Last week's winner, @quietdrabble has selected our prompt, and it's another absolutely gorgeous picture to inspire you!
Here it is:
Remember to check the rules, and have your 200 words submitted by 11:59pm Thursday, EST.
We want anything and everything: poetry, prose, fanfic, OF.
Just give us your words!
Leave your entry as a comment - include your word count, and your twitter handle if you have one.
My life flashes in a breathless whisper. I can hear distant voices that don’t match the images in my mind. The memories are a pressure on my back, pushing me down, pulling me deeper. I don’t struggle. I allow my body to drift away to the abyss. I’m too weak to fight and too broken to care.
ReplyDeleteFor a second I wonder how I got here but the question is lost in the chaos of my pain.
Air is no longer free. It’s a luxury I’m losing the closer I get to the bottom.
The strangest sensation overcomes me as I start to shut down. I feel peace.
I close my eyes and see his face. My heart beats and it calls his name. I feel his love all over my wet skin. I can feel his need to save me and his guilt for failing. It’s daunting.
Any moment now. I think, willing the river to swallow me and take away my soul.
It never does.
His hands are on me before my heart stops.
He lifts us up to the surface while I cling to him.
“I didn’t fail you,” is the last thing I hear.
***
198 words
@LisbethTejada
PS: I hate that it lost the italics.
if you use HTML formatting tags, you can keep the italics!
Deletejust add < i > before whatever you want to be in italics, then add < / i > at the end. of course, remove the spaces and it should work! :)
test thank you so much!
Delete@Deebelle1
ReplyDeleteWord Count: 231
Life sometimes feels like I’m drifting through a fog. Days, weeks, even months can pass by without me even realizing I stuck in an endless and overwhelming mass of gray. I feel like I’m drowning in a sea of loneliness.
Today though, I’ve found hope. As I sit on the park bench watching the children play, I began to believe things will get better, that I’ll have a reason to smile again. I begin writing in my leather-bound journal that I received for my eighteenth birthday four years ago. Just little notes, thoughts, and quotes―nothing too deep, just meaningful or inspirational thoughts to get me through life, a life that starts today. Today, I graduate from college. I’m on the cusp of life, ready to grasp it and soar.
With a sigh, I stand and smile, then begin the walk back to my car. I look down for just one moment while I’m walking to put my journal into my bag. That’s all it takes though, one moment for us to collide.
I look into your bright eyes and smile, an apology on the tip of my tongue, but you beat me to it.
“I’m so sorry. I should have been paying attention to where I was going. Can I buy you an ice cream?”
All I can do is nod. Ice cream makes everything better…even on the foggiest of days.
@believeitornott
ReplyDelete200 words.
Hot water splashes over sparkling porcelain. She removes her clothing slowly--not on practiced-purpose, but because this is how sadness moves her.
It’s been forty-six years since she’s last seen the woman she called mother.
The sudden silence one might expect as she cranks the faucet off doesn’t come. She can hear her husband’s whispered “I love you” from behind the door. She can hear murmurs from below, and crickets from the garden as if they reside by her feet on the tile.
News came via Jacob tonight: Peaceful. In her sleep. In a chair. Book in her lap.
A shuddered breath. Bella steps into the tub. Even she is aware of the grace of each movement, each bend of limb. She sinks into heat that would scorch her human body, but warms her now like an embrace.
Edward had held her close, lips to her temple, as the news was delivered. But that wasn’t enough. She couldn’t cry. Not tears.
He’d followed her up the stairs to the bathroom door. “I’ll be right here, love.”
She lets the water envelop her, hair wafting. Accompanied only by murky childhood memories, she remains under for hours.
She has immersed herself in tears.
*cries*
Deletethis was sooo good.
(Hoping this doesn't show up twice. I submitted it once and it disappeared)
Delete"She removes her clothing slowly--not on practiced-purpose, but because this is how sadness moves her."
Love this -- how losing her human mother moves her to take things at human speed. :'(
Heartbreaking and beautifully done.
Twitter: BedeliaJane
ReplyDeleteWords: 195
We were superheroes in black bikinis. With night-chilled grass under our feet, we crept into her neighbor’s yard and commandeered his pool. The water felt like it belonged in December, but we didn’t care. Giggling shrieks died in our throats as we danced on tiptoes and dared each other to go under.
She always went first, yanking me along for the ride. Before I could catch my breath from the icy shock, her lips found mine. Wrapping my arms around her, I forgot I’d ever been cold.
Tree branches cradled us as we dried, swathed in terry cloth almost as rough as their bark. I whispered secrets I didn’t want even the leaves to overhear. She greeted every skeleton from my closet with a smile.
When the sun rose, we collapsed on her bed, bruised and dizzy and laughing, like the way I loved her. Sleep found us in the breaths between kisses—in the heartbeat between the first day of summer and the last.
Back then, I thought she could fly. I thought we were invincible. Clues rained down, but my chlorine-stung eyes saw the sun.
I didn’t know she was drowning.
That was so beautifully sad.
DeleteWord count: 194
ReplyDeleteTwitter handle: @AnnaLund2011
While strong hands were making their way up her spine, a shiver ran through her whole body; she closed her eyes. Enjoyed.
She tried using her other senses to guess where the next touch would land on her body. The next feather-like touch, soft like a breath, perhaps on her neck? Or fluttering down between her shoulder blades? To the dip just above her hip where she might be ticklish if not handled with extreme care?
The sensations on her skin were triggering all new emotions inside her.
Nothing could stop her from feeling, from enjoying, from loving this way. Nothing was in their way. And if a first night only could happen once, she was having it, right there and then.
As the room slowly filled with vapor, she relaxed into the emotions that her skin was transmitting. Never before such sensitive skin, never before so intense.
Hands that knew her every secret, hands that were soft, strong and demanding. A body behind hers, unseen in the mirror, but present, so very present.
Warm, strong, soft, and alive.
She turned around. Opened her eyes. And told her new wife to kiss her already.
@twilightmomofto
ReplyDeleteWord count: 109
The water is hot. It burns my skin, expels my breath. I float under the water, eyes closed, images flashing in my mind.
Two kids on a tire swing, summer clouds above. Scraped knees, bicycle races, ice cream. My best friend, my Edward, tall, lanky, copper hair. Sparkling green eyes.
First love. Last love. Lasting.
Until his eyes sparkled no more, as the cancer ravaged his body, and all I could do was hold his hand and smile for him. Through his pain. Through mine.
Now he's gone, and I need to follow where he went.
Sinking deeper, I watch the last bubble of breath float to the top.
You're killing me. =(
DeleteWord count: 203
ReplyDeleteTwitterfree but Sherbs on ADF
“Is it dead yet?”
“Check it.”
“You check it, I don’t want to touch it.”
“Are you sure she meant it?”
“She looks pretty sick.”
“Yeah, but she’s looking up.”
“She’s not looking at anything, her eyes are shut, idiot.”
“Have you seen what this place looks like through their eyes? Of course her eyes are shut. They don’t belong here – the ones that look up all the time. Check her back, don’t they get wings and shit?”
“Urgh, it’s still warm.”
“Did you see that?”
“What?”
“The bubble, she still has air.”
“Duh, I’m behind her checking her back.”
“Get her out!”
“No wings here, Bud.”
“Help me, damnit.”
“NO WINGS.”
“It just means she’s not ready. Maybe she slipped.”
“Can we spell ‘invested’? Alright, alright I’m helping, happy now?”
“Hang in there, we got you.”
“You going to get out and do the whole big man thing?”
“We just have to get her out on to the edge. Someone will be there.”
“Not if she meant it.”
“She didn’t.”
“And isn’t that how the stories started last time?”
“Nobody saw a thing.”
“Sure ‘Nessie,’ you keep telling yourself that.”
“I got her, what can you see?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Word count 203
ReplyDeleteSherbs on ADF
“Is it dead yet?”
“Check it.”
“You check it, I don’t want to touch it.”
“Are you sure she meant it?”
“She looks pretty sick.”
“Yeah, but she’s looking up.”
“She’s not looking at anything, her eyes are shut, idiot.”
“Have you seen what this place looks like through their eyes? Of course her eyes are shut. They don’t belong here – the ones that look up all the time. Check her back, don’t they get wings and shit?”
“Urgh, it’s still warm.”
“Did you see that?”
“What?”
“The bubble, she still has air.”
“Duh, I’m behind her checking her back.”
“Get her out!”
“No wings here, Bud.”
“Help me, damnit.”
“NO WINGS.”
“It just means she’s not ready. Maybe she slipped.”
“Can we spell ‘invested’? Alright, alright I’m helping, happy now?”
“Hang in there, we got you.”
“You going to get out and do the whole big man thing?”
“We just have to get her out on to the edge. Someone will be there.”
“Not if she meant it.”
“She didn’t.”
“And isn’t that how the stories started last time?”
“Nobody saw a thing.”
“Sure ‘Nessie,’ you keep telling yourself that.”
“I got her, what can you see?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Word count: 225
ReplyDelete@TiramiSue84
--------------
Cradled in porcelain and buried under a thick blanket of almond-scented water, I lay naked and motionless. Basking in the comfort and tranquility that this open prison with its narrow walls and burning heat offered me.
This was my retreat, the one spot I'd come to whenever I needed to escape reality; my safe haven.
There was no screaming or yelling.
There were no barely covered whispers or obvious stares.
There was no darkness. No harshness, either.
Neither hurt nor pain. No strike or slap or kick or touch or word could reach me here. Me and my flesh, all bruised and maimed,we were safe here.
There was no weight; everything and everyone was weightless.
Here, in this tub, this locked room, there was everything I yearned for there to be outside of my bubble.
The tightness in my lungs signaled me that I had to come for air again soon. I didn't want to go back, but rather stay here for ever, instead.
I could.
It would be easy. I just had to get out of the tub and bathroom, down the hall and into my own. Stashed away under a loose wooden board beside my bed I would find all I'd need. My mute salvation ingested, I would walk back, re-lock the door and dive back under my safety blanket.
Forever.
Just...not today.
@mrssiobhanmasen~200 words
ReplyDeleteI heard it once said, ‘Death is peaceful, life is hard’, well they were right.
Life was too hard to even imagine without him. So, I stripped down to his favorite sundress and I jumped in. The gray foggy water surrounded me; I was going to be with him, no matter where that was.
It was fitting that the water looked so gray, because that was what our future had become in my mind, a gray haze. I no longer saw the happy life we should have, would have live together, that was gone.
Gone the day his car swung out of control as I watched.
Gone as I watched the paramedics work to keep him alive long enough to get him out of his car and into the ambulance.
Gone as I listened to the doctors throw out words like ‘bleeding on the brain’ and ‘head trauma’ as if they spoke of the weather.
Gone as I listened to the bleak number they assigned him, 20% chance.
Gone as I sat for days and weeks by his bed as he did nothing, no movement no nothing.
I was on my way to him.
They were right death is peaceful.
@bigblueboat
ReplyDelete199 words
--------------
Overpowering all of her senses, the water-filled, glass coffin enshrouds her reality. Before succumbing back to the darkness, she quickly rethinks the last hour.
She knew the date was a bad idea. All her instincts told her Riley would twist this evening into heartache, yet she was tired of spending another night alone on the couch. Before her roommate had taken off, she had warned her to stay in crowded locations, to drive herself, and to watch out for the killer. Bree didn’t see anything wrong with the guy picking her up on the first date, and the intimate dinner Riley said he had prepared sounded like the perfect way to get to know him better.
Nothing appeared out of the ordinary to Bree as they entered; it looked like a typical bachelor pad. Therefore, the feel of something covering her mouth as she slipped out of her jacket took her by surprise.
Waking up as the water covered her completely and the lid was sealed in place, she grasped that she was the next victim.
As the last bubble escapes her lungs and the blackness covers her vision, Bree accepts that she should have listened to her roommate.
@Aleeab4u
ReplyDelete200 words
She waded out with purpose and dipped under, watching bloated gray clouds above vanish as the murky river swallowed her down.
It felt good. Cold and clean, absolving.
She wondered if she was doing it right.
A sudden grab disturbed her peace, dragging her abruptly to the surface. She broke free, sputtering in the chilly autumn air.
“Relax. I’ve got you.”
She knew that voice; her nemesis, her unrequited crush. She headed for shore, embarrassed to be caught in her plain Jane white underwear.
“Edward, what the hell?” She grabbed her towel, teeth chattering.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” He joined her, swiping water from his face angrily. No shirt, jeans soaked, Mister Perfect. His expression softened. “Bella, damn. Are you suicidal?”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Really? If I was planning on drowning myself, do you think I’d bring a towel?”
His eyes narrowed. “So you weren’t...”
“No!”
“Then what?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
She bit her lip. “Symbolic baptism.”
“Uh...”
She rolled her eyes, blushing. “You know, new beginning, a fresh start.”
His lips quirked. “You’re hot, but you’re one weird chick, Swan.”
She spun around and stormed away.
His beautiful, stupid laughter, followed her.
@shellisthimbles.
ReplyDelete164 ineligible words :)
Beneath the ocean’s surface I am not stifled and suffocating.
I am free.
I cannot breathe, but I’m never more alive than I am now, buried in its depths.
Surrounded, wrapped in its cool embrace, I am uplifted and buoyant. The burdens that press down on my shoulders are not gone, but their weight means nothing down here.
The screeches and roars of life are silenced. Here, I hear nothing but the slow gurgle of the tide as I’m rocked in its arms.
My hair swirls around me; the waves surging on the surface become my lover’s fingertips, combing through my curls.
Bubbles climb my body, tumbling up to the surface. The tiny pockets of air tickle my skin and awaken every synapse.
And then come the burn in my lungs and my blood’s screams for oxygen.
Reluctant kicks of my feet propel me up, back to the surface, back to reality. Back to the claustrophobia of life’s demands, as incessant as the tide.
@DarlingVeruca
ReplyDelete199 words
It’s easy at first. This is nothing. Like a mantra, I tell myself it’s nothing. Almost natural. Listen to my pulse beating in my ears. Feel my heart thump, keep it steady.
Don’t panic.
He told me to imagine bright colors, to imagine floating. “You can do this,” he said.
I can.
“We started out like this. Nine months in the womb. The end’ll be worth it. I promise,” he promised.
My chest hurts. Throat’s tight…the fucking pressure in my head.
It’ll be okay. I force myself to think of yellows and blues. Focus. I can do this. There goes my heart…slow it down.
Don’t. Panic.
I think of the end. It’s going to be beautiful, I know.
I curl my fingers in, stiffen my arms, and I know he’s telling me to relax, but I can’t hear him because my ears are filled with water.
Shh…blue, yellow. Deeper.
Fuck, it burns. Propelling my upper body out of the bath, I suck in a lungful of air and look at him, a little weary. “Time?”
“Three twenty-four, Iz. ‘Bout a hundred feet,” he says, cracking a wide smile and shows me our stopwatch. “Wanna go see some pretty fish?”
@Lady Gwynedd
ReplyDelete200 words
Renee’s Lament
I dreamed of her again.
She was floating in a fog, eyes closed, hair splayed around her lovely face, her hand gentling her jaw, and pearl of breath at her lips. I reached out but she drifted away…away from me, leaving my grasping fingers and aching arms empty.
“Come back,” I cried, only to once again find myself in an empty, cold, bed awaking to the familiar pain that never left, the eyes that were never dry, and the heart that would never be whole again.
It was early but I knew sleep would be fruitless. I wouldn’t sleep.
And if I did, I only would fall back into the dream once again and waking up to this harsh reality was too agonizing to suffer twice in a night.
I rose and wrapped my frayed robe around my greying body and shuffled through rooms that once were alive with her laughter—but no more.
I switched on the coffee pot and stared through the dark glass of the kitchen window trying not to perish from the agony of grief.
How do you live when your child is missing?
I still didn’t know. I doubted I ever would.
gut-wrenching, but so beautifully written. Just, wow.
ReplyDelete(veruca d)
@bkhchica
ReplyDeleteWord Count: 200
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me ha-a-appy when skies are gray!
I could still here the off-key voice of my grandmother singing to me in my dreams. She’d been my mother, father, best friend and confidante my entire childhood. My mother conveniently forgetting she had a daughter. My father, rest his soul, had died in the line of duty. A hero’s death they’d said. But that didn’t bring me peace. It was her voice, this lullaby she’d sang to me every night when I went to bed.
I’d let her down. I saw the disappointment in her eyes. She’d taught me everything- I’d thrown it away for him.
I’d always known what he was. What she would think of him. But I never dreamed my choices would kill her. She was cold and alone in a grave that should have been his- 107 years confined to the body of a seventeen year old. His cold touch reminded me of how she must be now.
No amount of magic could bring her back. I couldn’t shake the chill that had taken up permanent residence in my body- not even submerged in the scalding water of my bath.
Twitter: @CallMePagliacci.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Google in the Sky says this is 200 words. Those of you playing the home game might notice that this is the same world I started exploring in the first week's flashfic.
---
My words hung in the air. They felt heavier than pieces of aspirated soul should. I looked down — the hair on my arms was standing up, glinting in the rare summer sun. So were Bella’s. Her ring sparkled as she twisted her arm to examine it.
The breeze kicked up — strong gusts that buffeted my body and tossed Bella’s hair around her face. Bella dropped her paintbrush and wildflower-purple gouache streaked the grass.
“Bella,” I murmured as I glanced around the meadow. “Look.”
Fog was boiling low over the grass, whiter than Forks’ typical dirty-grey, and denser. Over Bella’s shoulder, the mist was storming toward us. It rushed in, undisturbed by the thrashing grass.
“Is it... moving against the wind?” Bella asked.
“Yeah.” The blank cloud reached our feet and twined around our legs like a cat.
“Oh!” Bella touched her fingers to her lips. Metallic sweetness tickled in my nose — the fog covered us, head to toe, thickly enough so that Bella looked like she was on the other side of a piece of frosted glass.
“What...” She looked at her ring, at me, back and forth. “What the hell is happening? What did we do?”
and TIME
ReplyDelete