Wild West - Chapter 1 - Part 27 - 5 minute freewrite challenge

Tom reached down his shirt and pulled out a trinket he was carrying around his neck. It was a roughly one inch tall iron capsule that resembled the shape of a scroll. Tom uncorked its top piece and pulled out a rugged piece of paper; a palimpsest with writing marks of its former message clearly visible even when still rolled together. He unwrapped it carefully and held it in front of him, gazing at the one word written in black ink.

“Evil?” James saw through the thin paper and read the message backwards.

Tom smiled ever so slightly and admired the object between his thumb and index finger; “Live,” he raised his eyebrows slightly. “Live,” he couldn’t stop staring at it.

“What’s the story behind it? And why are you dead serious all of a sudden?”

Tom didn’t take his eyes off the piece of paper - bedazzled by its simple word – and failed to hear James.

“Tom?” James tried to call his son out of the delirium.

Tom shook his head and gathered his thoughts again; “Ugh… Yeah, what?”

“The story? What’s the deal with the piece of paper?”