Demon Child (1st Place)

“Demon child,” Aunt Millie glared as she passed by.

Stacy had corralled Wesley, her three-year-old son, enough so that during the wedding there were only three minor incidents. Wesley crawled under a pew. He had the hiccups. Then the most egregious, and at the most inopportuned moment – when the groom said “I do.” – Wesley dropped a crayon and said loudly in the pin-drop moment “Ut, Ohhh.” Laughter and grins flashed all around the sanctuary. She’d imagined worse from Wesley.

The family assembled outside, where sunshine, a light breeze, and big puffy clouds greeted them. They were poised to throw the rice, except for Wesley who was banned by his mother. He whined incessantly about not having any rice, but to no avail. Stacy knew better.

Wesley was an impatient child, and wandered to the car just 30 feet away. The windows were all rolled down, but Stacy kept a leery eye on him. With Wesley, 30 feet might just as well have been a mile. Stacy noticed Wesley was content and let her guard down for a few moments as she struck up a conversation with her cousin. That was her mistake, she told herself later. After a few minutes, Wesley ambled back to his mother all smiles and one hand behind his back. Stacy’s 'mommy alarm' started ringing. Something was up, and she knew it wasn’t good.

“What do you have, Wesley?”

It was then that the bride and groom emerged. Rice filled the sky, and Wesley produced a large open can of pepper.

“Noooooo!”

It was too late. Wesley threw the pepper into the air. People started sneezing and convulsing. The bride was gagging. The groom was wide-eyed and terrified.

Stacy’s face went into her hands, as she murmured to herself. The groom is allergic to pepper.

300 words
Flash Story Contest Must include the words: pepper, clouds, pin