February 2024 Flash Lit 3 (2) - Insert

I have got to remember my phone, Chrissy thought as the magazine in her hands dropped a litter of inserts into her lap.  It was just that the toothache was so distracting.  Which was why she was sitting in the overly square chair in the dentist’s waiting room trying to read Highlights for Children until Dr. Foster could see her.

Irritably, Chrissy gathered the papers into a little stack.  Most of them were cards asking for subscriptions, but one was a bit larger and glossy.  Chrissy slid it out from the others, her stomach sinking.

 

The man in the headshot was handsome enough—blond with a square jaw—but Chrissy shuddered.  She turned the photo over.  He had scrawled a message in black Sharpie:  Hi Chrissy!  See you soon!  xoxo John.

 

Dr. Foster assumed Chrissy’s shaking hands were caused by the usual fear of her profession.  She tried to be extra gentle with the filling, but the patient didn’t seem any less anxious afterward.

 

Jaw now numb rather than painful, Chrissy drove home, only to find another headshot in her mailbox.  Another see you soon.

 

Chrissy’s thoughts tumbled like a dryer full of rocks—heavy, repetitive, dangerous, and off.  Stay home?  He knew where she lived.  Go out, as planned?  He could be anywhere.

 

She picked up her phone—left on the table by the door so she couldn’t for get it but had anyway—and called Nellie.  “What should I do?”

 

Nellie said, “I’ll be with you.  We should go.”

 

The theater lights shone brilliantly.  Inside, things were maybe a little worn around the edges, but Chrissy eyed the red velvet curtain with excitement.  Hedda Gabler might not be the most cheerful play ever, but Chrissy could lose herself in imagination for a couple of hours.

 

Nellie passed her a program and, in horror, Chrissy saw the insert:  the part of Ejlert Lövborg will be played by John Mason.

 

The gun was real.