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101 Word Short Stories

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Castaway

May 8, 2021 4 Comments

By A. C. Nelson

I chose this island.

Shipwrecked my job and my marriage. Took a sinking lifeboat here. I needed to release my primal self. Live off the land. Escape the brain-numbing social media and poisonous politics. The world used to be better.

Fourteen days later, I’m stumbling, crawling, to evade disease-carrying bugs, escape flesh-eating predators. My primal self has not shown up. I’m beginning to wonder if he ever existed. The absence of time dulls my brain and senses. The water and plants reject me. I wrench it all back up into the sea.

I chose this island.

It has not chosen me.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. b. says

    May 8, 2021 at 10:24 am

    Yup, you have to choose your path carefully ’cause sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.

    Reply
  2. Jeffrey M. Dean says

    May 8, 2021 at 4:12 pm

    Ah great work! “My primal self has not shown up.” What a great line!

    Reply
  3. HelenZ says

    May 12, 2021 at 8:29 am

    Great story – reality was there all along but he didn’t recognize it.

    Reply
  4. Thompson says

    May 12, 2021 at 11:41 am

    Indeed a times I just want to escape from all the craziness around. But it’s sad when you can’t find what you’re looking for far and away. Nice story.

    Reply

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