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100-word stories

100 Word Challenge – Week #76

100 Word Challenge
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The challenge: 103 words including:

…beneath the surface…

The Party

I watch her face as I endeavour to keep up the conversation, trying to salvage the right thoughts and words from the depths of my mind. From her facial movements and body language, I know what she’s thinking. She thinks I’m stupid and boring. The more she thinks it, the more I’m drawn to play into her view of me. She nods at my remark, but her mind is elsewhere, developing an escape strategy.

“Well, lovely meeting you,” she says. “Must move on.”

I hope my smile and raised shoulders portray the inevitableness of her action.

“Good riddance,” I say, beneath the surface.

Miriam Drori's avatar

By Miriam Drori

Author, editor, attempter of this thing called life. Social anxiety warrior. Re-Connections, a collection of short stories, published with Ocelot Press, 15/10/2025.

8 replies on “100 Word Challenge – Week #76”

I like how this unfolds, emotions and associated actions, and then the closing statement.

We need to show respect and care for others always. I wonder how often we fail without realising it?!

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Ooh another great entry Miriam. It seems like an uncomfortable situation but I wonder… Was she really thinking those things? Or was she perhaps displaying closed body language because she, too, was thinking the narrator thought those things of her…? There’s often so much said beneath the surface on both sides and you got me thinking. Sometimes I think it’s better to be open and honest. But there are also things better left unsaid.

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