Tag Archives: Flash Fiction

Unanswered Prayers

photo by Brian Gaid via Unsplash

from heaven’s vantage
earth looks idyllic, peaceful
is this why god seems silent?

kat – 17 March 2017

A Katauta (5/7/7) for Sonya’s Three Line Tale Challenge based on this photo by Brian Gaid via Unsplash.


Mr. Big

PHOTO PROMPT © JENNIFER PENDERGAST


“Don’t get too close to that thing Ethan. Come back over here. He’s gonna be here soon.”

He was late. He was always late. Just this once, not for her but for Ethan, she had hoped he would come through. Ethan was getting older and needed to know his dad. 

After an hour she shrugged, “C’mon buddy, doesn’t look like he’s coming.”

“That’s okay mommy,” Ethan grabbed her hand sensing her disappointment. “He’s prob’ly busy saving somebody or something.”

She smiled, “You’re probably right Ethan.”

“It’s better this way,” she thought, “absent fathers are always bigger than life.”

~kat ~ 15 March 2017
(98 words)

For Rochelle Wiseoff-Fields Friday Fictioneers Challenge based on this photo by Jennifer Pendergast.


Twittering Tales #21 – 14 March 2017

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If you accept the challenge, be sure to let me know in the comments with a link to your tale.

A final note: if you need help tracking the number of characters in your story, there is a nifty online tool that will count for you at charactercountonline.com.

I will do a roundup each Tuesday, along with providing a new prompt. Have Fun!

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Twittering Tales #20 – The Round Up

You all wrote some fantastic tales for last week’s photo prompt. Here’s the line up! This week we had break ups and break downs, alien invasions, loss, desperation, intrigue, mystery, art…oh the drama! Thanks everyone for having such a good time with this one. Hope to see you next week! 🙂

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Gayl at Gayl Wright-Words, Photos and Art wrote:

Trust Betrayed
Tired of his shallow, twisted excuses, she became angry.
Hurling the goblet to the floor she screamed,
“Go! I never want to see you again!”
(139 characters)

Broken but Determined
Like this broken glass
A marriage had been shattered

He chose another

Not to be kept down
She worked hard for their children
Filling in the gaps
(139 characters)

Michael at Morpethroad wrote:

I carried it around the world, through every customs place imaginable, and as fate would have it, I dropped it out of the box at home. Ugh!
(139 Characters)

Kathryn at Another Foodie Blogger wrote:

She held her wrist inches above the glass. “God, please someone help me!” she pleaded. The door opened slowly, as tears streamed down. “Mom?”
(141 Characters)

Lorraine at 25 Words, More or Less wrote:

She is like a broken wine glass; the stem remains, but her mind, the bowl, is gone.
(84 characters)

Jane at Jane Dougherty Writes wrote:

The reception committee paused, champagne untasted, as the aliens munched through their coupes before starting on the silver cake stands.
(137 Characters)

Di at Pensitivity101 wrote:

‘Darling, you know I can’t attend these dos without a glass in my hand!’
‘Does it have to be full? Hang on, I have the perfect solution.’
(136 characters)

Francine at Woman Walking Max wrote:

Romantic dinner, I’m the only one for you? Liar. Your turn to hurt now. Cheers
(79 Characters)

Sudha at SriSudhaK wrote:

Wow geeta! You sketched it with perfection. I must say,”Amazing 3d art dear..!” And here goes my caption “A bit of optimism -Last hope”
(135 Characters)

Reena at ReInventuions wrote:

Jim was the container to hold her joy in life. He disappeared. The base was intact. She just had to drill a hole, for happiness to re-enter.
(140 Characters)

Irena at Books and Hot Tea wrote:

“It’s done. You broke it,” she wept. 

The tone of her voice hit him like a punch. It sounded like she wasn’t talking about the glass anymore.
(140 characters)

Peter at Peter’s Ponderings wrote:

The magic flute was no more.
It had refilled itself with champagne for the last time.
Paula had savoured, slurped, then sloshed.
Both smashed!
(140 characters)

Kirst at Kirst Writes wrote:

You’re late. Again.
I’m here now. Happy anniversary.
She could smell cheap perfume. As he leaned towards her, she hurled the champagne flute.
(139 characters)

John at Broadsides wrote:

There are no fingerprints. It is washed. There are slivers still in the flesh of his throat, He cannot, they cannot, say who struck the blow.
(141 Characters)

and I started everyone off with this…

“I will never forgive you!” she cried. “It was my grandma’s.”
“I’m so sorry,” he lamented. He knew she wasn’t crying about a broken glass.
(138 Characters)

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Twittering Tales #21 – 14 March 2016

First off, WHAT IS THIS? Haha! Just kidding. I love antiques. But I must admit, I remember plunking on a modern version of one of these. And then I remember getting really excited when they became electrified. Of course many were over the moon over word processing machines…not quite a computer…where you typed on a keyboard and the words showed on a tiny screen instead of paper. No more carbon paper to make copies or chalky correction tape, no more messy typewriter ribbons. It was fabulous. My, my how far we have come. Anyhow, I like this photo because there is a bit of text on the paper in the typewriter. Your challenge…if you like…write a tale that continues the line typed on the paper. Or just let yourself go like I did and write what first pops into your head. Words, words, words swirling around in our heads…whatever shall we do with them! Have Fun! 🙂

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Photo from Pixabay.com

The former owner of the old house was a writer. Ten years after his death he finished his novel. The author’s name? Ghostwriter, of course!

~kat
(139 Characters)

 

 


…It’s How You Play the Game

photo by Jake Oates via Unsplash.


Plenty of parents hated Joe and thought nothing of letting him know right to his face, in no uncertain terms, that he was the worst coach in the league. 

The Little Monsters hadn’t won a game all season; even worse they hadn’t even scored a run, not one.

But I saw a different side to Joe, and came to appreciate him all the more because my kid came home from every game, not sad that they had lost, but happy and proud that he had played his best and because he’d had fun.

kat – 9 March 2017

For Sonya’s Three Line Tale Challenge based on this prompt photo by Jake Oates via Unsplash.


Aak Attack

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PHOTO PROMPT © Shaktiki Sharma

“Tell me what happened,” said the detective.

“Well, she came in…sat at the bar. This guy, he’s a regular, took a shining to her, but he’d had a few and I guess he got carried away. He grabbed her, you know, where he shouldn’t of. She told him to stop. When he didn’t she sprayed this awful smelling stuff on him. He dropped dead, on the spot.”

When Scientists at the Etymology Experimental Lab across town heard the story they celebrated.The suspect was likely the person who had stolen a vial of “Aak Attack”, an anti-rapist agent. It worked!

~kat – 8 March 2017
(100 Words)

For Rochelle Wiseoff-Fields Friday Fictioneers 100 Word Story Challenge.

A bit of background on the grasshopper you see above from Wikipedia:

Poekilocerus pictus is a large brightly colored grasshopper from India. Nymphs of the species are notorious for squirting a jet of liquid up to several inches away when grasped. It is also known as Aak grasshopper or locally in few tribal areas called titighodo

Adult Form

The half-grown immature form is greenish-yellow with fine black markings and small crimson spots. The mature grasshopper has canary yellow and turquoise stripes on its body, green tegmina with yellow spots, and pale red hind wings.

The grasshopper feeds on the poisonous plant Calotropis gigantea (Giant Milkweed).

Upon slight pinching of the head or abdomen, the half-grown immature form ejects liquid in a sharp and sudden jet, with a range of two inches or more, from a dorsal opening between the first and second abdominal segments. The discharge is directed towards the pinched area and may be repeated several times. The liquid is pale and milky, slightly viscous and bad-tasting, containing cardiac glycosides* that the insect obtains from the plant it feeds upon. In the adult, the discharge occurs under the tegmina and collects as viscous bubbly heap along the sides of the body.

*From ancient times, humans have used cardiac-glycoside-containing plants and their crude extracts as arrow coatings, homicidal or suicidal aids, rat poisons, heart tonics, diuretics and emetics. Today these steroids are processed to treat heart conditions.