The Ties That Bind Us
Unspoken unknowns among friends...
R.J. Bloom
7/15/20261 min read
My short story, The Ties That Bind Us, was written within 48 hours and entered into a 48-hour competition. I had fun writing this story. Would I stay friends with a college friend even though I knew they committed crimes (plural)? Do secrets bind a group of long-time friends or does it tear them apart? I present to you, The Ties That Bind Us.
**
“I gotta take a leak, pull over right there.”
Avery throws a glare at Tom before she drives to the highway shoulder. She watches Tom bolt out of the car and sprint to a tree. A smile starts easing onto her face but it stops when she sees what’s beyond the tree: an old farmhouse with a rope swing in front of it.
“Stretch break!” Emma announces before she hops out too.
Knowing her friends too well, Avery turns the car off, gets out and joins them. Emma is stretching and Tom’s shoulder is visible from behind a tree.
“Our trip is different without Mike,” Emma says.
Clearing her throat, Avery looks again at the rope swing, “Do you think he did it?”
“I know he did it,” Tom interjects as he walks up.
Emma’s eyes widen in surprise, “We promised not to ever talk about that again. Especially now that Mike is becoming famous.”
“Who can hear us?” Tom sarcastically asks. “Oh, the people who live in that Texas Chainsaw Massacre looking-house way over there?”
“We promised!” Emma cries.
Tom sighs, “We knew the entanglement Mike was in during his first venture. Then suddenly that co-founder disappears and he was untangled and rolling in the dough.” Tom pauses, “And now years later, he invents another cash cow and this time the co-founder hangs herself? The common thread is Mike.”
“No, the common thread is us,” Avery wearily replies. “And the ties that bind us.”
