(To preface this piece, I made an account on Reddit recently, and the prompt below comes from the subreddit Writing Prompts. So I wrote my response over there, and I wanted to put it here, too!)

[WP] Write a short story where the first sentence is 20 words, the second is 19, and so on until the story ends with one word.

I don’t know what exactly brought me to this place again, not so long after I swore never to return.

But, well, here I am once again, unable to stay away, no matter how many times I try to.

I tell myself it’s this little hole in the wall or the people that keep bringing me back.

It’s neither of those things, and it never has been for as long as he’s worked there.

We stand outside the restaurant as he smokes his cigarette and then offers it to me.

I accept it and put my lips right where his were, taking a long drag.

He’s never been much of a talker, and honestly, I like that about him.

Yet, he’s also the kind of guy that gets straight to the point.

“Look, I know how much you’re risking your neck for me, Lydia.”

“Like I always have, and apparently, I always will,” I say.

“Be serious. You said you were done. Why come back?”

I sighed. “You know why. I can’t keep running.”

A line of cars sped down the road.

I tossed the cigarette, stomped it out.

“You ready for this?” Jackson asked.

“Just give me the gun.”

The cars pulled up.

He spoke again.

“Say when.”

“When.”