Flash Fiction – Him or Me

“Did you have to use a bomb?” Sheriff Bob asked his old friend as he surveyed the smoldering ruins before him.

“What?” Sam asked, with a hand cupping one ear. “I can hardly hear ever since the explosion.”

Bob repeated his question loudly. It was going to be a long night.

“I had to be sure.” Sam turned a blistered, soot covered face to him. “What would you have done?”

“I would have called for help if I needed it. I sure as hell wouldn’t have destroyed my own house just because of fear.” Bob was surprised the man would do something like this. He had always seemed so stable.

“You don’t believe I was attacked do you?”

The lawman twisted his hat uncomfortably. “In the fifteen years that I’ve known you, you’ve never lied to me, but this story is a little far-fetched.”

“Which part? The part where the blood-sucking bastard came after me, or the part where I blew him to bits?

“Clearly you blew up your house. But, blood? On his fangs? Come on Sam, be honest. Did you need the insurance money?”

Sam’s eyes bulged. “Money? You think this is about money? No Bob, this was about survival. It was him or me.” He ran a hand through his dark hair. “Besides, insurance would only cover the costs of rebuilding. I can’t live on this property anymore. Now that his family has my scent, they will never leave me be.”

Sheriff Bob shook his head sadly. Sam had clearly lost it. “I’m sorry. I’m going to have to take you in.”

“But it’s my house! You know I had to do it. I couldn’t just let him kill me. You can’t arrest me for protecting myself.”

“Maybe we’ll stop by the psychiatric ward first.”

“Now you think I’m crazy? I’m not making this up.”

“I believe you,” and he did, “but Sam, sane people don’t blow up their houses to kill a spider.”

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This is from a prompt at Terrible Minds. I had to write a flash fiction story using a spider, survival, and a bomb (I rolled to get these words). One of the words that I could have gotten was vampire, hence the twist. I don’t normally use the three word prompts but I decided to challenge myself a bit and I like how it turned out. When I rolled and saw what I got, I blanked at first. I looked back over the choices and thought about re-rolling but that would have defeated the purpose of accepting the challenge. I was surprised, once I started writing, that it wasn’t impossible. I may have to rethink my opinion on this type of prompt.