Wrapped up in Silence. #Flashfiction #FFfAW

This week’s photo prompt is provided by Akshata Ram.

Mitzy’s over-active imagination was in hyper-drive.  What would happen if she had to scream for help out here?

Would it be amplified, carried to the closest town?  Or would it be absorbed by the snowy tree-tops?  Would it perhaps cause an avalanche?

Mindy had other thoughts.  “It’s so peaceful out here.  Quiet for a playground!  I hope Mom and Dad don’t find out we went so far.”

“It’s too quiet,” Mitzy announced.  She kicked the mound of snow that Mindy had just formed.  Quiet wrapped around them like a false comfort.

“Don’t ruin it all,” Mindy scorned.

Mitzy opened her mouth and let out a piercing scream.  A bird fluttered from a tree.  No other response was made, but Mindy reacted in kind.

“Stop it, stop it!  There’s something wrong with you!”

Quietly, Mitzy answered.  “It was just an experiment.  See, it’s over.  Now I know what would happen.”

*A 149 word story.  A weekly photo prompt is provided at Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers and bloggers are challenged to response with a brief, flash-fiction story.  It’s a lot of fun seeing how drastically different some of the responses can be.  The story word limit is 100 – 150 words (+ – 25 words). Thanks for stopping by and reading my flash piece!

 

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Discards or Delights. #FFfAW

This week’s photo prompt is provided by Yarnspinnerr.

“Bagged and tied, Lacy.  You have 3o minutes before your shift is up.  No overtime.”

Lacy rolled her eyes, gathering up the leftovers from the Christmas luncheon.  People in the street would love this food.

“Why do we have to throw it away?”  she asked.

“I don’t have anyone who will eat it at home.  It’ll go bad.  No one was hungry today, I guess.  Ladies on diets, you know.”

“I have a son who will eat it,” she replied.

“I don’t think he can handle all of that,” Mr. Lesperanz said.

“Okay, I’ll take it, and throw it out if he doesn’t eat it all.”

“Just don’t tell anyone. Bag it up like you’re discarding it.  Please.”

At home, Lacy presented the food to Justin.  “Take a few, and we’ll take the rest downtown.  It’s Christmas Eve.”

Justin’s eye got big.  “Where the street people are?”

Lacy smiled.  “They’re hungry.  We’ll give them a good Christmas.”

Justin never forgot that night they brought Christmas to hundreds of others.

~A 169 word story.

Each week, a photo prompt is present at the  FFfAW Wordpress site.  The story word limit is 100 – 150 words (+ – 25 words). Please try and stay within this limit. I’ve been cutting it close lately!  Check out some other stories, add your own, and generally have some fun with Flash fiction!

Stopping by the Highway. #FFfAW. #amwriting

This week’s photo prompt is provided by Jodi McKinney.

The air was crisp and cool, and Mom started the heat.  We had stopped twice already for hot chocolate.  Brent kept complaining about the cold.

“Come back here, Brent,”  I called.

I put my feet up on his legs and he grimaced.  “Oh, they’re not that heavy,” I insisted.  “It’ll warm you up.”  My strained neck leaned on a pillow by the window.  It was a long ride, but soon, we would see snow.

“There are snowflakes on the windshield!” Mom exclaimed.

We gazed out the window.

“I wanna make a snowball!”  Brent shouted.  Small patches had gathered.

We stopped on the shoulder and got out.  Brent collected a handful of mostly dirt and threw it at me.  Mom sighed.

What else could I do but collect my own and throw it back?  He giggled.

“Okay, you’ve had your first snowball fight.  Time to go,” Mom instructed.   “There will be enough for a snowman where we’re going.”  (approx. 163 words)

**Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers provides a weekly prompt for inspiration.  Writers must create a story of 100-150 words, give or take 25.

 

 

 

Neither Rain, nor Snow, nor Sleet. #FFfAW

Photo credit, (c) Yinglan.

He was always at this park on Saturdays.  I’d notice him whenever I took my dog for the nightly walk.  After I’d lived here for about nine months, I noticed the weather didn’t matter.  He was here every Saturday evening, and only Saturday evenings.

His clothing was shabby; his cheeks, red.  I imagined on the nights I didn’t see him, he must stay at the shelter.  One night I stopped to talk.

“Hey, I’m Fran.  Isn’t it a little cold to be out here?”

“Doesn’t bother me.  My lady and I, we’d come here every Saturday night.  I can picture here right there.  We’d sit on that bench.”  Shivering, he showed me a smiling photo of her on that bench.

“When is the date over?”  I asked, worried he might freeze.

He looked at a broken wrist-watch.  “Half an hour.”

“I don’t think she’d mind leaving early.  It’s a bit cold.  Can I walk you to the shelter?”

He shrugged and smiled sadly.  “Yeah, there’s soup.  Maybe she’ll show up next week.”

**172 words

***The challenge is to write a short piece of flash fiction in response to a provided picture prompt of 100-150 words (+ or – 25 words, thank goodness :)).  You can view other stories or jun the fun at FFfAW.

Thank you for stopping by on a snowy evening!  You never know the difference you could make.  Of course, it is not snowy here, but I can imagine.  🙂

A Proposal. #FlashFictionforAspiringWriters

This week’s photo prompt is provided by Michelle DeAngelis. 

It was the perfect vacation spot with a lovely, romantic backdrop.

He asked her to be there with him, and she regretted not a moment of it.

“The sun awakens us, and the sound of island music seranades us to sleep.  What could be more perfect, my beauty?” he asked.

He was shirtless most days, and she revealed her back at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Not one proprietor minded.  Flip flops were the norm, even in fancy restaurants.  After a month, they frequented less of the fancy restaurants, and were more likely to grab a sandwich for dinner and sit on the beach.

“That used to be us,” she remarked, looking at a couple carrying a cooler and towels.

He kissed her softly and pleaded, “Can we stay?”  He reached for her hand and led her to a shack off of the tourist strip.

“Yes,” she beamed, eyes glistening.

**A 149 word story.  My story is a response to this week’s photo prompt at Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers

Roam. Flash Fiction For Aspiring Writers.

This week’s photo credit goes to Jodi McKinney.

At dawn, she felt freer than ever.  The dew would dampen her hair, and her spirit could soar.  It had been this way since her youth.

This place was always her home, the one she hoped to return to again and again.  Now, she had done her time and run her race.  Given the world all that she could.

Her babies had grown and didn’t need her anymore.  Though she couldn’t run through the fields as she used to, she’d sit and imagine the blades of grass crunching beneath her as she ran.

Here she would retire, an old gray mare, but here, she felt the most beautiful of all, because here, her spirit could soar.

**Find out more about this weekly photo prompt challenge at Flash Fiction For Aspiring Writers

 

Of Mitz and Mayhem. #FFfAW #flashfiction

Photo credit (c) Yarnspinnerr

Mitz was feeling fresh with newly dyed-electric-blue spiked hair.  Her friends knew better than to call her Michelle.  She was a new person.  Off to cause mayhem in all four corners of the world, oblivious to the chill in the air.

“What’s this place, do ya’ know, Johnnie?”

Johnnie spit on the ground.  “Must be a home for royals,” he answered in his cockney accent.

“No entry?  Ha!” Mitz exclaimed.  “Let’s go get a lemonade over there and come back when it gets darker.”

“I’m ready!” Johnnie replied.

She tugged his arm.  Thirty minutes later, she was refreshed and Johnnie had espresso fuel rocketing through his veins.

They crouched near the first lampost. Mitz stifled a giggle.  She grasped Johnnie’s arm, but fell back on the slippery ground.

“Right on your bum, there you go,” a deep voice bellowed.

“Oh, sh–” Mitz spat, then noticed Johnnie running away.  “Traitor, you are!”

“Come on, up with you,” the constable grasped her arm, pushing her into the car.  Mitz realized the door wouldn’t unlock.

**174 words**

To join in the fun, visit Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers where a new photo prompt and writing challenge is presented weekly.  I love these things!  I think I have just introduced myself to a new character….

 

 

Goodbyes and New Beginnings. #Flash FictionforAspiringWriters

This week’s photo prompt is provided by Ted Strutz. 

Upon arriving in Maine on a solo voyage, Kirstie rented a car.  It was beautiful and relatively mild here in the summertime.  She loved the local seafood and sights.

In two weeks Kirstie would marry a Wall Street stockbroker.  Of course, Richmond thought she was traveling with friends.  He’d intervene if he knew otherwise.  The longer she stayed in Maine, the more she loved the people, their accent, their attitude. Particularly that of Steven, the owner at Manford’s Clam Shack.  It was he who suggested she take a short jaunt to Nova Scotia, as she sat at the bar one night chatting.

“Only if you accompany me,” she answered. Then blushed.

He didn’t know she was set to be married.  When asked, Kirstie only said she was here to make a life change.  Steve pondered, realizing it was rare for him to take even a weekend off in the summertime.  This wasn’t the kind of thing he did.

“Deal,” he said, eyes smiling.

Days later, Kirstie sent a letter of goodbye to Richmond.

*A story 174 words long

 

Can you write a story with a beginning, middle, and end in 100-175 words or less based on a photo prompt?  It is challenging but quite a lot of fun.  Let your imagination fly!   Visit Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers 

View other flash fiction entries and/or submit your own based on this week’s photo prompt!

The Scene. #FFfAW #flashfiction

Thank you, Yinglan for the photo prompt!

The Scene, (c) 2018 by Pamela Schloesser Canepa

“No, young lady, you must move to the right an inch.  Like so.”

The woman kindly obeys.

“So, I’m just looking down admiringly, right?”  The other man, Yung, inquires.

“Yes.  At her shoes, or feet.  Whichever.”

The young woman, Clara, looks around her, then shudders.

Yung looks at his watch.  “Soon.”

“Nice work, stay still.  Everything should be just as I saw. ”

Yung could not stop blinking, yet he didn’t want to miss a thing.  Was this man, this stranger, the soothsayer he claimed to be?  He showed up and claimed Yung’s wife was in danger.

“Now, Clara, on the count of three, kneel down.”

Quietly, she watched him mouth 3, 2, 1…then knelt as a shotgun blast from the street rang through the quiet store.

The bullet hit the glass case behind Clara.  Papers told of an assassination attempt on the political actress and her husband.  Samuel knew it was just a random drive-by.  No one could question Samuel.  He disappeared somewhere in Europe the next day.

~174 words

**The challenge is to take a photo prompt and respond with a flash fiction story of 100-150 words, +/- 25 words.  Please visit and follow https://flashfictionforaspiringwriters.wordpress.com/ to receive the weekly photo prompt and/or view other flash fiction responses!

 

In and Out of Sync. #FFfAW #FlashFiction

Photo credit @wildverbs

Jody would not take his young eyes off of the sky.  Birds were flying in perfect sync.

“Birds are very intelligent,” Jody said, squinting.  He was quite a prodigy himself.  “I don’t know how they learn to fly so perfectly in sync with each other.”

“Amazing, huh?”  I chuckled.

Just then, one of them squawked.  Severals others called back.  “They’re talking to each other,” Jody cried excitedly.

Speechless, I stared at the sky.

“He said there’s a fire.  The leader, he said….”

From the east there appeared a dark column of smoke.  Did Jody actually see that before me, or was he right about these darn birds?

“We have to go back, Jody.  The birds will be alright.”

“I know,” he replied with his head down, turning with me to head home.

~131 words

Visit Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers for more responses and to view the rules for the weekly writing challenge!