Friday Fictioneers: Omen

I'm back! Sorry for missing out last week on the fun, but I did make progress on my WIP. 15K lef to go. Yippee!

This week's fiction was inspired by Robert Jordan's Eye of the World. Thank you Madison Woods for providing this opportunity and flash fiction photo prompt. Her story is available here.

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Stark grey morning light cast an unsettling feeling over the bare branches of the forest. Vibrant foliage should have covered them by now, but not so much as a bud could be seen. Where carpets of luscious grass should be thriving brown remains of last summer’s growth decayed. Goddess, Summer Solstice was nearly upon us, but renewal of life seemed to have abandoned Brumblethorn. That is until a black crow landed at the top of a nearby tree.  I tucked the thread-bare cloak around my shoulders in attempt to stave off the lingering remnants of winter and the bleak omen.

No Friday Fictioneers Today

Sorry guys, I'm headed to a hotel to write and try to get most of my novel done this weekend. Will not be posting anything on Sunday either. Got to getter done! Depending on how much I get done this weekend I may or may be back next Friday, but I'm hoping. Thanks for understanding!

Friday Fictioneers: Penance

Thank you Madison Woods for providing this opportunity and flash fiction photo prompt. Her story is available here.

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Endless days of wandering through the arid wilderness without food and little water, he comes to a wooded haven seeking shelter from the relentless sun. The sound of trickling water fills his ears. 

 Blessed Goddess has finally shown mercy.

He kneels before the spring splashing water on his face. Glorious relief floods his parched skin, but when a drop touches his tongue he tastes the bittersweet poison.

He jumps back and sees the lethal red berries on the bush growing beside the spring leaching it’s toxin into the water. Witchlock. He should have known the Goddess wouldn’t be so forgiving.

***

Thank you so much for reading! Comments are welcome. :)

Friday Fictioneers: White

Happy Friday! Thank you Madison Woods for this opportunity & beautiful photo prompt this week.

I had traveled down this trail many times. I knew every bend and incline. But this time something was different. I stopped and examined the trees around me. As I scanned my surroundings the hairs on my neck prickled. Another set of eyes watched me. I felt them racking my skin. 

Around the corner I spotted a pale creature shifting between the young conifers. Every major muscle in my body tightened with each soft clop. I forgot to breathe when the tall white horse stepped out into the path, but when he spread open his wings, my heart stopped beating.

Thanks for reading. Just a reminder that tomorrow is the last day to enter the giveaway. I will draw the winner on Sunday. Next week I'll be on vacation in Canada and will not be doing Friday Fictioneers or 4th Sunday Surprise. Thanks again for stopping by.

Friday Fictioneers: Blue

I had loads of fun writing this one. Thank you Madison Woods for the photo prompt (here is her short) and everyone stopping by today. You're input and comments are welcome.

The infinite sky surrounding the airship, the vast Pacific below, the metallic floor beneath her feet, the starch-pressed slacks covering her long slender legs, the cotton button-up shirt she wore, the backwards baseball cap on her head, the clear half-filled water glass sitting next to the flashing buttons on the control panel, and even the few symbols and labels decorating the dashboard—blue.

Everything around Kiera was a shade of blue. The only color she’d known for the last twenty-eight days. She sighed echoing the mood of the relentless hue. In the distance she saw the speck. Green. Land. Mission-accomplished.

Thanks for reading. 

Friday Fictioneers: Ascent

Photo by Douglas Macllroy.

This is my very first attempt to flash fiction. Thank you Madison Woods for providing this fun opportunity. Click here for her story.

One step in front of the other.  The mountaineering instructor’s words ring in my ears.  We’ve been climbing since one this morning. Three power bars, one package of vegan super protein jerky, and half of a hydration pack later I finally see the summit. 

My quads burn, my lungs feel like an inferno erupts inside them with each breath, and the pressure inside my head feels like it’s about to explode.

Altitude sickness. Damn it.

 

I’m so close, yet so far away. Do I go back or push on? Either way, it’s still one step in front of the other. 

Thanks for reading!