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Challenge of the Week #61: Write a piece of flash fiction about rejection. The most masterfully written piece, as voted and determined by the Prose team, will be crowned winner and receive $100. Quality beats quantity, always, but numbers make things easier for our judges, so share, share, share with friends, family, and connections. #ProseChallenge #getlit #itslit
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Tee_Hi
118 reads

The Letter

Claire Tomlin sat with a gun pressed to her temple. Her life had been one long line of rejection upon rejection, but this latest, this latest she just couldn't handle. It was the final straw that defined her life as one big failure.

She looked again at the latest rejection letter, sitting on the desk.

"Dear Ms. Tomlin,

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider your manuscript. We read it with interest, but regret we will not be making an offer of publication.

While your story is well written, blah blah blah...

Sincerely,

Ruben King

RIF Publishing"

This was the 16th rejection letter in a month. It was clear her story wasn't going to be the best-seller that she pictured it. It was clear she wasn't going to be the author she dreamed of. It was clear her time to breathe was over.

Pressing the gun harder to her head, such that it would surely leave a dent - a dent? i'm worried about a Goddamn DENT?! - she thought back to the months and months she'd spent crafting her novella. She'd poured blood, sweat, and tears into her work, just for it to be rejected like day-old coffee.

SHE HAD NEGLECTED HER FRIENDS, Goddammit! Her poor dog had barely gotten fed, watered, and walked while she lived her life in her story. And love?! Forget about that! Her love life had gone to shit because she thought it more important to focus on her heroine Lyndora's life, instead! And what did she have to show for it? Rejection letter after rejection letter after rejection letter!

She didn't even need to fully read them, anymore. They were all the same. One of those sandwiches she learned about in school - first a compliment, then the criticism, and finally another compliment. She wanted to barf on those damn reject sandwiches.

With tears pouring down her cheeks, she mentally wrote her last lines -- And with that, Claire Tomlin pulled the trigger, ending her long life of not-good-enough, not-smart-enough, not-talented-enough.

*BANG!*

As her head fell to the desk, her eyes fell upon the letter she'd forgotten to read. It looks like an acceptance-

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