Peter Wyatt

“Advance Notice” by Peter Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #234

There was never enough time. So many things to do and never enough time to get it all done. Martin Johnson had spent most of the last 48 hours preparing for the corporate merger his firm was brokering between two tech giants and this afternoon it was supposed to all come together. Provided, of course, he could seal the deal with the two principals. Martin felt confident he could do it. But first he needed food. It was lunch time and Martin was starving. He was looking forward to devouring some leftover pizza in his fridge. But he never made ...

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“A Doll for Mary” by Peter Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #206

Billy was sitting on the toilet doing his business while reading his favorite Spider Man comic book. It was difficult concentrating. The image of his dead sister, Mary, kept popping in his mind. He had looked at her face in her casket at the funeral last week but the face wasn’t right. It was too pale and white. Mary always had rosy cheeks and a wide bright smile. This corpse had small thin lips that would never smile. Mary had died of a very rare skin disease that caused her flesh to rot from the inside out. The doctors couldn’t stop it. ...

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“Rehabilitation” by Peter Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #206

It was the bottom of the first inning, none out, bases loaded, and I’d thrown 9 consecutive balls – the last one, a flat curveball that hit the batter square in the back, making a soft plunk that probably inflicted less pain than a locker room towel slap. Sweat dripped into my eyes, nearly blinding me in the humid July heat. I squinted towards the catcher’s sign, an upside-down middle finger, expressing the obvious: fastball for a strike.I came to the set position and paused, taking a deep breath in the hopes it might quell the disorienting ...

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“The Reunion that Changed my Life” by Peter Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #202

               I was not psyched about attending my 10-year high school reunion. My high school memories are awful. I had practically no friends. I was basically a social outcast. Things got somewhat better in the intervening years. I went to community college and got an associate’s degree in business. I am now the assistant manager of Chick-in-a-Bun and I manage a good group of young men and women. It’s a fine establishment. I am not exactly what people might call a ...

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“I Think; Therefore, I Matter” by Peter Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #201

In the year 1650, Rene Descarte lay on his deathbed, winding down the final hours of his mortal coil. The pre-dawn daily tutoring of Queen Christina had proven too taxing for his weak and feeble body. He had succumbed to pneumonia and had been bedridden for the last week. Queen Christina had missed a full week of tutoring, but Descartes hardly cared. His mind was focused on what he believed, until today, to be his most important philosophical discovery. He had proven that the foundations of knowledge could be trusted by the simple but p...

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“Your Secret is Safe with Me” by Peter Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #200

I’m sure you want me to start out by telling you about how I got kicked out of school and why I’m such a screwup so you can psychoanalyze me and make me bawl my eyes out like some worthless sap. That’s not happening. I’ll tell you what happened – hell, we’ve got an hour and there’s nothing else to do – but I’m warning you upfront, there were no lessons learned here. Just a lot of dumb shit that went down, nothing I’ll ever look back and say, wow, what a fascinating childhood, I should write a memoir all about it. I can give it to you straigh...

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“Bill's Brain” by Peter Wyatt

Bill Bunker’s bank account had grown unusually large. No less than four back-to-back direct deposit infusions had swelled his savings account from $897 dollars to over $49 million dollars in a matter of less than 10 minutes. Bill’s phone had chimed a notification of a direct deposit which he assumed was his biweekly Friday paycheck. However, instead of the $1,836 amount he had become accustomed to seeing for the last 14 months he had been working for Leland and Lesley Law Firm as a paralegal, the figure on his phone was astronomically larger...

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“The Last Job” by Peter Wyatt

Submitted to Contest #197

The Last Job The job posting sounded too good to be true but the price was right, and the work description fell right into George’s wheelhouse. He could do this in his sleep. The online job caption was titled Fast Cash for College Apps and it stated: Looking for Financial Aid Professional to review FAFSA applications during our busy season. Will pay $100 dollars per application reviewed. Work from home with flexible work schedule, management breezy to work with, make friends for life. George did some quick mental calculations and his eyes d...

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