History's Housekeeper

100 word story just for fun...

"Have mercy!" they'd cried. He was no angel.

"Give us a chance to survive!" they'd pleaded. He wasn't destiny's arbiter.

He was a maintenance man, a caretaker, fixing repairable breakdowns across space and time. He was about to leave when an unfamiliar hand gripped his arm. Steel-blue eyes pierced his soul.

"Fix it," she said. No plea, no cry, a demand.

"Sorry!"

"There's nothing you can do?"

He hesitated.

Before departing he manipulated their spaceship's life-support system. An act of mercy. They'd be asleep when destiny would strike. Some things couldn't be fixed, not even by history's housekeeper.

Author's Note

Just a bit of flash fiction. Any resemblance to fictitious characters, living, dead or repeatedly regenerated is purely intentional ;-)

Even if you have no clue what I'm talking about I hope you'll still enjoy.

All comments welcome!

Reviews

[Raylene]

I like it should be made into a book or a sequel I am interested to see what he is trying to fix I understand that is the point. I have to say it brings me some disappointment that it is so short I however understand that is the goal so I shall go easy and just say good job.

[Kaliope]

Thank you very much. Somewhere in my mind there's a whole series of novels lurking beneath this short glimpse, I'm not sure I'll ever finish it though ;-)

[Raylene]

i make notes of my stories my book I hope to finish one day ;)

[Chris]

People want things their way and on their terms... but just how often does THAT really happen? You took the "unexpected" path ...nicely.

[Kaliope]

Thank you Chris for stopping by! :-)
When I wrote this I'd been thinking whether true mercy is really what we'd want in such a situation... would false hope have been kinder? Hard to tell.

[TheWordWanderer]

Btw, I loved the title name

[Kaliope]

Thank you very much! I think it suits him well :-)

[TheWordWanderer]

A far more realistic, steel willed time lord.

[Samuel Dickens]

This is a great little piece of fiction, one that I find very enjoyable. I like that term, "History's housekeeper". Indeed, he tidied up a messy end.

[Kaliope]

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review!

[JulianaSun]

The beginning sounded so ordinary and unexciting, but then the end came and...Boom!!! Being this good at storytelling should be a crime:) You always manage to surprise the reader. You are a wizard of words!
Tell me the truth - do you really have no secret potion? :)

[Kaliope]

Haha, other than perhaps far too much caffeine there's really no secret substance involved ;-)

[JMKane117]

This is really good. It grips you right away. I'm going to say it's Doctor Who. Hope you can spare some time to take a look at mine, I'm new here.

[Kaliope]

Haha, thank you & you're right of course, I just love Doctor Who and its premise :-) and of course I'll gladly give you feedback on your work.

[M. Black]

It's amazing what you can do in so few words. the desperation and sense of hopelessness is so vivid. yet another fantastic piece of writing.

[Kaliope]

Woohoo, thank you! Flash fiction is - at least to me - always a bit of a gamble, hard to decide if the scarce descriptions are enough. So it's all the more joy when the story worked for the readers :-)

[Tomoe Tellez]

This is great! And the fact that you did it in just a few words is amazing! It is like there's a whole novel behind this words.

[Kaliope]

Thank you so much Alondra! Actually in my head there is a whole novel hidden behind this scene but I doubt I'll ever get it finished :-)

[Tomoe Tellez]

You should try to! I know everyone here would love to read it.

[Tasmin-Leigh]

It deffinatly got me hooked in and you have used real good vocab I like it and it leaves your audiance wanting to know more

[Kaliope]

Thank you so much Tasmin-Leigh, I really appreciate your review!

[Ryan Jaimz Knight]

Great piece of flash fiction. You managed to pack a lot into very few words. Well done!

[Kaliope]

A million thanks, I'm glad you liked it!