Ficlets

Failure Is Not An Option (BARomero's Nameless Challenge)

What was that? Our eyes met, a static expression of terror shared as we listened to the geyser and feared its destructive intentions. Frozen like idiots, we panicked. Where exactly was it coming from?

The aqueous spray painted the floor, unhinging tiles before moving upward soaking anything and everything in its path. It tore pictures from the wall, shattering the frames. It was powerful enough to flip the light switch, turning the light on before it reached the ceiling and wailed on the recently illuminated light fixture itself.

I moved as if through quick sand, traversing the flash flood as water quickly accumulated rising above my brilliantly wet feet.

“Can you stop it!?” Allison screamed.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, silently wondering just how pressurized the geyser was.

I dropped to my knees, searching desperately with my hands, finding a knob and turning it praying it would work as the geyser pelted my torso. Disaster averted, all I could think about is what might’ve been if I had failed.

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