Original Flash Fiction: Mawsnip the Gargoyle (24 Hour Short Story)

"Mawsnip, your time has come" the gargoyle said to himself. Mawsnip the gargoyle was over 700 years old, and feeling almost giddy in anticipation. 150 years ago he had managed to twitch his left ear, and he had been patiently progressing ever since. He was careful to wait until nightfall, but he didn't need to be too careful. The people walking by his cathedral were too busy staring at their little rectangles to notice his minuscule progress.

He had completely detached from the cathedral 6 months ago, and had spent nearly every night learning to fly on the roof. Tonight would be his debut. "If I fall I will shatter on the street below, but I will not fail" he reassured himself. He grinned a toothy smile. "Many pigeons will die tonight, they have dishonored me long enough, they and their ancestors before them." He looked down at a small child being pushed by in a stroller. The child looked up at him, and Mawsnip made eye contact and flared his nostrils. The child's eyes grew wider, and it pointed a chubby finger up at him.

Mawsnip sighed. "The little beast isn't even afraid of me, he probably hopes I would come down and play peek-a-boo with him. I remember when I could make them cry without even moving. My job is to show them the evil the Church protects them from, but now they just take pictures of me for coffee table books." Mawsnip spoke in a whiny high pitched tone "Oh Martha isn't that interesting, I just love those funny looking things. Do you think I could order a reproduction? It would look really nice in my curio cabinet!" The gargoyle grunted "Blech, disgusting creatures. I prefer an old-fashioned barbarian horde to these insipid lukewarm sheeple. Yes, tonight I will show them, I'll show them all. I will put the fear of God back into them, they will be begging God for mercy before I'm through with them. The cathedral won't be able to hold them all."

A grey rusty fiat slowly turned the corner and pulled up to the main doors of his cathedral. Mawsnip snorted "Fool, he's a half hour late for Mass, and that's a no parking zone. Must be from out of town, never saw him before." The driver's side window was rolled down, and the driver wearing a black hockey mask began lining up rifle magazines on the dash. Mawsnip's mind raced. "Mass won't be over for 15 minutes, but at least a dozen will leave after communion. Mawsnip hesitated. "Are they worth it? I have waited for tonight for 150 years, longer than any of these people have lived." He felt like he was being torn in two. "Impossible people, are they worth it? Mawsnip sighed as a memory stirred. Greater love has no one than this..."

Three quick shots echoed off the ancient stone, and surprised birds rose in small clouds. A woman screamed. Blood pooled crimson between the flagstones. Sirens wailed, the flashing lights reflecting off polished steel barrels, pointing at the rusty car. Uniformed officers swarmed the area, and directed people to safety. The car was silent as a tomb.

A young man in uniform spoke into his radio. "Yes sir, the shooter is in critical condition, there were shots fired, but no one was hit. The shooter sustained massive blunt trauma to the head, and the passenger side window was broken out from the inside. We are still investigating sir, a large rock was thrown right through the car, the shooter is lucky to be alive. The rock looks really old, has some lines and grooves in it, but it is in a number of pieces now, forensics is doing what they can. Yes sir, I don't understand either, but whoever threw that rock has quite an arm. No sir, I'm sorry for the comment, I'm just thankful I guess.