Week 614 of #ThursThreads was a success, and y’all never disappoint. Thank you to everyone who writes each week. You are why we’re still doing this.
If you’ve just found us, welcome to the crew! May you come back again and write more great flash. A thousand thanks to Louisa Bacio for judging this week. Follow Siobhan Muir on Bluesky or check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on Facebook or the #ThursThreads Group on MeWe to keep up with news, etc.
Entries:
- Bill Engleson
- Silver James
- Siobhan Muir
- Sheilagh Lee
- Mark Ethridge
- Mark A. Morris
- David A. Ludwig
- Miranda Gammella
Honorable Mention
Mark Ethridge | Website
Louisa says: I’m getting mash-up of Tinker Bell + Deadliest Catch. The variance in point of view makes this tale intriguing. There’s also a slight edge of foreshadowing. Is Sunshine a fairy or is she a witch? Is there really a difference?
winner announcement
Week 614 Winner
Louisa says: The sentence structure and storytelling of this short grabbed my attention. Miranda let the story capture the reader’s interest and slowly unwind. I want to know more about “he,” the husband. There are no names in the tale. Did he kill his wife? Why is she haunting him?
He knew he couldn’t hide forever. As much as he tried to re-enter society—re-enter reality, he found it was nearly impossible. Doing so would make it real, acknowledging her death happened, that she was irrevocably gone.
Everyone kept telling him that everyone handles grief differently and to take all the time he needed to process her death. There would never be enough time for that.
He would stop time if he could.
Despite his wishes, the clock was ticking. Time continued to move forward, steadily and sure, tick tick tick.
He poured himself another whiskey, having stopped counting them a long time ago. The alcohol did little to assuage the pain, no matter how much he drank. If she was here, he’d be right well drunk, but she wasn’t, so he wasn’t.
Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, a familiar wisp of golden blonde hair. The scent of the ocean soon followed.
“Come to torture me some more?” he asked her ghost. “Thought you had enough fun toying with me already.”
His wife stood there with the same sad expression that she had the last time he saw her ghost. She looked perfect, not a single hair out of place. No broken bones or fractures or blood, unlike the day he had to identify her body at the morgue, mangled and lifeless.
“Why are you here?”
~~~~~~~
Congratulations Three Time Winner Miranda, and Honorable Mention Mark! Don’t forget to claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it!
Pass on the great news on Facebook, MeWe, Bluesky, Mastodon, shiny mirrors, Morse Code, and signal flags. Check out all the original tales HERE. Thanks for stopping by and happy reading! 🙂
