Urban Volcano

Fiction by Börkur Sigurbjörnsson

Flash fiction

Freedom

Freedom — Illustration by Börkur Sigurbjörnsson
Illustration by Börkur Sigurbjörnsson

We drove across the wetlands south of the Brazilian rainforest — driver, guide and four tourists. We gazed in all directions, looking for the big prize.

“Shhh,” said the guide all of a sudden and pointed into the distance. We followed his indication down the river and over to the opposite bank. The driver slowed down and drove carefully downstream along the riverbank.

I grabbed my camera and pointed the lens across the river. The jeep stopped and I snapped. I let the camera sink and looked into the eyes of the big cat — the jaguar — that stood gracefully on the other side of the river.

I took a deep breath and felt a feeling of freedom rush through my body. This was exactly what I had had in mind when I decided a month ago to quit my job, travel the world and seek adventure.

Börkur is an avid storyteller with a keen eye for quirky characters, funny dialogs and vivid scenario descriptions. Much of his writing falls within the genre of realistic fiction and his stories are more often than not based on real events in the author’s life. Although the tales contain grains of truth, they are melded with fiction, making the reader curious to know the line between reality and fantasy.