“Stroke of Misfortune” is another six-sentence story born from the shadows I sometimes carry within. I often wonder why my tales lean toward the dim and the quiet, but perhaps it’s because many carry a fragment of Evan inside them. This six-sentence story wasn’t inspired by anyone in particular—only the lingering scent of melancholy, and my own dances with life and depression. It’s fiction, yes, but the kind that echoes a very real ache. Some stories don’t need muses, just honesty and a candle flickering in the dark. And maybe that’s enough.
the prompt was created by our wonderful girlieontheedge
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Rules of the hop:
Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less.
Use the current week’s prompt word.
Spread the word and put in a good one to your fellow writers
PROMPT WORD: STROKE
Others’ stories can be read here.
Stroke of Misfortune – Six-Sentence Story
Evan could have done with a little more luck but it was as if he had been on a stroke of misfortune his whole life, maybe that is why he found himself on that chair knuckle cracking and waiting for the seer to give him something.
Perhaps a new faith in the set of Gods to make his life better – a rune to magically make him fall in love with the world, a potion or a numbing cream for his aching soul, something, anything to make him feel like a human being again.
The seer was an old blind man with his long grey hair unwashed for a decade it seemed, living like a hermit in his soviet apartment and he was famous for seeing a man for who he is – the past and the future and the endless turmoil of the present.
That naturally made Evan even more anxious for he had been on the crusade of finding himself in the empty bottles of liquor and women but so far had only found a gaping hole in his chest named nothingness, and he feared that he was too far gone.
He didn’t notice when the seer had come into the room, it was as if he had been the blind one and jumped from his chair when heard a loud voice behind him say: “Here you have come like a Demigod of War that can not feel pain or die yet the misery inside of you is as vast as the oceans you have traveled in search of a father, a God, a reason to live.”
The seer sat in front of him and it was as if he was gazing into his soul as he continued: “My child, there is no potion or a rune for the kind of you for the magic was bestowed upon you when you were born my boy, and you are lost but that was necessary for you to be found,” the seer laughed, coughed, and continued: “the power is within you my child, only trust what you see” – and with this, Evan felt his eyes cloud up.
Links to more of my work:
If you like reading an emotionally packed short story here you can find multiple of them: Six-Sentence Stories, Short Stories, Romance and All That, Dead Poet
And a brand new addition to my poetry tab: On the margins of the First Draft
My band “Chaos in Spring” can be listened to on YouTube, Spotify and other streaming services.
I can see the scene and characters clearly.
Too bad about Evan’s cloudy vision, but perhaps there’s more to the story.
Perhaps, I must sit down and have a talk with my muse. Perhaps I will find out by the next time.
Nice description of him: “finding himself in the empty bottles of liquor and women but so far had only found a gaping hole in his chest named nothingness, and he feared that he was too far gone”
Thank you, I felt it really described the way he was trying so hard to find something worth living for outside of himself.
Can’t wait to see what happens next in this one!
Me neither, I am in complete dismay as to I can not magically tell how the story unfolds. I guess we have to ask Evan, eh?
Trust what you see with cloudy eyes. An interesting conclusion to an intriguing tale!
Poor Evan has to learn to look for answers within. Thank you!
It seems he’s already full and didn’t know it.
Maybe now he does.
wise old blind man!
(I like that as foreshadowing*) that the secret must come from within is such a simple concept and so very, very difficult to grasp, much less accept and apply (to oneself).
Your protagonist (more than likely) has still a long path ahead of him.
Good Six, yo
*which may very well be my own lack of understanding the mechanisms and tools of rhetoric… here I mean, the idea that the idea of blindness can imply certain things about a person’s ability to perceive the world around them.
Yes, I too think that blindness enhances/changes the way a person perceives the world. And maybe our dear Evan will learn to look within for the cure/power. It is a hard path laid in front of him that requires acceptance of his own faults and moving forward.
Compelling, Six.
It would appear Evan, like so many who’ve come to the realization “change” is needed, is thinking what ails him can be “cured” with a quick fix. Oh, the unenlightened!
I found the last sentence to be particularly powerful.