Flash fiction - An Open Window

After two months I've happily found a little space and time to write today as the snow falls, not so softly, past my window on the river. Baby sleeps and chirps to himself alongside the pitter patter of my typing. I've linked up this week with Julia's Place and her 100WCGU write. The prompt is ... the suitcase lay open ... Thanks for reading. Comments welcome! 

An Open Window

The suitcase lay open, like an invitation. Like a white flag. 

How could he possibly choose between what to take and what to leave behind? Everything in the room was meaningless. His heart lurched as he grabbed at clothes and books. His hands touched his things, but he felt nothing stuffing them into the tiny space his whole word had become. 

He knew they were coming, but the bangs on the door startled him anyway. He sprang towards the window, stuffing himself through with his case, his foot knocking the photo of Dora, her face forever etched on his heart. 

100 words

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Flash fiction - In The End

Hoorah! I have time this week for some writing, so I'm back over at Julia's Place and her 100-word challenge for grown ups. She's feeling all theatrical with her prompt this week, so we're to use these famous words from Hamlet: Alas poor Yorick. As usual it's 100 words only and please feel free to comment or constructively criticise below and then read others by clicking on the icon at the bottom. Here's my offering.

In The End

In the space between your heartbeats I nestled, conjuring something from the little we shared. Stars shifted namelessly above and while we waited for the end, I imagined seeing you again in that infinite sky. Was it years or days or just minutes we knew each other and loved and fought and laughed and cried? Yorick, you were every man I ever loved, everyone I wanted to be and yet, alas, poor Yorick, you faded to nothing on that cliff. I left you there after your last breath to turn into dust and a quote on the never-ending, pointless wind. 

100 words

Flash fiction - Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The prompt this week over at Julia's Place this week has been inspired by Save The Children's literacy campaign Change The Story. We have 100 words to rewrite the ending to a favourite fairy tale. There are so many great fairy tales, it was hard to choose just one, but this one kind of wrote itself. So here you go: Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

“MUUUUUUM! Goldilocks stole my iPhone! She lost hers again.”
Little Bear could be heard reasoning with his adopted sister. They had loved each other. Mummy Bear couldn’t pinpoint when they had become so distant.
Goldilocks bounded in, all plaits and innocence except for the heavy eye make-up and miniscule skirt. She sat, sulking.
“Tell me, Darling,” Mummy Bear said, spotting a tear slide out her daughter’s dark eyes. 
“Can’t.”
Mummy Bear knew, right then. Her daughter was pregnant. She would help, they would support her of course. But first she had to ask: “Who’s been sleeping in your bed, Love?” 

100 words

To read more different fairy tales, or to link up your own story, click here: 

Flash fiction - Connection

It's been a while since I've found some time for a spot of flash fiction. But today's the day. Over at Julia's Place, the 100WCGU prompt is ... but sure it is pointless ... I think this idea came after spending a week with my parents recently! Comments welcome!

Connection

Victor fiddled with the black box. Dot hovered. He could see her worn slippers out of the corner of his eye. 
“Are there lights, Vic? If lights are flashing it means something.”
Victor couldn’t feel his knees. “No lights, Love.”

The slippers disappeared. “Maybe we’ve got to download.”
“What?” 
Dot held the instructions an inch from her face. “What do you think? Shall we download?”
“OK. But it is surely pointless when we don’t know what that is.”
“Maybe it brings the flashing lights?”
Vic heaved himself up. “Maybe we should have a cuppa, wait for our grandson. The internalnet is harder than it looks.”

100 words + prompt

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Flash fiction - Joined in Holy Matrimony

This week over at Julia's Place the prompt is a good one: ... it was just a sea of faces ... I'm not sure where this story came from at the start, but let me know what you think. Click on the 100WCGU icon to read more takes on the prompt or have a go yourself.

Joined in Holy Matrimony

Standing in front of so-called friends and family, she glanced back. She felt nothing, just the desire to run. To her, it was just a sea of faces and they didn’t matter. Except one. The one who was going to shout out, to save her, to embarrass her briefly and hide her away. And then give her all the happiness he owned. 
The priest continued, mentioned something about God’s work in bringing them together. She stifled a laugh. The man next to her, a rock, eyes down.  
The priest asked the question. Silence. 
Her heart burst. This was it. Say it! 
She turned around.
He was gone.

100 words + prompt

Flash fiction - Rescued

Finally! Some time to write 100 words for Julia's Place and the 100WCGU. It's a wintry prompt over there this week as the UK needs some warming up (saying that, Luxembourg does do). We had to include ... tea, coffee, hot chocolate or... in 105 words. Here's my story:

Rescued

I think I was breathing. It hurt, my body catching up with the change in temperature. Lights, red faces, hats and scarves and wool everywhere. They sat me down, unlaced my boots. My feet dislodged; my toes stubborn and black. I was too cold to shiver.

“How long you think he’s been out there?” Hands shed the layers of ice on me. I sat numb to my hours lost in darkness.

“What shall I get him? Tea, coffee, hot chocolate or…”

Blood rushed to my heart, pumping; I raised a hand. Silence. Faces craned. “Yes?”

Through a snowdrift in my throat: “Whisky. No ice.” 

Click on the link to read other entries or have a go yourself. I'm off for a cuppa... 

Flash Fiction - Hello World! Hello...??

Julia is feeling indecisive this week over at Julia's Place so the prompt we're given to write in 100 words or less is: DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS.

It was easy to write a story for this week, considering what's happened (see below!)

Hello World! Hello...??

It wasn’t as if they hadn’t planned it. All that practice. All that work. All that preparation. All that excitement. The expectation building until, finally, it overflowed one long day that turned into night that turned into the next day and in the cold, yellow light of morning, at last, he was here.

Their son, gurgling and smiling and wrinkly and cute.

They covered him in love. They covered him in kisses. They covered him in tiny blue blankets. 

But, decisions, decisions, decisions…

They didn’t have a name. 

This week I became an aunt for the second time, but the first time on my side of the family. My little brother became a dad and his son was born. It was all very exciting but boy did they make us wait for his name! Three days later, we eventually got it and I cannot wait to meet Samuel Alfred! 

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Flash fiction - Every Other Sunday

After a lovely week away touring the Black Forest in Germany (highly recommended) I am back to writing. It's all about punching out words of my novel for NaNoWriMo. Four days in and so far so good. I wasn't sure how much time I would have for other creative flash fiction pieces, but the prompt at Julia's Place is so good this week I had to have a go. We were simply given the photo below. Please click the 100WCGU icon afterwards to read more entries.

Credit: Jane Hewitt
http://www.janehewitt.blogspot.co.uk/

Every Other Sunday

Father and son arrived at the next pond.
“What’s that man doing in the water, Daddy?”
“It’s not real, Jason. It’s art. Like the previous one. It makes you think.”
“Hmm.”
He let Jason stare at the boots, quietly, to get a sense of the message. His ex-wife probably never took Jason anywhere where bigger questions were asked. It was all Disney and ham sandwiches. 
“Can he breathe?”
“Jase, it’s not a person. The artist is showing –”
The water broke and up popped a man spluttering, keys aloft.
“Daddy didn’t think enough, did he?” Jason said and walked on. 

100 words

Flash fiction - Sweet Find

It's all about silver over at Julia's Place this week. I won't tell you why. You'll have to go over and read some other 100WCGU stories or link up yourself. Here's mine:

Sweet Find

The chair was hard and uncomfortable. Grandma never offered a cushion and Father wouldn’t ask. 
“Sit up, Giles.”
I sat as straight as I could and grabbed my spoon. The maid Mary winked at me, laying down my bowl. Mounds of slick fruity pudding, piled with cream, currants glistening. 
A big, yellow bottle sat on the table. Grandpa woke up.
I dug in. I heard a tap. I peered forward. A silver coin shone back from my pudding. I quickly pulled it out and slid it into my pocket before anyone noticed. 
I had four coins that day. Those adults had none.

Flash Fiction - Understood

Julia over at 100WCGU is running around like a headless chicken and chasing her own tail this week with lots and lots to do. For this reason, our prompt is:

... tail chasing did not help ...

Here are my 100 words, plus the prompt. It is called Understood.

Felix stepped out of the bedroom. Then he stepped back and forth again. He went downstairs. He did not tread on the last-but-one step. In the kitchen Daisy, his four-legged protector, sat calmly by her food bowl. She barked three times. Felix patted her on the head. Tap, tap, tap. Daisy went to the door. Felix unlocked it and watched Daisy run to the middle of the lawn, circling around herself. Tail chasing did not help her. Just like locking the back door three times did not help Felix. But Felix knew Daisy understood, and likewise. They had their behaviours and they had each other.


I read today that tail-chasing behaviour in dogs shares similarities with obsessive-compulsive disorder in humans. 

Read more 100WCGU-inspired writes over at Julia's Place by clicking:

Flash fiction - The Visitor

Julia is feeling all autumnal over at Julia's Place this week, as the leaves turn and drift down to cover parks and paths. So, our prompt is FALL. We can take either meaning of the word and below is my effort. Please go HERE to read other entries.

The Visitor

It was the beginning. Of giving up. Grandma Ivy’s fall shattered nothing. Except her self-belief. In living. News of great-grandchildren greeted with half-smiles. Favourite programmes muted. Creamy eclairs went green in the fridge. Winter broke. Curtains stayed closed. Until the scratching at the door. Grandma Ivy lasted a week. Trying to ignore it. But one sunny morning she opened that door. A cat purred. Walked in. With the defiance of a general. 

Credit: www.wallpapersus.com 

Grandma Ivy watched it wander, smelling the life that wasn’t being lived. The cat disappeared under the curtains. Grandma Ivy followed. She opened them, and herself, to the world.

100 words + prompt

This story was inspired this morning by some Crazy Cat Ladies. Crazy level - High. Whereabouts - All Over The Place. Thank you!

Flash fiction - The Pledge

The prompt for 100WCGU over at Julia's Place took me to a stranger place than usual in my writing. Have a read and see what you think. Then click on the 100WCGU icon to read more entries. This week's prompt is ... as the world turned ...

The Pledge

Their palms faced the sky they had fallen from, not so many years ago. The two mothers stood at their feet, wondering why it had taken this for them to find peace. This beach, eyes closed, dressed all in white. But they wouldn’t wake up, even though the sun was poking its head over the blue-grey horizon. One mother stifled a sob. The other looked dreamily out to sea. As the city coroner pulled up, as people woke up to this news, as the world turned and everything carried on as it always had, she took a deep breath and walked into the ocean.

104 words

Read, comment and then read some more!

Flash Fiction - Señor Perito Moreno

There's a new prompt over at Julia's Place today for those of you after some flash fiction inspiration. You've got 100 words to play with and they have to include ...but where did the noise come from...

My own piece below is dedicated to a friend who saw her first glacier this week. She'll know who she is. I hope you enjoy and if you do or don't, comments welcome!

Señor Perito Moreno

In the silence that followed everything before, condors swayed above and the great turquoise grandpa reclined in front of us. We dared to breathe the biting air, bright with sunny crystals. The dark, mountainous arms of his rocking chair pointed to a world with even greater silence. His back rose into a cloud of history, born with his every passing inch. The silence was broken by a long, handsome groan. But where did the noise come from?

We watched his bones creak wickedly as he tried to get up, but crashed piece by piece into the calm, cyan waters below.

Glacier Perito Moreno, Argentina.

Glacier Grey, Chile.

Parc Nacional de los Glacieres, Argentina.

Please go to Julia's Place to read more writing challenge entries, or try it out yourself.

Flash fiction - Valley of the Jolly Underwear Store

I've been a bit absent from Julia's Place recently, but the prompt this week is hilarious and I had to give it a go. I think you'll see where the image took me! The photo on the left is the prompt. Enjoy! Comments much appreciated!

Valley of the Jolly Underwear Store

“Yes Sir, I assure you they are state-of-the-art. Nothing better. And they come in all sorts of colours. What’s your favourite, Sir?”
He said he thought that would be obvious.
“Of course, Sir. Green. How silly of me. And how would you like them packaged?”
He told him he’d like them delivered. To a field over yonder where the corn grows. Where else?
“Right, no problem, Sir. Express flight. You’ll have them by tonight.”
He smiled. After all these years, finally a pair of pants to cover his dignity. He was no longer in his prime. What did advertisers expect? 

100 words

To read more stories, head over to Julia's Place here: 

Flash fiction - The Escape

The Escape

I’ve noticed some things that happen in England when it gets hot. Everyone gets outside and goes a bit red. People fire up their BBQs and eat overcooked meat. Men start to order drinks with fruit in which they would otherwise balk at. And some people book holidays to Scotland where it’s suitably cool.

I just wanted to get out and get in on the summer action. We’ve all been cooped up during the never ending winter. And then she wanted to make a boiled egg salad! Are you joking? Being boiled? In this heat?

Give me sun and let me fry! 

Click below to be taken to Julia's Place for more 100-word stories using the above picture as a prompt.

Flash fiction - Company Getaway

I absolutely love the prompt at Julia's Place this week! Happy writing! It is this photo:

Company getaway

Walter smiled, but he felt stupid.

How had he missed the email? Well, he had been busy. The council was increasing his team; he’d had new recruits to train. It wasn’t like the old days where you stayed in the same place for years. These days he liaised with the posties, the wheelies and the doggies. You had to keep up.

Of course, they still liked to mock the newbies and their dress code. But Walter was a traditionalist and kept his team to grey or black.

So he didn’t mind them having a laugh at their annual beach party. He just wished he didn’t look so rubbish. 

Behind schedule

This week's prompt at Julia's Place is "Pink nails?" she cried. Click on the 100 Word Challenge to read more flash fiction stories, or enter your own.

Behind schedule

The castle was only half-built and they still needed to paint the walls and sort the fittings.

“Dave, we’ve got a problem.” Rich nodded in the direction of the bedroom door.

Dave could hear Arabella, their ‘boss’, shouting downstairs. He could only make out one word. He walked to the landing and peered over the enormous staircase.

“Pink curtains AND netting! Mummy! Pink door handles! What? Pink nails?” she cried. “Yes, those too! Pink cement if necessary. Tell them now!”

Dave heard the clomp, clomp, clomp of a seven year old in heels and sighed. It was going to be another late one. 

Group therapy

This week the prompt at Julia's place isn't so much as a prompt as a general theme. As it's been sunny for more than three hours on the trot, the prompt is YELLOW. My mind took me to a strange place writing this one, but see what you think. 

Group Therapy

She reeked of DEET when she arrived. Bloody honeymooners. All pale-skinned and in love. I like a challenge.

-         - What happened?

At dawn they rode hot-air balloons over the plains. Came back after breakfast. Laughing, kissing, sharing the photos. “You look so silly!” “Wow, you got the lion yawning.” You know.

-         - Go on.

It was chilly when they woke. She didn’t shower. She didn’t spray. I knew they laid down when it got hotter. So I waited. Was easy.

-        - OK, would you like to introduce yourself?

My name is Dina. I’m a mosquito and I have yellow fever. 

100 words

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Flash Fiction - Inheritance

Inheritance

The ice clinks. Jocelyne Farrow-Montague swallows her gin and looks at us frostily. My mother-in-law will announce her death and our freedom. Finally! We have prepared looks of shock and sadness.

“Another, Richard,” she orders. Oh, she plays the dying old lady well. Richard runs off; I smile sympathetically.

“So, your test Mother?”

“I have the results.” She takes a sip, eyes closed.

But wait. The lines around her mouth are twitching. Her colour has returned! How could we not notice? There’s always a sting in the tail with this woman, she was supposed to –

“I’m in remission, Darlings.”

We sit, shocked and despondent, trying to smile. 

100 words + prompt

You can find the prompt we had to include and other 100-word stories at Julia's Place. Click here.

Everest

Reading the prompt at Julia's Place this week, I was taken back to a longer piece of writing I'd done years ago for a weekend writing competition. Then, the prompt was a photo and the word count 1000. But today, I've tried to keep to the same essential story within the much shorter word limit. The words we had to include are ...the points were sharp... I changed 'the' to 'their' for my story to read better. To read other entries, please visit http://jfb57.wordpress.com/

Everest

My last step was my first on a new journey; my body could rest, my eyes took over. The plateau stretched into night’s past and day’s birth. I stepped along my undiscovered throne on the world. The wind whipped up; I tightened my hood, a king surveying his greatest achievement.

            In years at the summits, I’d never seen such heaven. Our mountain’s cousins bathed in the same rosy morning glow. Their points were sharp and jagged all around us, jutting into the blueing sky, their glaciers sparkling like newly-discovered gems.

            They simply reminded us where we were: higher, taller, on top of the world. 

Check out www.project-himalaya.com for more amazing photos.