Category Archives: Challenges and Writing Prompts

Euphoria

If I’m being honest, there are only a handful of times I’ve experienced true euphoria. Meeting my children for the first time ranks right up there.

Certainly it was euphoria erupting in the sterile confines of those clinically-monitored natural events. I recall the sting of ammonia residue burning my nostrils, released in short Lamaze “hee, hee, ho, ho, oh god!” purse-lipped bursts, the push, don’t push groaning pelvic floor implosions, and the excruciating waves of dull, sharp, 9-10-is there an 11? on a scale of how bad is it? pain.

I was drenched in euphoria by the tingling tickle of cool sweat beads popping from my pores under the glare of strobing fluorescent lights, my muscles shaking uncontrollably, the incessant click-clacking of wheels on linoleum, paper-booted feet shuffling, fetal heart monitor lub-dubbing and by the startling smack of cold metal on my bare back on its sticky slide to the edge, my fuzzy-socked feet lodged securely in stirrups cradling my heels, while a dozen excited eyes burned a hole through my gaping crotch.

But oh… that was only foreplay, euphorically speaking. The exquisite climax to this laboring rush came at long last in the hot, wet, rushing sensation of soft alien flesh sliding from my core into the waiting, latex-gloved hands of a masked stranger who uttered the words I had waited nine long, bloated, nauseating, glowing months to hear…maybe even longer, if I’m being honest. “You did it, Mama! Meet your beautiful daughter!” That, my friends was euphoria!

Euphoria is a sliver shy of madness don’t you think? It’s a scientific fact actually, in some cases, you can look it up. But if we are lucky, it consumes us at least once in a lifetime. I have been quadruply blessed, but I fear my heart could not survive a steady dose of it!

even euphoria

an exhilarating experience
has a dark side

it’s sometimes a symptom
of carbon monoxide poisoning, hard drugs or mania…
I’m perfectly content with really, really happy

~kat

A few thoughts and a Cherita on the topic of Euphoria for Mind Love Misery’s Menageries’ Sunday Writing Prompt: Describe a moment in your real or fictional life when you experienced euphoria. Be as vivid as possible, hit all the senses (and I don’t just mean the basic 5).


Night Rain

greying starless nights
cool melancholy musings
raindrops on pavement

~kat

For Haiku Horizons Challenge, prompt word, Star.


A Lovely Obsession

The quote “She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, not up close.”

~Terry Pratchett

A Lovely Obsession

I first met her when I was a child. I spent hours listening to her, drinking in tales of the love’s and lives of people I would never know, but whose dna coursed through my veins.

As I grew older I planned summer and winter breaks to be with her. She had so many stories left to tell and I couldn’t bear the thought of missing a single one.

Eventually, age and time began to take their toll. Her frame had weakened, and the light faded from her face. I moved nearby to be closer to her and continued my daily visits until the dreadful day when her voice was silenced by greedy real estate developers.

They drained her lovely moat and took a wrecking ball to her beautiful face, crumbling centuries of brick and mortar into a heap of dust. I watched, tears flowing down my face, as they loaded her into monstrous trucks, and hauled her away to a quarry, in order to build a resort on her sprawling estate.

They thought they had removed every trace of her, but I knew better. She was rooted in this place.

The hotel had barely opened its doors when rumors of hauntings spread. Patrons stopped coming. Eventually the new owners shuttered the doors of the resort for good.

I was happy to see it fail. Finally, I had her all to myself. Once again, I spent my evenings wrapped in the shadows of her abandoned corridors. After all, she had more stories to tell, and I couldn’t bear the thought of missing a single one.

~kat

A short story for Mind Love Misery’s Menagerie Sunday Writing Prompt inspired by the quote and collage above.


Off the Grid

“Oh no. You can’t be serious. We’re not staying here!”

“You told me you wanted an adventure on a budget, Sarah. Besides, the real adventure is out there!” Claude pointed at the tropical jungle spilling over the shoreline of the Rio Dulce.

“We’ll see about that!” Sarah huffed.

After a quick check-in to the Henry

Berrisford, Claude whisked Sarah away to the Siete Altares in the heart of Livingston’s tropical forest.

When they returned that night, Sarah easily drifted to sleep. “Claude was right,” she smiled, “I can’t wait to see what he has planned for us tomorrow!”

~kat

98 words for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Friday Fictioneers‘ flash fiction challenge based on the photo above by JS Brand.


The Star City

I created a collage of the things I love most about the eclectic valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains that I call home. The quirky, the sprawling city with a small town vibe, the artsy culture, the mountain views in every direction and the century old neighborhood where I live….I’m quite fond of my home town. It’s a pretty cool place, and my entry for this week’s Wednesday Photo Challenge, “Tour Guide”.

“Y’all come see us sometime!” I might be heard saying in my Chicago twanged clip (a hint of the Midwest where I was born and raised), which raises eyebrows with the locals who are quick to retort in their slow, smooth, southern drawl, “You’re not from around here are ya…” Be that as it may, I’m here to stay.

~kat