Here are the prompts chosen by last week's winner, @mylisssa.
You may use one or both to inspire your writing.
Remember to check the rules.
Have your 100 - 200 words submitted by 12:01am Friday, September 27, US EDST.
We want anything and everything: poetry, prose, fanfic, OF.
JUST GET WRITING!
Leave your entry as a comment - include your word count, and your twitter handle if you have one.
Probably good practice to reference any source material, too.
FYI - entries that exceed (or are under) the word limits will not be considered by the judge.
Also, I've had a few questions lately regarding the submission of more than one entry. Yes, you may submit more than one flashfic. I'm going to say a maximum of two (2) entries though. Furthermore, they're not to be continuations, or related to each other in any way -- they need to be completely separate, stand alone entries.
P.S. Don't forget to follow @fanficflashfic on twitter.
...
JSYK - I'm away with little to no connectivity. Please be patient if there's a delay with the results. Cheers!
Word count: 100 words, on the nose
ReplyDeleteTwitter handle: @AnnaLund2011
~~~~~~~~~
It’s just the beginning—
…you said. You even wrote it on your palm to show me.
I was shocked. Shocked that you didn’t realize, couldn’t see.
Pissed off, because I was completely aware of the differences between us. Differences you said didn’t matter, only love mattered.
You said. So many things.
Promised even more.
None of them ever came to be, did they?
All your pretty words about love and goodness and sturdy friendship. As usual, I was left out, on the sidelines.
Run to the ones who hurt you, never stay with those who love you.
—of the end.
~~~~~~~~~
Word Count 199 per GDocs
ReplyDelete@sandyquill
===
“Almost there,” he informed her. “Not long, now.”
She sat beside him, knees drawn to her chest. Her blank expression was framed by long, red hair. He caressed the vibrant color. “You have such pretty hair.”
The needle pointed to Empty when he pulled off. “Seclusion, just like I promised.” With a tender smile he hopped out, keeping his focus on her as he walked around the front of the car. “Let’s go.”
She couldn’t walk; he knew that. He bent over and picked her up. Relishing his body’s strength, he clasped her against his chest, pacing into the shady cover of the pines. “You’ll be comfortable.” Dropping a kiss to her head, he knelt and placed her on a cushion of pine needles.
Finally, she met his gaze. “You promised you wouldn’t—”
“I won’t. I swear it.”
He didn’t. Instead, he cut the bonds that held her legs and wrists together before using the same knife to slit her throat.
Her gasp thrilled him. Her surrender was exciting. As the last of the blood spurted from her pale, skin, he dipped a twig in it and wrote on one of her limp hands:
It is only the beginning.
eeek!
DeleteSherbs
@moonlit__girl
ReplyDelete196 words
The car rolled to a stop on the grassy shoulder of the two-lane road.
Carey looked at me wide-eyed. “What happened?”
Shrugging, I popped the hood and stared at the engine. “I don’t know why I’m even looking. I don’t know a fucking thing about cars.”
She looked like she might cry.
I pulled out my mobile phone. No signal. “Grab your stuff. Let’s go.”
“We’re walking? But we haven’t passed a town for miles!”
“Do you have a better idea?”
She ran her fingers through her short red hair and shook her head.
The sun was brutal. Carey mumbled as she walked. “I never should’ve let you talk me into this “adventure,” Kate. Who cares that we’ve never been to Vegas? Stupid car. Stupid sun. This adventure’s over. We’re probably gonna die.”
I laughed, “It’s still better than spending the weekend being drooled on by guys you’ve known since second grade and dying of boredom.”
A pickup truck pulled up beside us and a boy with shaggy hair stuck his head out the window. “You need a ride? We’re headin’ north.”
Grinning, I grabbed Carey’s hand. “See? It’s not the end. It’s just the beginning.”
@moonlit__girl
ReplyDelete180 words
She’d try anything twice-
that’s what she told me
on the night we met,
the night her friends
left the bar early.
She was tired of being
the good wife,
the reliable friend,
the designated driver,
the responsible daughter,
tired of being tired, of
running on empty
every single boring day of her week.
It would be easy to judge her,
to judge me, but honestly
in so many ways
I was just what she needed-
the antidote for a marriage
long dead-
young,
energetic,
skilled,
creative,
adventurous (and
we all know
size does matter).
Three weeks later
here she was
kneeling on my basement floor.
It was cold, and I’m sure
her knees were hurting,
her legs were cramping
and the gag in her mouth was
making her drool
but
the pain in her nipples
had probably subsided
by now.
I stood over her,
caressing her hair, then
wrapped it around my hand and
yanked her head back,
whispering
“Oh, love, it’s just the beginning...”
She stared at me with wide eyes
but the bell in her hand
remained silent.
@smalltownchicka
ReplyDelete200 words
...
The fuel gauge is on empty and the air outside is getting colder with every mile.
“Are we there yet?” she asks through chattering teeth.
I nod, swallowing dryly. “Just a little further.”
The excitement that was in the air between us when we left her house in the middle of the night with her daddy’s gun pointed at the rear view window has died down and reality has creeped in.
“It’s just the beginning,” she says. “We’ll be okay, right?”
“Of course, baby.” Bringing her hand to my lips, I kiss her knuckles. “It’s okay, I promise.”
She sighs and leans her head against my shoulder just as the motor under the hood of my car starts stuttering.
Cursing and panicking, I look around and spot a driveway off to the left only about a hundred feet in front of us. “We’re here.”
The house is big and imposing, but inside is nothing but warmth and familiarity.
“My aunt is expecting us.” I smooth my fingers across her face and wipe her tears. “We’re doing it for us, baby, all three of us.”
She spreads her fingers over the growing bump on her stomach and smiles sadly. “I know.”
Viridian6
ReplyDeletetwitter: @Viridian6
Word Count: 188
this is what popped in my head & I couldn't help it.
=======================================
“What happened to innocent until proven guilty?”
A biting laugh. “Don’t go there. Especially when the evidence is stacked against you.”
“All this because one stupid reader posted one stupid comment on my—”
“That one comment contained twenty-five examples of blatant plagiarism.”
“It’s my story. My words.”
“Jesus,” he hissed. “Cut the shit. You lied, and you got caught. Quit spouting this poor-little-me crap. It’s pathetic, and it’s only making this worse. For everyone.”
I scoffed. “I’m sure this is really hard for you.”
“It’s my ass on the line here. My reputation. My career. And this little scam you’re running stands to threaten everything I’ve worked for.”
“What about everything I’ve worked for?”
“It’s not YOUR WORK!”
Silence.
And then a sigh. “You’re finished. Your novel,” he spat the word, “has been pulled. And that’s just the beginning. There’ll be a full review of all the manuscripts we’ve published under your name. Why don’t you save yourself the added embarrassment and tell me which ones are stolen and from where.”
A standoff.
This time, I was the one to sigh. “Do you have a pen handy?”
Twtitter: @Sherbert20111
ReplyDeleteWord count: 198
I don’t know her name, but she hits the Library every night same as me and works just as late. Being a student sucks, being a mature student just makes it tiring and sucky.
“Sorry, but do you remember…?”
Crap, she has those ear-bob things in. I go to tap her shoulder must be about the same time she sees my shadow or something because she spins her chair round so fast I almost drop her bag in panic.
She pulls one ear-bob out by the wire. Wow, her eyes are something else.
Big.
Brown.
“Hey?”
“Hi.”
Imbecile.
Me.
“Sorry. You forgot this?” The bag from class waves feebly in explanation.
“I’ve seen you in Lit, right? You came in late?”
She rakes me head to toe like she did at last night’s Hen Party, pokes the end of her pen between her teeth and chews on the lid.
“Yeah, that was me.” Cue shuffling of feet and embarrassment trying to burn my face off. I could tell her about my idiot brother running the gas tank to nothing and why I do what I do. I’d tell her anything.
“Thanks. You look different with your clothes on.”
I got packed to leave for my internship overseas. I was following in my mother’s footsteps by going into fashion. She used me as a trophy, showing off my skills to anyone that would listen. I guess that was the burden of having a talent at something you despised.
ReplyDeleteI tried not to think about the growing regret I was feeling and threw myself into my car. The closer I got to the airport, the sicker I felt.
My hands were sweaty and my stomach just wouldn’t shut up. I grabbed the snacks my roommate, well ex roommate now, had packed and found a fortune cookie. We had take out the night before and I must have missed it or something.
I cracked it open and the fortune fell out. I went to grab it when my car stopped. Right in the middle of a busy highway.
I was out of gas.
I banged my fists against the steering wheel, my hand clutching the fortune. When I opened my fist after my freak out, my hand was stained with ink.
It read, ‘It’s just the beginning’.
It all clicked.
This was my beginning, and I was staying.
Twitter: @TinsleyWarren
Word Count: 197
Pinkcookie (PM me at www.fanfiction.net/Pinkcookie)
ReplyDelete200 words
He flung himself breathlessly through the kitchen door that I held open.
“Sonofabitch! I waited in line for 7 hours and then they put up the ‘all out’ sign.”
“Oh God, what’s going to happen? Where we will get food, how will we feed the baby when it comes? How will we pay the doctor if you can’t get to work? You can’t ride your bike 25 miles each way this winter!”
“There is no more work! Face it! We’re going to have to hoof it out of the city to your parents place.”
“You expect me to bicycle over 600 miles? In the middle of a high risk pregnancy? You’re crazy!”
“The only other choice we have is to stay here and starve! We’ll be lucky if we can even make it to your parents. At least we have our bikes and I have a gun to try to make sure no one steals them from us! You can make it if we do 20 miles in the morning, 20 in the afternoon, 20 in the evening. It will only take us a little over 10 days. I don’t want to scare you, but this is only the beginning!”
@CrackedFic
ReplyDelete193 words
***
I put my hand to my face and I wiped away a smear of blood and I stroked the stubble that had grown over the last three days and I got to thinking about how everything I ever thought I knew about myself had changed.
"Stop," she said.
"Stop what?"
"Blaming yourself."
She licked her thumb and dabbed away the last bit of blood and wiped it on her pants leg.
"You had no choice."
"Everything is a choice."
"Not this time. You know it."
I did know it, but that didn't mean I had to like it. Where was free will in all of this?
"They would have killed me, Edward."
"Yes."
She sat down on my lap and she looked at me with her deep red eyes and she smiled a smile so beautiful that my heart would have melted right then and there if I still had one.
"So what's next, Bella?"
"Whatever we want." She kissed me and she ran her hands down my back and she dug her nails into my cold, hard skin.
"This?" she said, stroking her thumb across my bottom lip. "It's just the beginning."
-30-
@SerendipitousMC
ReplyDeleteWord count: 199
It was so hot that summer. Every flower wilted and drooped. Shaved ice barely kept your mouth wet, and our air conditioner broke down all the time.
She showed up at the market in July. Back then, we had a lot of small grocery stores; this one was close enough so I walked whenever I got sent to pick up something for dinner. I'd whine, but today I stopped fast when I saw her at the cash register.
Quick glances, like hide and seek, across the aisles. Back and forth, every day, without a word, our eyes doing the talking. It never went further, and when I didn't see her anymore, I felt the loss that you can only know when you didn't try.
I was kicking cigarette butts off the curb when I saw her sneakers sticking out around the corner of the building. She stepped in front of me with her fists out.
"Eenie meenie miney mo."
I picked the one on the right: "It's just the beginning," I read silently.
"What's on the other one?" I asked.
She unfurled her fingers, and the writing said "It's already the end."
"Lucky," she whispered, and took my hand.
@jdifrans
ReplyDeleteword count 119
"It's just the beginning", I wrote on my palm, to convince myself it wasn't the end.
I packed the last box into my car as I cried. Leaving my family to follow my love, my life, my everything.
This will make him happy; this will make us whole. I'll show everyone how perfect our love is. It will be different when it's just the two of us.
He was pleased to finally have me all to himself. No one to hear my screams. No one to see my bruises.
The words on my palm are long gone. The needle is past E. Nothing is different. Everything is worse. My love is a lie. Turns out, it's just the end.
I wake one minute before the alarm and turn it off not wanting to disturb my sleeping husband. Grabbing my dressing gown, I head downstairs to put on the coffee and heat the waffle iron. I get some fruit and chop it quickly, placing it in a bowl on the table.
ReplyDeleteRunning back upstairs I wash my face, pull my hair up in a pony tail and get dressed. I wake my husband and then the three kids, hoping that this will be the one morning everyone actually gets out of bed the first time I wake them.
Back downstairs I get the waffles on and have my first cup of coffee: black, hot and strong. The kids arrive in a jumble, after some yelling from me, and start breakfast. I break-up arguments, pack lunches, help solve a math problem and check spelling words.
After teeth-brushing and face-washing, the kids are ready and out the door for the bus. My husband strolls in, looking immaculate grabs his travel mug, which I’ve filled, and a waffle and giving me a quick peck on the cheek is off.
I take a breath. I am a mother. I am ... empty.
@adriftinmyhead
200 words