Category Archives: Fiction

General fiction – short stories, Friday Fictioneers, 500 words, etc

Simply 6 Minutes – Trevor

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My contribution to #simply-6-minutes for this week, Tuesday 1 September 2020.

6 minute challenge lizard

Lizard, by Stine Writing

This is randomly different!
The sound of this beast is familiar, even comforting.
The feel of the beast, the deep rumble is also a constant.
But something has changed!

Normally I travel in the plastic box, with the lid of holes.
Down deep in the darkness of Simon’s schoolbag.
I see light only in three places; between house and car, car to classroom – and in the canteen where Simon takes me out to play with his friends.

They call me Joe.
The name I call myself is Trevor!
But, I’ll answer to Joe in the small ways that I can.
I don’t run away and tolerate them handling me and nibble on the scraps they drop into my box.

The children are delighted.
I am tolerant, but bored.
BUT this new adventure is excellent!
This strange new world zooming past.

How glad I am of the strength of my pads
How they glue to this cool surface.
I feel the rumble; it is strong.
But so am I. (169 words, 6 minutes)

  1. Set up a timer or sit near a clock so you can keep track of the six minutes you will be writing.
  2. You can either use one of the prompts (photo or written) or you can free-write.
  3. Get ready and write for 6 minutes, that is it! Can you write a complete story? Can you think of a new Sonnet? Can you write 400 words? 400? 500? There are no restrictions on what kind of writing you do, but you should try to be actively writing for six minutes.
  4. After you are done writing, include your word count and then post back to this page #Simply6Minutes or include your link in the comments section. Pingbacks are enabled.
 

Friday Fictioneers – Taxi!

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glasgow

Photo by C E Ayre

What a surprise. I love old model cars. 

How delicious that I’ve travelled to sometime where they abound.

The street is not bustling. In fact, it’s is unnaturally peaceful.
But I guess not everybody is driving; not yet.

I sure hope taxis have been invented!
Soon, I’ll be bouncing over these gorgeous cobbled streets in a gassy, farting contraption.

The joyous anticipation flooding my senses is food for the soul, as I race to the corner,  searching for a ride.
Joy trickles away, as I realise … a fabrication. An art installation.

A waking dream. Stuck in lock-down, 2020. (99 words)

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a story in response to a photo prompt – in 100 words or less. You can find other stories here.

Friday Fictioneers – Freaky Friday

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#FridayFictioneers #rochellewisofffields

Photo prompt @ J Hardy Carroll

A hint of smoke
A tinge of heat
A fiery ghost
Alerting me

Behind me now
Bugging me
A fiery ghoul
Bizarrely, cold

Cannot compute
Caught just a glimpse
A fiery glow
Closely creeps

Distressingly close
Desperate, disquieting
A fiery grief
Descending, depression

Embraces me
Entices too
A fiery guilt
Erodes sanity

Freedom in flight
Fear coats all
A fiery ghosting
Phantasm evolves

Gasping, gagging, gabbling
GET AWAY FROM ME
A fiery gimmick
Ghostly graffiti

Horror hounds
Hope abandons
A fiery gasp
Hands restrain

I am lost
I am hopeless
A fiery gangster
Inveigles surrender (95 words)

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a story in response to a photo prompt – in 100 words or less. You can find other stories here.

Simply 6 Minutes – Escape

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#simply6minutes

There is only one way
To escape this cell
These planks of pain
Their own form of hell

The light beckons
But the light kills
Many have risked
Its radiant kiss

It sloughs off skin
Melts through flesh
Inhales each scream
As limbs fall away

Like a helpless babe
You cry and crawl
There is no escape
Passed that white maw

Too late one sees
The rot that seeps
At the edge of light
Sucking greedily

There is only one way
Only this chance
That traffic through agony
One person will advance

But will it be me?
There is only one way.

  1. https://christinebialczak.com/2020/07/14/simply-6-minutes-writing-challenge
  2. Set up a timer or sit near a clock so you can keep track of the six minutes you will be writing.
  3. You can either use one of the prompts (photo or written) or you can free-write.
  4. Get ready and write for 6 minutes, that is it! Can you write a complete story? Can you think of a new Sonnet? Can you write 400 words? 400? 500? There are no restrictions on what kind of writing you do, but you should try to be actively writing for six minutes.
  5. After you are done writing, include your word count and then post back to this page #Simply6Minutes or include your link in the comments section. Pingbacks are enabled.


Shit wife of the year award

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Life in Lockdown

“Seriously Pete,” I say, staring down the webcam. “I can’t handle another day of this. Patty is doing my head in!”

“What, team Terry and Patty in trouble? Pete scoffs. “Hard to believe, mate.”

“I agree, normally. But mate, she’s being very hard,” Holding up a lumpy looking sandwich, I ask, “What the fuck is this? Vegan or something.”

“It’s healthy, mate. Lots of people doing Vegan these days.” Pete tries to console me.

“She thinks I’m fat! Last night, I was poking around in the fridge looking for something exotic to eat, and she starts into me.”

‘You’ve had enough,’ she says. ‘You’ve eaten your dinner, my leftovers, all the bread rolls and licked both plates. You’re at the fridge And, you’re getting pudgy.’

“You said that’s just posture.”

‘Well, that doesn’t help.’ She grinned, continuing. ‘You eat too fast, and your brain doesn’t know you’re full. Stop looking in the fridge!’

My cheeks are red, and I’m breathing hard as Pete begins to laugh.

“She’s a shit wife!” I shout.

The door opens and Patty comes in with coffee.

“Hello darling. Thought you could do with one. Is that Pete? Hi, Pete! How are you?” She waves wildly at the laptop. “Don’t mind the PJs.”

“You’re a vision, boss.” Pete laughs. “You know, Terry is not happy.”

“Oh, gossiping, again?” Patty asks, calmly. She turns to me. “Is this a work meeting? Or a drinks night with your boyfriend, moaning about his tiny thing, like a dizzy blonde.”

Then she gets stuck into Pete.

“Have you called Dave?” Pete’s smile slips. “It is a priority. Clients come first. Remember your budget …”

And on and on she goes. Her voice seems to fade, as my ears begin to bleed.

Then, I deep hawk into my throat and Patty literally growls!

“That’s disgusting! Blow into a tissue.You’re always doing that. Even in the shower.”

I’m mortified and feel even worse when I see Pete smirking and shooting hand pistols.

“Blowing does nothing. Anyway, it’s okay in the shower.”

“It’s still disgusting.” She’s smirking too.

“You’re a shit wife, Patty. You could win Shit Wife of the Year. I should post that on Facebook!”

“You should!” Patty cries. “I’d love it.”

“Really?” Why was I surprised? “You’re twisted, you know?”

Patty hugs and kisses me, and I notice Pete chuckling.

“We’re a great team,” she says, leaving the room. “What would you do without me?”

She might be a shit wife, I think. But she’s my shit wife.

As I turn back to Pete, he says “You have been in a premium paddock, bro!”

Swearing under my breath, I try getting back to business.

 “About tomorrow’s meeting.”

This short story was written for Australian Writers’ Centre Furious Fiction competition for August 2020. Word length, 500 words or less. Each month, certain criteria are set and for this month the criteria was:

  • Your story must contain HUMOUR/COMEDY
  • Your story must include the following five words: DIZZY, EXOTIC, LUMPY, TINY, TWISTED.
  • Your story must include a sandwich

You can read the winning entry and long-listed stories here.

Friday Fictioneers – Sensory Explosion

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Photo Prompt by ted-strutz

Photo by Ted Strutz

Anne Rice, New Orleans, Louisiana, the Vampire Chronicles; Lestat.

Is this house even in Louisiana; even in the States?

Rarefied living; or haunted house.

Family home; or abandoned derelict.

Pet cemetery in the backyard; or bones of generations past.

What do you think as you pass by?

Eyes to the pavement, feet pushing through leaves; dropped blooms.

Do you look up and wonder, as do I?

Sniff the air; peek through windows; peer over the fence.

Rattle a fence post; kick at the base.

Shake the tree to drop leaves in your face.

Sensory explosion! (95 words)
Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a story in response to a photo prompt – in 100 words or less. You can find other stories here.

Friday Fictioneers – Horizon

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Twice a year I take this road trip
1,634km of bituminized road between Hedland and Perth.
And again, I find myself stuck at a railway crossing;
with a 2.4km ore train meandering along.
I stare into the horizon, eyes unfocussed; the landscape a blur.
Dubba dup. Dubba dup. Dubba dup.
Drowsiness overtakes me. Eyes droop.
Suddenly, the door alarm!
Ping. Ping. Ping.
Awareness returns. Adrenaline surges.
The stranger reaches in; grabs my throat.
My hands claw his face. He lands a punch.
Black spots, as the horizon fades.
Middle of nowhere. So unexpected.

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a story in response to a photo prompt – in 100 words or less. You can find other stories here.

Simply 6 Minutes – Papping!

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Simply 6 Minutes 5Aug20

Rosie loved coming to this restaurant for afternoon tea.

She made it her sacred appointment; every Tuesday.

She particularly loved watching the world through the greenery.

It created a softness, and perfectly framed the drama.

The people she’d seen.

Neighbours, celebrities, politicians; the gamut.

And the gossip she’d passed on from her surreptitious papping!

Her friend Nora, two doors down, caught out kissing another woman;

And Nora married to Ben these 15 years!

Her local MP shaking hands with a known drug criminal;

or was it actually passing over of something, not hand shaking, going on?

Some of her favourite TV soap actors visited this hotel; ate at this very restaurant.

Rosie had seen some dubious behaviour and fed some tittle-tat on to the papers.

Oh, the media couldn’t say who their ‘source’ was, but Rosie was delighted when she recognised herself in those stories.

Quite a few celebrities had found themselves in deep water, due to her intervention.

But Rosie was herself no sainted lady.

This exact spot is where she’d watch for her own paramour to arrive.

A lady, an actress, a would-be politician.

See, there was more to Rosie’s spying than just gossip mongering.

Oh, yes.

Rosie was on the lookout for anything that could help her beloved Danielle reach even higher heights.

And whatever Rosie could do; she would do. For love!
(6 minutes. 226 words)

https://christinebialczak.com/2020/07/14/simply-6-minutes-writing-challenge

  1. Set up a timer or sit near a clock so you can keep track of the six minutes you will be writing.
  2. You can either use one of the prompts (photo or written) or you can free-write.
  3. Get ready and write for 6 minutes, that is it! Can you write a complete story? Can you think of a new Sonnet? Can you write 400 words? 400? 500? There are no restrictions on what kind of writing you do, but you should try to be actively writing for six minutes.
  4. After you are done writing, include your word count and then post back to this page #Simply6Minutes or include your link in the comments section. Pingbacks are enabled.

Friday Fictioneers – Splashback

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dolphin_01

Photo prompt @ Jean L Hays

I watch the sun catcher, as memories rush me.
In that garden, kids play tag.
Drinks in hand, Mum chats with friends.
Glasses clink. Laughter explodes. Delight screams.
Nose twitching, I even smell, barbeque and beer.
It’s all fun and games.
Unless it isn’t.
Darkness bleeds through memory. Joy dims as delight turns sinister.
I turn into the house; splashback tiles catch the movement.
Reflect the blue glass, as they did every time he touched me.
While others laugh and play. I am silent. Passive.
I dream of swimming with dolphins.
And resurface, all smiles. Hot dog in hand.

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a story in response to a photo prompt – in 100 words or less. You can find other stories here.

Friday Fictioneers – the Painter

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Photo by Rochelles Wisoff-Fields - palettes

Photo prompt @ Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

The house was dilapidated. On the market for a quick sale.

Deceased estate.

I wandered through, nudging trash along the ground.

Crinkling my face. A hand over my nose and mouth.

The smell!

Beautiful bones to this place. Ceiling roses and architraves.

Stunning wood features.

I imagined generations of a loving family. Good times and bad.

Nobody left. Everything of value removed.

The empty palette catches my eye.

There’d been a painter in the family.

I wondered whether their work was known.

And if I’d recognise the name.

Something other than debris.

I hoped so! (95 words)

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a story in response to a photo prompt – in 100 words or less. You can find other stories here.