“The Right Thing” – Monday’s Finish the Story – Flash Fiction

The following story was written in response to Barbara Beacham’s “Monday’s Finish the Story” weekly prompt.  Click on the blue Inlinkz frog to read the other stories or to add your own.

The Right Thing

(1^st sentence + 150 words)

“A body suddenly crashed through a plate glass window at the Brigadier’s house.”

The screaming started before they even knew what it was—or who it was.  The guests were too slow to stop the Brigadier’s wife from approaching.

Vanessa knelt over the Brigadier, trembling as she touched his face.

“We told him,” a soldier muttered.

“You can’t reason with these people,” said another man.  “He should’ve brought an army—weapons!  Not words.”

“Don’t you dare.” Vanessa stood.  “He had courage.  He was trying to do right.”

“Barricade the windows,” the senior officer directed.  The soldiers obeyed. The other wives huddled together, silent.

“Is it any wonder they’re angry after all that’s happened?  How many died under that hot sun?—on soil that was theirs for generations?”

“Ma’am,” the officer said. “With respect, he brought this on.  We may all be killed.”

Vanessa glared, then pushed past the officer, out the door and into the chaos.

“Last we’ll see of her,” he said.