Flash Fiction Prompt: Who Needs Coffee When You’ve Got Screams and Gunfire?

A scream, a bark, and a gunshot crack the morning calm. Can your tough guy shave, think straight, and face the chaos outside?

✍️ Flash Fiction Prompt

First Line (grab hold):

I was halfway through the second pass of the razor when the scream sliced sharper than the blade.

Ensuing Paragraph:

I froze, lather dripping down my cheek like melting snow. Outside my window, the city coughed up its usual soundtrack—horns, heels on pavement, doors slamming—but this wasn’t routine. The scream was raw, high-pitched, human. Then came the bark, guttural and frantic, followed by the flat crack of a gunshot that silenced everything. I wiped the razor on a towel, careful, steady. I don’t smoke—never did, never will—so there was no cigarette to calm the nerves, just the steady rhythm of breath and the hum of blood in my ears. I slid the razor into its case and reached for the pistol I kept under the sink, cold steel against warm hand. In the mirror, a face stared back: jaw square, eyes tired, but not beaten. The kind of face that didn’t ask for trouble but never stepped aside when it came knocking. Trouble wasn’t just knocking now. It had kicked the door off its hinges, screaming, barking, and firing shots. And I had to decide whether to finish shaving… or start bleeding.

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❓ Three Questions for Writers

1. Who is the woman behind the scream, and how does she connect to the tough guy’s past?
2. What role does the barking dog play—warning, victim, or witness?
3. Does the gunshot pull him deeper into a personal vendetta, or into a stranger’s nightmare?