Two Sides [Flash Fiction]

The scream from the alley drew Xander’s attention. A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. And here he thought it was going to be a quiet night in the big city.
He moved closer, flitting from shadow to shadow. The scream echoing down the alley was reflected inside his head, bouncing around his skull, a wordless cry for help.
A woman’s cry, and then a sound of flesh hitting flesh. Sobs. A man’s voice. “I’m going to show you what I do to people who double-cross me, bitch.”
Xander reached into his pocket, fingers brushing against something cold, something metal. He pulled out the coin and held it between his finger and thumb. What do I want to be today? Good, or evil. Naughty, or nice? Saviour, or passer-by?
The coin flashed through the air, coldly glinting against the streetlight. He caught it on its fall, and slapped it against the back of the hand. A shiver of excitement rippled down his spine. This was always the best part. That moment of anticipation. Of not knowing what was going to come next, or who he was going to be until the next toss.
He pulled away away his hand, revealing the heads side. Another smile graced his lips as he reached into his other pocket and grasped the handle of his switchblade.
Sometimes, being good could be as much fun as being evil.
I’m a little late to Chuck Wendig’s Good vs. Evil story party this week. I went for brevity, and hope you enjoyed it!
This made me think of Two-Face (from Batman) and his double-headed coin. Xander using his coin to decide if he’ll be good or evil is similar to Two-Face using his coin to dictate life and death, and I loved that connection 😀
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Thanks, Jade! I hadn’t considered the Harvey Dent connection, but you’re right! I love concepts which are diametrically opposed yet inherently dependent on each other to exist; life and death, light and dark, good and evil… and so forth. Maybe I should’ve used a taijitu as the featured image.
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Oooh what if the coin was a taijitu-patterned coin?? Although, I guess it would be hard to have a heads and a tails side on a coin like that lol
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Both sides would look similar, but I love the concept! Somebody should do that sometime. 😛
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A flip of the coin. Random, or ordained?
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Heads up! I just mentioned you by name in the caption of my new blog post. I had to give credit where credit is due! You’ll understand…
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Am intrigued, will check it out now…
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It can, can’t it 😀 Good story.
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Awesome stuff, I like how it’s decided on a coin toss.
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Cheers! Good and evil are just two sides of the same coin.
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