(Author’s Note: This song has been sticking around in my head for the last 5 days. It’s an earworm of a song, one that I head first when I was a little guy riding my bike around my neighborhood in Minnesota. And as a bonus, the band is from my adopted hometown of Portland, Oregon. So I hope you enjoy “Harden My Heart”. )

© J. Hardy Carroll

Harden My Heart

by Miles H. Rost

(100 words)

Jane Metzger stood next to the phone, waiting. It was 45 minutes after her boyfriend, Mike, was supposed to pick her up. She picked up the phone, and slid her calling card.

*ring*

“Hello?” a relaxed voice answered.
“Mike! Where the hell are you?!”
“Wha…?” the voice panicked, shuffling in the background confirming what Jane had already knew.

Jane made a quick decision.

“Mike, you don’t need to come and pick me up. One of my friends will bring me home.”
“Uh…okay?”
“I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Okay,” Mike said, pausing, “Bye.”

*click*

She never did go home.