at the rest area. The meat possessed a certain consistency as it rubbed against his gums. He ground it with his teeth and pasted it to the side with his tongue. Chomp, chomp…Still, the food did nothing for the hunger. Not the hunger in his stomach, but the other one.

He was driving on an empty road in an unfamiliar country with large, open fields leading into wooded sections. Soon the road would curve into the interstate and the drive would lose what little appeal it held for him. The roar of another engine alerted him to his driving. A black sports car darted from behind his van and pulled in front of him, speeding as it did so. Was it challenging him? In the next minute or so, the car became a dot on the horizon.

Leo shrugged, glancing at the speedometer. He wasn’t going to race with a spoiled person in a spoiler car and ruin his near-perfect record of driving. The wait at the last terminal for the loading of merchandise had been annoying enough. He brushed the dashboard with his hand and leaned back, slowing down a bit.

As he squinted at the distance, he glimpsed a shape on the road. The car that had overtaken his van had stopped. Behind it were two figures: one running, the other chasing.

Leo neared them, and noticed a young girl swinging her backpack at the man as she tried to escape from his clutches. He pulled his van in front of the car and stopped. Jumping out of his huge vehicle, he yelled with his huge voice. “Whoa! What’s going on?”

The girl ran to Leo. “Please, could you give me a lift to town? I don’t want to go with him.” She pointed to the young man. “He’s…he’s…”

“Go, hop in the van,” Leo told the girl. Then he took a few steps toward the young man and shoved him. The man raised his both hands in the air and rushed into the protection of his car. Leo laughed. Once more, his gigantic stature and wild red hair had given him the upper hand.

He smiled at the girl as he leaped into the driver's seat. Had the prey come to him now? “Hi, there.” He gave his voice a friendly tone. “What’s your name?”

“Daniela. Thank you for helping me.” A wispy quality of adolescence lingered about her.

“How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

None of the others had been seventeen. Leo kept a list of their ages in his mind. This little blonde thing would fit nicely into his list. He took a sneaking look at the girl as he put the van in gear, and that rascal spirit inside him rejoiced, sending his heart excited thumps. This one should be easy, although he needed to find a suitable spot for the deed. Daniela, small and frail, trusted him,

Trusted him? None of the others had. What a rush!

“What’s in your backpack?”

“Pens, notebook, my Bible. I’m in a Bible-Study group.” She unzipped the backpack and took out a book.

“Oooh! Is that your Bible?”

“No, this one’s called Bible Stories. Look, we came already.”

Houses here and there had started popping up on the two sides of the road.

“This is where I live.” The girl pointed at a house. “See the man in the yard? That’s my father.”

Leo squinted again. He had to get eyeglasses as soon as this run would be over. The squinting was killing him. But…

Oh, oh! This female he’d have to let go.

“Your father’s the sheriff?”

“Yup, please don’t tell him I was in that other car. He’ll kill me. He won’t mind you, but he hates Eric.”

“I can’t stop anyway. You get down, now.”

The sheriff, with a puzzled expression on his face, stared at his daughter jumping off the truck. Leo raised his hand in greeting.

Then he saw the book. “Hey, you forgot your book.”

“Consider it a gift. I have another one at home.” She turned and waved. “Thank you,” she called as Leo’s truck lurched forward.

At the next truck stop, Leo sipped his coffee, while turning the pages of the book. On top of the dashboard in the truck, the book would serve well to dupe the next one to go on his list.


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