Over-Reliance – Flash Fiction by Urmilla Kannuswamy
When comfort becomes a crutch, survival slips away.
In Over-Reliance, Urmilla Kannuswamy captures a moment of quiet desperation — a man alone in the woods, stripped of modern ease, confronting the cold and his own unpreparedness.
He was alone in the woods, and with the last of the hand warmers gone, there was nothing to keep the cold from seeping into his bones. Rubbing his palms together, he blew air into them in a desperate attempt to ward off the numbness. He admonished himself for not knowing how to build a campfire.
As he pushed his hands deeper into his pockets to hold on to the warmth that was just beyond his reach, he felt his fingers curl around his smartphone.
He unlocked the phone and asked Google for help, like he always did.
A hostile, black screen stared back at him.
It said, ‘No internet connection.’
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✍️ About the Authors
Urmilla Kannuswamy is a software engineer and writer whose work explores the intersection of technology, nature, and human resilience. When she’s not coding, she’s reading, cycling, or painting.
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