This is my entry for this weeks Fifty Word Story Challenge posted by @jayna. The prompt was "chase":
I step out and see the bus down the street. There is heavy traffic, "Can I make it, by the next stop?"
I set off, but for every pace I advance, the bus creeps farther away.
So much like my ever striving to achieve the self I yearn to become.
I was inspired by my understanding of an application of Zeno's 'Achilles and the Tortoise'' paradox. Wikepedia.
P.S.
Some thoughts concerning the role of conflict/resolution in narratives presented in this weeks challenge post:
I've thought a lot about this conflict/resolution question, particularly when watching movies or reading books.
I'll always say to myself, "Well why did she do that? How could he not have seen to do this? If only she'd done this or that?"
But this of courses raises the question that if all the difficulties were anticipated and proper measures taken, there would be no story.
The even bigger question for me though is how does this dynamic take shape in our life? Is this attachment to drama part of the inescapable human tendency to create difficulty for ourselves?
I can only hope that the inverse is true. That our understanding and enjoyment of the dramatic nature of stories is a reflection of the developmental process lived out in our individual and communal existence, and that this process is inevitable for growth and evolution. Our muscles don't become stronger by relaxing. Like the larvae that cannot become a healthy butterfly if it is helped out of it's cocoon.
The above story is my first attempt at 'microfiction' and I cannot confidently say I got it right at all though... It's hard for me to make it not read like a free form prose poem. On the other hand I'd like to think that the fiction I do write is something like that anyway...
Thank You for reading!