Today’s flash fiction prompt is: the picture lied.
Sofia pulled the last of her books out of the box and arranged them on the bedside table. A photo fluttered out of one of her notebooks and landed upside down on the floor. She sat on the bed to bend over and pick it up.
“What could this be?” She flipped it over and was suddenly glad she was sitting. Her stomach clenched, and a familiar ache flared in her chest. The picture showed a laughing group of friends flying kites at County Line Beach. Front and center in the photo was an obviously happy couple.
The picture lied.
Sofia’s naïve joy had been genuine, but Hector’s? Her ex-fiancé stared at the camera with a small smile. Before, she had thought it was the content smile of a man who was fulfilled by his life. Fulfilled by her.
Now she could see it for what it was. The self-centered smirk of a man who was more concerned with who was looking at him than the person right beside him.
Good riddance.
So why did it still hurt? Not a mistake I will make again.
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There's Magic in Story, 