Five Sentence Fiction - Purple

Lillie McFerrin's Weekly Flash Fiction Prompt - 'Delicate'

 

A perfect prompt for me! And this is where it took me:

He stood there after everyone had gone, staring down into the open earth at the purple shrouded coffin. He sniffed at the purple rose he held, and looked at it for a moment before letting it drop to join the others that had been thrown in; a perfect sea of purple love to carry her on her way.

He shivered and pushed his hands into the pockets of his heavy overcoat, hunching into it, trying to escape the icy wind. It was then he felt the ring in his pocket and his fingers traced the gemstones, seeing it in his mind’s eye, remembering how it got there. A single tear hugged his cheek as he remembered the amethyst and diamond ring he had bought for her on their 10^th anniversary, just two days before her terminal diagnosis. 

Visual Dare 6 - Emerge

Having missed out on number 5 due to traveling, I was determined to write something for the Visual Dare 6, so here it is.

The Room

 

Belinda poked the wall with her finger and it wobbled.

She glanced over her shoulder to check if anyone else had seen it, then felt foolish. She knew she was alone in the house and had been for days.

Then she pressed her hand against the wall pushing it until it broke through and disappeared entirely. She paused, finding the sensation interesting, before putting her whole arm in. She wriggled her fingers on the other side and felt no resistance, so she took a deep breath and pushed her face against it, feeling the tight pressure of the surface tension on her cheeks before it broke.

Once she felt air on the other side she opened her eyes. The room was a mirror image, only on this side there were lots of people and they were all looking at her. As she emerged they suddenly rushed forward screaming, ‘No!’ 

149 Words

Five Sentence Fiction - Delicate

 Lillie McFerrin's Weekly Flash Fiction Prompt - 'Delicate'

 

This is where this week's prompt took me:

Arlene had to be very careful how she handled this, otherwise he’d take it the wrong way and then they’d all be in trouble. She couldn’t just deal with this in her usual way; she had to be far more tentative - more delicate, the delivery had to be just right.

If she said it wrong, and he snapped, they’d all lose out, and little Johnny most of all; he needed this home more than anyone; he need to be warm and dry, his health could not withstand them returning to the streets, his life depended on it. But Max was a hard man, and as he reminded her often enough that they weren’t his kids, so she had to do this subtly.

She looked at Arlette’s pretty face, with the tears running down it, and went over the words in her mind again, hoping she could get across to him that sexually abusing and raping her daughter was not on, and that there were other ways she was prepared to repay him for putting a roof over their heads, however degrading they were.

Visual Dare 4 - Steps

This is my first time entering the Visual Dare Flash Fiction contest.

Here is the photo prompt: 

And this is where it took me:

They huddled together at the bottom of the stairwell, waiting for the screams to stop. Although they hated the sound of them, the silence afterwards was much worse; it meant that another would be chosen soon.

They had been down there so long they had become like family, and they clung to each other now, bound in their grief and horror, listening to the last death throws of another.

Being deemed undesirable this was their lot, and all they had was the hope that it wouldn’t take all of them this time, and that maybe some of them would get a chance to live a few more days, even in this place of empty hardship. 

Some even dreamed that it would end completely and the alliance with the new world creatures would be broken; their sacrifice no longer necessary. But in a place such as this, there were only dreams.

150 Words

 

Five Sentence Fiction - Ringing

 Lillie McFerrin's Weekly Flash Fiction Prompt - 'Ringing'

 

This is where this week's prompt took me:

Everyone stopped and turned, as they had been trained to do. They didn’t look at each other, they just all moved as one towards the ringing. There was no panic, no rush; they knew there was time; they knew they would all fit easily into the shelter as previous drills had revealed. They lined up neatly inside, not a sound between them as all eyes turned to the ceiling, waiting. This time it was for real, this time it wasn’t an exercise, and their eyes widened as they heard the crashing sounds start above.

Five Sentence Fiction - Forgotten

Lillie McFerrin's Weekly Flash Fiction Prompt - 'Forgotten'

 

This is where this week's prompt took me:

Alice had been sifting through the contents of the old box in search of something else, when she stumbled across them. She couldn’t resist opening them and having a read, reminiscing over her lost love. The letters had been nothing less than an out-pouring of his soul, and she found herself sick again with the love they had once shared; tears rolling down her face as they had when she had first opened them.

She heard her husband call up to her; wondering where she was and whether she had found their old wedding photos. She didn’t reply as she bundled the letters up and stuffed them into another box, trying hard not to think about the day she’d received the news that he wouldn’t be back; instead rummaging through the other boxes and pulling out the album from the special day she had spent with the man downstairs, shutting the memories of the love of her life away to be forgotten again.

Five Sentence Fiction - Inspire

Lillie McFerrin's weekly Flash Fiction prompt

This weeks prompt is the word 'Inspire' - this is where it took me.

“Inspire me!” She whispered in my ear, which made me stop and pull myself up on my arms so I could look her in the face. “What?” I asked; confused by such a request, which wasn’t along the lines of the usual dirty talk I was used to getting this far into a gig.

She gave a heavy sigh and looked irritated, her tone confirming it as she said, “Look, I’m not paying for some quick jump here, I want it good, I want it to move me, and I want it to be beyond exceptional, okay?”

I raised my eyebrows at her, thinking about what she was asking for, and what I was prepared to give, and replied, “Sorry lady, you’re good, but you ain’t THAT good - and I ain’t the exceptional type.”

I rolled off the bed and pulled up my trousers, her open mouth demonstrating that people didn’t normally refuse her, so I left her with some words of advice; “If you want to receive something in this world, you have to be ready to give it first.”