2025 February Flash Fiction Challenge: Day 17

For today’s prompt, write about an unlikely team.

(Note: If your story gets flagged for review, be patient—we will be releasing comments every few hours throughout the weekdays of this challenge. Our system randomly flags comments for review, so just sit tight and wait for us to set it free! If you run into any other issues with posting your story, please just send me an e-mail at mrichard@aimmedia.com with the subject line: Flash Fiction Challenge Commenting Issue.)

Here’s my attempt at a story about an unlikely team.:

Unified

The shoplifter hit their store every third Thursday of the month. Management was fairly stumped, but it was never anything expensive enough to be overly fussed about. She wounded their pride, a minor annoyance.

The cashier at dock 1 knew exactly what the shoplifter did. Every third Thursday, their eyes met. Connection fizzled.

But the cashier made minimum wage; this was her second job. And they refused her request for a raise, even though she’d been working there for three years.

Screw them, she thought again and again, her eyes sliding away from the shoplifter, minding her own damn business.