One of Them
She stared up at the tree at the center of the square. Small white flecks descended from the sky and decorated her hair. She lifted a hand, like the way she saw other children do. Her ungloved hand passed over her ear. A shock.
Suddenly, it became clear to her why the other children bullied her. Staring off into the distance, into the poster of a jolly old man in red, tears fell out of her eyes. Beside him stood three little men, dressed in green. Everything different, but people like her.
She ran toward the window, before which the poster hung, her breath fogging it. Standing back a few steps, and brushing her hair aside, she touched her ear. A pointed tip. Like theirs.
She put a hand to the window. She was one of them. One of the small people. Would they know that she was here? Would they take her in? She traced the ears in the poster with her finger.
“Santa Claus.” She read aloud.
“Santa! Santa!” She heard another child shout from behind her, yanking at a woman’s sleeve.
She followed their gaze, and sure enough, there sat a jolly old man, dressed in red.
This story was inspired by the writing prompt from the “Microcosm” publication.
Challenge Requirements
Your story must:
- Tells us a story about a character finding out who they really are.
- Be 200 words exactly, excluding the title, subtitle, and any post-story bio / links. (We use Medium’s own word count feature.)
- Be fictional, even if it includes factual information or concerns.
- Use “Christmas” as one of your five tags. We recommend Fiction, Flash Fiction and maybe your genre too. But it’s your choice.
- Please, link back to the prompt so others can find it easily.
