A simple envelope on the subway platform carries a message no one should ever read.
Grab Hold First Line
The subway screeched into the station just as a stranger shoved an envelope into his hand.
Flash Fiction Prompt
He thought it was a mistake, some frantic commuter misplacing a bill or a love letter. But the man’s eyes had been deliberate, and his footsteps vanished into the crowd as if he had never existed. Standing under the harsh fluorescent lights, he tore the flap open. Inside was a single sheet of paper with eight words scrawled in jagged black ink: “You will be dead by this time tomorrow.”
His pulse hammered louder than the train roaring past. He looked around, searching for cameras, for laughter, for any sign this was a cruel joke. But no one watched him. A young woman scrolled through her phone. A businessman adjusted his tie. A child tugged on her mother’s sleeve. Normal life, continuing untouched.
The paper trembled in his grip. Did this note seal his fate, or was it an invitation to change it? With twenty-four hours to live—or to fight—he had to decide whether to flee, to hide, or to chase the truth down the tunnels of the city.