My contribution to the deadlinesforwriters short story challenge April 2022. Based on the prompt „Tempted“.
To be right or to be happy
On a quiet Sunday morning, Helen was lounging on the sofa in her dark blue flannel pyjamas. Her right hand held a mug of jasmine tea, her left reached for her phone on the table. Her thumb was drawn towards the blue icon with the little bird as if by a magnet.
Helens feed was full of funny cat pictures, links to articles, and her online friends saying hi. But there also was this one person always voicing his stance on climate change. People like him made her blood boil: Unrepentantly arrogant and always ready to share fake news with the world.
Whenever she saw him make fun of scientists at protests or post pictures of snowballs, Helen just could not help herself but respond. She shared lots of solid educational videos with him. Funnily enough, he was not keen on watching them. Instead his followers descended on her like a flock of vultures.
Even though she knew better, she hated backing down. Hated letting these guys have the stage to themselves when all they talked was nonsense. Nonsense leading to humankind‘s demise on top of everything. One comment led to another, and everything predictably escalated until she could have thrown her phone at the wall. Why would these people not listen to reason? Why did she always end up wasting and poisoning her precious time? And why did she keep falling into this trap?
„NO!!! Not today!“ she shouted, the determination in her voice surprising herself. For a few moments she stared at her thumb still hovering over the blue bird. Then Helen decided to remove the icon from her starter screen and instead switched on her „Sunday morning music“ playlist. With a sigh of contentment she sank back into the pillows and finished her jasmine tea in well-deserved peace.
If you liked my contribution to the deadlinesforwriters story challenge April 202s, you can find more of my stories here.
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