Alright, bitches, I'm already tired of reading your sorry efforts at storytelling, so this week we're cutting the wordcount in half, at least. You have a 500 word hard maximum; however, my fellow judges and I want to make it known that those who submit tight pieces in less than 500 words will be looked upon more favourably than those who use up the whole limit.

Since you're going to be working with a more restrictive word count than usual, the prompt is fairly open - you must use the following quote as inspiration, and your entry must have a clear narrative arc. No stream of consciousness bullshit, kthx.
"The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living."~ Karl Marx

The idea here is to challenge you to say more with less, but still tell a good story. Write me some really fucking efficient prose, yo.