Chuck Wendig offered a challenge to write a 100 word story on the subject of revenge. I gave it a whirl. Many words died to get here, and my keyboard is sticky with their blood. Enjoy!

THE FIVE HUNDRED DAYS

“Illegal time window?” Shadrack laughs. “How many times can a mother watch?”

Windows are costly—calibrated to one person, place, and moment. No help, weapons, or resets.

They savaged me with cyberware fists.

Coughing blood. Hugging child. Failed. Too late.

But there’s a second me, bandaged and crutched. More me’s watch—each a day older, a day more healed. How many times? You can open a window once a day. Each a day more deranged. Shadrack stops laughing when he sees how many days. The eldest lope down like screaming Bacchantes. Shadrack’s thugs come apart in my thousand dripping hands.