Cheater’s Viewpoint

“You are a cheater!”

Harper’s heart dropped down to his stomach like a rock thrown into the ocean. He nearly jumped out of his skin as beads of cold sweat instantly formed on his brow.  He whipped his head around the forest path and tried to peer through the deep shadows of the night. He had been having such a pleasant time walking home too, reveling in his own cleverness and thinking of what he would buy with his winnings. Now that good feeling was ruined.

“Liar! I did not cheat!” Harper spun around and around, trying to spot the origin of the gravelly voice. His hand fell onto the hilt of his dagger. “My ballad, an ode to the Heroic Warriors of Battle, was the best one composed! The town folk casted for me, gave me the most votes!”

“False!” the hidden voice cried out. “I saw you bribing gremlins, using their stealth to sneak fake ballots into the box!”

“You can’t prove it!” Harper started to tremble. How could anyone other than himself see gremlins? Could there be another with gremlin blood in their veins?

“I see! I see! I see!”                                                                                       

“Well, so what?” Harper screamed back. “No one will believe you. I won five years in a row!”

“All false! All false! All false!”

“Show yourself!” Harper shouted in desperation.  He thought that if the accuser were not too big, maybe he could silence this accuser in a permanent way. “I have a right to know my accuser!”

“Up here! Up here! Up here!”

Jerking his head up, Harper saw standing on a leafless branch against a full moon, the dark silhouette of a large crow.

Harper laughed in relief.  “It’s just a stupid crow!” He felt happy again.

“How do you live with yourself?” the crow cawed.  “Cheating your fellow poets, time and time again.”

Harper chuckled, amused. Seeing that it was just a stupid bird, he saw no need to come up with any more denials.

“Crow, you are so stupid,” he said. “You think it’s hard to cheat? You think that my wrongdoings would weigh on my soul? Only the stupid would fret about losing his honor.  Honor only counts when others are watching.”

“You see! You see!  You see yourself!”

“Sure,” Harper said. “But I choose to look away. I choose not to see my deceitfulness. In a few days, I’ll probably even forget about it. I don’t have to look at my true self if I choose not to. Then I’m as upright and honorable as the next guy. I can look away.”

“No! No! No!” The crow screamed; its plumage started to shake and puff up. “You must not look away. You must always see your true inner self!”

Harper screamed with fright as the great crow swooped down.  He tried to swat it away, but it was unnaturally strong and vicious. Harper fell to the ground, and he screamed and screamed as the crow plucked out his right eye. The crow turned the eyeball around and shoved it back into the eye socket so the iris is looking inwards.

“Now you’ll always have to see your dishonorable inner self!” it cawed triumphantly.

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535-words

Inspired by this contest, and shows like The Outer Limits and the Twilight Zone.