a short story about the instructions for survival and the packages they come in, by special guest Chinelo Onwualu

Stories are meant to be shared:

Facebook Reddit Tumblr Twitter

<<< first story           < previous story           next story >           latest story >>>

The Wrong Package

a short story about the instructions for survival and the packages they come in, by special guest Chinelo Onwualu



We’ve lived in the dark for so long that we have forgotten light. But we have not forgotten our colours.

The packages remind us. They tell us where to live, what to eat, what we can do and where we can go. They tell us who may take our lives.

Yesterday, I got the wrong package. It was white, and now I am too. My daughter, though, her package is black.

Tomorrow, I must move to where I am supposed to be. But I have decided: I will give my daughter my package and take hers instead.

For I have compared our instructions and I know. The difference between black and white is more than the colour of an envelope.


Chinelo Onwualu is a writer of African speculative fiction, a ronin editor, and a shameless dog person.

...


Short story written by Chinelo Onwualu

website   twitter   

Story prompt taken from a photo by Mohammadreza Yazdian

website