She thinks of her defiler and drinks.

A red solo cup she associates with the Flip game at the start and the blood in his bed at the end.

Better poisoned punch and salvation than spat out by the volcano of life.

She watches the sacred fire flicker and die.

Coleman Bigelow’s stories have appeared recently in Bright Flash Literary Review, Free Flash Fiction, The Dead Mule School, Every Day Fiction and Flash Fiction Magazine. He studied creative writing as an undergraduate at The University of Virginia and went on to study playwriting and screenwriting at The Actor’s Theatre of Louisville and the New School. He is at work on his first novel. See more at colemanbigelow.com.