2026 - 500-Word Challenge - Round 1

Genre: Drama

Action: Jumping the gun

Object: A beard

Today fucking sucked. Work was shit. My boss reamed me a new one for something I didn’t even fuck up. Someone sideswiped my shitty, beat-up car. And now my ex-wife was running thirty minutes late.

But it didn’t matter. Today was about to be great, because for the first time in two months I was finally going to get to see my little girl.

I eased my Corolla into a gas station, parking right out front. I took the keys out of the ignition, ignoring the shaking in my hands. Two months as of tomorrow. Tomorrow would make two months since I’d touched cocaine. I’d been out of rehab for six weeks now. An eternity. The worst two months of my life and the most important two months of my life. I was still trying to pick up the pieces of my completely fucked up life, but I was doing alright. Most of the cravings were gone by now, but not today. Today, it hit me like a ten pound hammer, over and over again. I wanted a hit so bad.

I hopped out of the car and went into the bathroom. I sat on the toilet, scrolling on my phone and trying to force my mind to think about anything other than the fucking need.

Just one little hit. My mind said over and over, but I refused to give in.

After who knows how long, an idea popped into my head. I left the bathroom and grabbed a bag of chips, a Coke, and some white powered donuts, paying with a few crumpled dollars from my side gig. I got back in my car and instantly opened the Coke, downing half of it. The acid burned, bringing tears to my eyes, but it cut the edge off that need. Then I opened the pack of donuts and shoveled two into my mouth, barely even chewing.

“That’s the fucking stuff.”

That ever present need faded into the background as I devoured more donuts.

A tap on my window snapped my head around. There was my ex-wife with that same look of disgust on her face I’d grown used to. I rolled down the window.

“Hey, Cass. How’s it going?”

“What the fuck, Kenny!” she shouted. “I thought you said you were fucking clean. You got fucking cocaine all over you. In your beard. All over your lips. God fucking dammit. I’m taking Lily and getting the fuck out of here.”

Cassie turned and started walking back to her car. I jumped out of my car.

“Cassie, wait. It’s not what you think. It’s just powdered sugar.”

She shoved me away. “How fucking dumb do you think I am? Just powdered sugar? Fuck Kenny. Get it together.”

She got in her car and sped off. I only got a quick glance of Lily in the backseat before they were gone.

Fuck.

I wiped the powdered sugar out of my beard.

I never saw my little girl again.