Photo Credit: Erin Leary
It was the most beautiful house on the harbor, resting on pylons in the shallows surrounded by water lilies and draped in wisteria. The Otis Family lived there for over a hundred years…until the fire.
I remember the flames lapping the night sky turning it an angry red, the heavy smoke eclipsing the full moon. That night I became acquainted with death and the fragility of life.
I visit the harbor when I am home. T’was the flu that kept me from the party that night. The stupid flu that nearly took my life that summer saved me.
kat ~ 4 February 2016
(99 Words)
A flash of fiction in response to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields weekly Friday Fictioneers 100 Word Story Challenge. This week the story is inspired by Erin Leary’s photo above. If you would like to ready other stories or enter your own, click HERE.
like mercury colliding... 
February 4th, 2016 at 7:08 pm
Love it!
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February 4th, 2016 at 7:15 pm
Thank you so much Sm…I have to admit, this story moved even me when I read it back to myself. That doesn’t happen often but when it does the story had a hand in writing itself! I love when that happens! ❤️
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February 4th, 2016 at 7:27 pm
Me too! 🌞
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February 4th, 2016 at 7:26 pm
Kat, what an excellent story! We have all experienced the vagaries of chance, and you wove it into a story (exactly 100 words) that evokes a time, a place, somewhere we have all been.
For those about to write, I salute you.
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February 4th, 2016 at 7:34 pm
Thank you so much Finnegan. I am honored that you enjoyed my story! 😊
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February 4th, 2016 at 8:10 pm
I think you’ve done an excellent job. 🙂
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February 4th, 2016 at 8:11 pm
Thank you Ranu. I am so happy with this story! 😊
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February 4th, 2016 at 10:16 pm
[…] kmmyrman […]
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February 4th, 2016 at 10:30 pm
Oh! Thank goodness!
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February 4th, 2016 at 10:32 pm
Haha! I thought of you Kathryn. Even though the prompt calls for a dark story, I can’t very well kill all my characters off! 😜
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February 4th, 2016 at 10:44 pm
😀
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February 5th, 2016 at 6:21 am
Kat what a wonderful story, a chance bug that saved a life, saved from just being a ghost in a party dress!
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February 5th, 2016 at 6:23 am
Thanks Willow. That’s an interesting way to look at it…a ghost in a party dress! 😊
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February 5th, 2016 at 6:44 am
Yes still with a glass of wine in her hand or maybe a Southern Comfort 🙂
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February 5th, 2016 at 7:04 am
I love it! Beautiful apparition! 😊
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February 5th, 2016 at 8:01 am
I love this story, interesting how things happen and work out!
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February 5th, 2016 at 8:58 am
Yes. This week seems to be running along this theme…first with the story about being late…and now this. Maybe I should be paying attention…or at least trusting my intuition! 🙂
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February 5th, 2016 at 9:01 am
yes it is hard to remember but so important! hmmm fate
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February 5th, 2016 at 9:22 am
Wonderful story, Kat! I really like the last line.
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February 5th, 2016 at 9:55 am
Thank you PJ. I really like this one…if one can have a favorite of one’s own work. This one almost wrote itself. 🙂
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February 5th, 2016 at 10:17 am
I also love the ones that seem to write themselves!
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February 5th, 2016 at 10:20 am
me too! 🙂
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February 5th, 2016 at 12:30 pm
Dear Kat,
Life is full of irony, isn’t it?
Well done
Shalom,
Rochelle
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February 5th, 2016 at 12:34 pm
Yes it is Rochelle. The fates, whether one believes in them or not, seem to play their little games in the background of our lives. Sometimes it is only in retrospect that we realize their handiwork. 🙂
Peace to you too…and happy weekend!
kat
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February 6th, 2016 at 11:08 am
Life is a series of happenstances, isn’t it? Loved this…
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February 6th, 2016 at 11:25 am
Yes it is! Thanks for stopping by to read!
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February 6th, 2016 at 5:29 pm
For once having the flu turned out to be a good thing. Great story.
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February 6th, 2016 at 5:38 pm
Yes … A sad irony.
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February 9th, 2016 at 12:20 am
Our lives develop mostly in accordance with the chance events that occur to and around us – I’ve often pondered this. Your story illustrates it perfectly.
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February 9th, 2016 at 12:48 am
How very true. Life is a sequence of chance events. Now there’s a thought. Thank you for commenting.
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February 10th, 2016 at 6:01 pm
Lucky for him! Terrible way to go…
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February 10th, 2016 at 6:58 pm
Yes! The flu ended up being a good thing!
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