Love on a street corner

9 12 2010

Boarded up shops and busted streetlights. Graffiti, broken glass, and overflowing garbage bins. A sudden burst of unruly laughter from the teenagers huddled together down the rain-slick sidewalk.

The man stood still, heart pounding, out of place. Did he get the address wrong? No, the voice mail told him to wait on this corner tonight. So he waited, desperately praying for 16, 842 hours of torment to end.

Suddenly, there she was — pierced, tattooed, trembling. Wild and strange, yet achingly familiar. Uncertain. His heart broke for her. How could she be uncertain?

“Daddy,” she whispered. “Can I come home?”

(This is a response to the 100 words challenge in Velvet Verbosity. The word for the week was “wild”.)


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Categories : 100 Words, Flash Fiction, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

The day after the first “I love you”

10 11 2010

Vanessa. Vanessa. Her name was pure pleasure on his tongue, impossible to say without an exultant smile. Smooth as the silk of her skin, sweet as the scent of jasmine in her hair, soft as the sensuous touch of her hand. His every prayer answered. Nessa.

He worried that he’d suddenly wake up and find that it wasn’t real. That she didn’t really smile at him with his kiss lingering on her lips, that the tenderness in her eyes was merely a trick of the light. His Vanessa. How was it even possible that those words together can be true?

(This is another response to the 100 words challenge in Velvet Verbosity. The word for the week was “pleasure”.)

 

 


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Categories : 100 Words, Flash Fiction, Love, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

Rescuer becomes rescued

9 11 2010

The tears were dry. The violent, heartrending sobbing that had shaken her until it felt like she would shatter had stopped. Everything had stopped, except pain.

Night had slowly darkened the room, but she barely noticed. She lay on the bed, an exhausted ball of numbness and blank grief. She hadn’t moved for hours. She might never move again, she thought.

Suddenly, she felt a small nose touching her cheek. It was the stray kitten she found yesterday, snuggling close and purring in pleasure. Slowly, she lifted her hand to draw it closer, seeking its warmth.

She was still needed.

(This is a response to the 100 words challenge in Velvet Verbosity. The word for the week was “pleasure”.)

 


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Categories : 100 Words, Cat Chronicles, Flash Fiction, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

Through the forest

8 11 2010

These are three 140-character stories for Microfiction Monday, hosted on Stony River. The challenge is to write a tweet-length (or shorter) tale based on the photograph or illustration provided every week. Week 56′s picture inspired three stories, and somehow, they all ended up involving fairy tales, perhaps because the image of a lone traveler and a path in the woods is such a familiar element in fantasy and myth that my mind recognized it immediately and refused to let go of the idea. It would be interesting to know what the photo will evoke in other microfiction writers. Anyway, here goes:

They warned the prince against wolves, but nobody cautioned him against the faerie-child’s spell.

The princess kept waiting; he never came.

*****

For stealing Cinderella’s slippers, Lea was doomed to wander for eternity, growing old and returning to youth, over and over and over again.

*****

Daddy read her stories of ladies trapped by witches in the forest. Maybe that’s where Mommy went. She might need help.

Lucy started walking.

*****

That’s it! Your turn. :)

 

 


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Categories : Flash Fiction, Microfiction Monday, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

The one left behind

4 11 2010

She watched him preparing to leave, ruthlessly choking back the anguished doubt within her. He was busy, that’s all, she told herself, that’s why he never lingered. She knew he wanted to. She knew he loved her. She must know that. Didn’t she?

Tears flooded her throat. No. He mustn’t notice. Forcing the harsh despair from her voice, she murmured, I’ll miss you. He smiled distractedly, checking his watch, already on his way out. Don’t suffocate him, she lectured herself. But she wished, oh dear God, how she wished it was just a little harder for him to walk away.

(This is a response to the 100 words challenge in Velvet Verbosity. The word for the week was “harsh”.)


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Categories : 100 Words, Flash Fiction, Love, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

The Thief’s Story

27 10 2010

It came to him unbidden, his father’s memory. Here, in his slow execution, it wasn’t his crimes that haunted Ishmael but Abba’s unwavering faith during his severed life. Stoned to death on false accusations, Abba had been innocent, a pawn in games of power.

As was the man dying excruciatingly beside him. Ishmael knew it as surely as he knew of his own guilt — the teacher was blameless. He could also be something more, someone Abba would have recognized. His corrupted heart, humbled at last, could not reject it. Offering what faith he had, he pleaded, “Remember me in Paradise.”

(This is a response to the 100 words challenge in Velvet Verbosity. The word for the week was “unbidden”. I chose this subject because I’ve always wondered about that thief who acknowledged Jesus as he was crucified. What sort of man was he, that he recognized the Messiah in that horrible moment of death when others, even his fellow condemned criminal, did not? This story is just my way of making up an answer to that question. I thought it would be as good a reason to write as any. :-) )

 


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Categories : 100 Words, Christianity, Flash Fiction, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

Her Secret Life

22 10 2010

This is a story for Microfiction Monday, hosted on Stony River. The challenge is to write a 140 character tale based on the photograph or illustration provided every week. This one’s my first try. You can join, too!

 

A bread/water diet, witch’s orders. Stupid Princess Pageant. Una realized the jousting outfit under her gown made her look fat. No one knew.


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Categories : Flash Fiction, Microfiction Monday, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

Killer in the Night

20 10 2010

He prowled in the woods, all soundless precision and deadly intent. His keen eyes dismissed the darkness as a non-hindrance, while his sharp hearing tuned out irrelevant sounds to track the music he lived for: that panicked, frantic thrumming of a heart that recognized lethal pursuit. Fear. Ah. Exhilarating.

Almost there, within striking distance. His victim whimpered, terrified. He silently unsheathed his weapons.

Death.

Afterwards, he walked up to the cottage, calling to the woman inside. The door opened, revealing him as he stood in the light.

“There’s my baby,” she cooed, reaching for him.

“Meow,” he replied, purring contentedly.

(This is a response to the 100 words challenge in Velvet Verbosity. The word for the week was “within”.)


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Categories : 100 Words, Cat Chronicles, Flash Fiction, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

Hiding Place

3 10 2010

She lay at the bottom of the ditch, feeling the grass softly tickle her face. A lazy, hazy day. The summer afternoon sunlight filtered through the branches of the acacia tree and warmed the scent of the wildflowers she was crushing beneath her. Bees were buzzing about.  A dragonfly hovered in the gentle breeze she could barely feel, here in her sheltered, secret hollow.

 

Footsteps, running on the path above her. The hide-and-seek game was being taken pretty seriously. She didn’t want to play anymore. Shouts, far away. “I’m coming!”

Smiling, she closed her eyes and surrendered to sleep.

(This is a response to the 100 words challenge in Velvet Verbosity. The word for the week was “ditch”.)

 


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Categories : 100 Words, Flash Fiction, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

The Long Way Home

23 09 2010

She felt unbearably fragile.

The words hung in the air between them, and she couldn’t bear to look up and see him. Or let him see her.

They were true, she knew, the words she had spoken. And so it shouldn’t have mattered what he replied, because that truth came with a numbness, a protection of its own. She waited longingly for that numbness to come, but it didn’t. For the first time, it didn’t. She couldn’t escape what that meant.

He could hurt her. Even now, by just leaving, he could hurt her. Because she needed him. And she had rejected him with her words that were true.

“I can’t. I know you want me to be brave again, but I can’t.”

She had to make him understand. Before he gave her more than she could ever return. Before it became more unfair to him than it already was. She owed him the truth.

It must have been only a few seconds, but his silence seemed to stretch through the night. She turned her head, away from him, towards the empty street and the sidewalk she would have to walk alone later. The city lights glowed on the pavement. She felt cold.

Then his hands were on her face, turning her back to him. Gently.

“Hey,” he said, his tone as tender as his touch. One fingertip traced the trail of moisture from the teardrop she had tried to hide from him. Slowly, hesitantly, she met his gaze.

His eyes were direct, intense. His voice was low, but clear and compelling in the cold air. “You don’t have to be anything you don’t want to be. Not for me.”

The words slammed into her heart, pounded on the walls that had been necessary for so long. She couldn’t say anything past the tightness in her throat.

“Come on,” he said after a few moments. He was smiling. “I’ll walk you home.”


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Categories : Love, This is fiction, ok? FICTION.

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