“The Time-Share” by Fred Warren
A dark intersection, a brutal attack, and a moment of panic. They said he was lucky, but there are penalties worse than life in prison. [5min]
Excerpt:
They time-shared me to Chuckie Lee Wilson after he died. If you take a life, you give your life. That’s the law now. No excuses, no shades of gray.
Chuckie Lee car-jacked me at a dark intersection downtown. When he broke through my window, I stepped on the gas and dragged him for three blocks. The prosecutors told me I was lucky the upload crew got to him in time, or I would have spent the rest of my life in a cage.
“He was going to kill me,” I said.
“Nobody knows what he planned to do,” they said. “Chuckie Lee Wilson is dead, and you killed him.”
“I didn’t mean to kill him. He had a gun, and I panicked. His sleeve caught on the door.”
“You could have stopped the car. Instead, you took his life. Now you’re going to give it back.”
So, Chuckie Lee gets half my life in exchange for the life I took from him.
Creepy! And, being flash fiction, hauntingly unresolved.