For those of you who are either just now discovering me *or* the challenge I'm participating in, here's a basic description of what this is all about:

ZapFic competitions are events hosted by @freewritehouse, intended to offer a fun and creative way to compete against other creative authors - 3 winners are chosen to receive 1 Hive SBI share each! The rules are simple:
1. On Fridays, one must create a well-crafted story in *precisely* 50 words using the prompt in the competition announcement post. On Mondays, it's the same concept, only the story must consist of 240 characters or less (I think the closer you get to 240, the better your odds at winning are).
2. You must use the #freewritehouse and #zapfic tags in your post.
3. A screenshot of a word counter showing proof of words/characters MUST be included in the submission post!
4. A link to your submission needs to be shared to the announcement post within the allotted time (typically within 3 days of the challenge's posting time).

If you're interested in participating, check the [announcement post](https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@freewritehouse/its-zapficmonday-week-31-write-me-a-story-in-240-characters-or-less) here!

Now, without any further ado, here is my submission
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![0Uq9nwVGizRf4REe5z2q.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/thinkrdotexe/23t7F7xFHTqRnHDdhK9DCzbhWBPUwjKUxmXhJoySW4tNE37EQsfysMDMz2FUDc8aizi1P.jpg)

*He seems different from all the others...* she mused. It *had* been an idyllic evening, after all. Banter was effortless, and her connection with him felt electric.

The tone changed when he offered her a ride home. The unfamiliar side streets grew more foreboding, as did his increasingly sickening grin.

![Screenshot 2022-08-13 140228.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/thinkrdotexe/23tHb6kphj8aa6Mq5mSfBrKy4ThioBz7tSXUrZYWHjNw281ytCE8BKwqpa7ssDs8JB7ER.png)

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Thank you for your time and attention. If you enjoyed my little story, please consider checking out my webserial choose your own adventure novella, [The Hunter's Instinct](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@thinkrdotexe/the-hunters-instinct-a-choose-your-own-adventure-serial-novella) and cast your votes to have a meaningful influence on the flow of the story! I would *love* to see your names showing up in the comments!
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*As always, take care of yourselves and each other, and stay thoughtful!
Your friendly neighborhood dork,
~Thinkr*

|[All my links](http://my.bio/thinkrdotexe)|[My Vimm channel](http://vimm.tv/c/thinkrdotexe)|
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|[My Blog](https://peakd.com/@thinkrdotexe)|["The Hunter's Instinct" Webserial Novella](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@thinkrdotexe/the-hunters-instinct-a-choose-your-own-adventure-serial-novella)|
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**About the Scholar and Scribe Community**
[Scholar and Scribe](https://peakd.com/c/hive-199275/created) is a new creative writing community founded in the forges of Hive's passionate [Pizza Guild](https://peakd.com/c/hive-185582/created). It sets itself part from some of the other writing groups on Hive with its unique dual-token system.
[ [Quick token guide](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@jfuji/a-quick-guide-to-the) • [S+S 'Whitepaper'](https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@hive-199275/scholar-and-scribe-background-and-overview) ]