Welcome back to the home of Paranormal & Dauntless Romance. Today is Thursday and that means it’s time to start flashing. We’re at the beginning of our ninth year of weekly prompts. It’s amazing we’ve gone this long! This is Week 457 of #ThursThreads, the challenge that ties tales together. Want to keep up each week? Check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on Facebook and the Group on MeWe.
Need the rules? Read on.
Here’s how it works:
- The prompt is a line from the previous week’s winning tale.
- The prompt can appear ANYWHERE in your story and is included in your word count.
- The prompt must be used as is. It can be split, but no intervening words can be inserted or tenses changed.
Rules to the Game:
- This is a Flash Fiction challenge, which means your story must be a minimum of 100 words, maximum of 250.
- The story must be new writing, not a snippet from something published elsewhere with the prompt added.
- Incorporate the prompt anywhere into your story (included in your word count).
- Post your story in the comments section of this post
- Include your word count in the post (or be excluded from judging)
- Include your Twitter handle or email in the post (so we don’t have to look for you)
- The challenge is open 7 AM to 8 PM Mountain Time
- The winner will be announced on Friday, depending on how early the judge gets up.
How it benefits you:
- You get a nifty cool badge to display on your blog or site (because we’re all about promotion – you know you are!)
- You get instant recognition of your writing prowess on this blog!
- Your writing colleagues shall announce and proclaim your greatness on Facebook, Twitter, MeWe, and Google Plus, etc.
Our Judge for Week 457:
Computer geek, bass player, historical reenactor, and flashfiction writer, Mary Decker.
And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
The Prompt:
“Did you feel it?”
All stories written herein are the property (both intellectual and physical) of the authors. Comments do not represent the views of the host and the host reserves the right to remove any content. Now, away with you, Flash Fiction Fanatics, and show us your #ThursThreads. Good luck!
It had been three days since we left for home. Nothing really. My excitement had been burgeoning inside me exponentially as we got closer. I pictured it inside me like a fire ball growing from a grain of sand to what was now a football. It was in danger of taking me over completely. It was imaginary, but that couldn’t be good. Right?
The Captain had said it’d be three or four days depending on what might get in his way. He didn’t explain what that might be. But Lex and me were in no hurry. One day here or there after years away. It was nothing.
‘Did you feel it?’
It was Lex. I hadn’t realised she was awake. I looked up to see her face, questioning and evidently a little groggy from sleep.
‘Did you feel it?’ She asked again.
‘Feel what?’ I wondered what she had been dreaming about.
Lex forced herself upright and reached over for her wrist monitor.
She blinked at the screen. Sleep gets in your eyes – especially on these boring trips. These work ships weren’t built for entertainment options, and the Captain had warned us to stay away from the crew. ‘They had work to do – and only work,’ he’d said.
‘I thought I felt the engines. That we’d dropped out of warp.’
I hadn’t noticed. But Lex was always the sensitive one.
On cue our wrists vibrated: a message from the Captain. We’d arrived. Home. Or to what was left of it.
_____________
A.J.Walker
@zevonesque
WC: 250
Blood coated my hands as I pulled them out of the man’s chest, but it was nothing compared to the slick coating on my patient’s skin. The magic-enhanced bullet had split into three seeds: one headed to the lungs, another his stomach, and the third his heart. The first two had been easy to get; the third was elusive and not visible on our imagery. I knew the spell that caused the wound, however, and I knew where the seed would be.
“Did you feel it?” My nurse reached out with a warm, wet towel to wipe away most of the blood.
“Not yet. I need to give the blood replenisher potions time to work before I get back in there and try again for the third. Check his pain potion levels and strengthen the sleep ward. His heart rate was picking up a bit at the end.”
I washed up, dodged out of the medic tent and into the temporary mess hall. I needed something to fortify me before I had to operate on my twin brother again. This wasn’t the first time he’d gotten hit while on duty; mage scouts had the deadliest job of our forces. That he even made it back with a triple demon seed trying to take root in him to make more elf-demon crossbreeds… It’s why I can’t let him down. We need his strength.
“Doctor Solari, the seed is sprouting. We need you!”
****
Word Count: 241
@miya_kressin
The Easter Case: Bunnies Were Involved
The kid wore a mask. The rabbit face mask was grinning like the devil. A crazy cousin of Bugs, maybe.
Anyways, she was in the doorway. I’d left it open to get a breath of hallway Spring breeze.
It was April 1st.
The world was full of jokers.
I hoped the kid wasn’t one of them.
“Help you?” I asked. It seemed the thing to say.
“Are you the detective?”
“That I am,” I affirmed.
“My dad…I was supposed to spend Easter with him…”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“He was supposed to pick me up last night. He called…” she was starting to weep. I made a mental note to buy some more tissues.
“He called and said what?”
“He said he might be a little late…but…”
“But?”
“He sounded sick. Sounded…I don’t know…”
“Did you feel..?”
“It was him, but it wasn’t…That’s how it felt.”
“Did you ask him when he finally did come?” I asked, knowing what she was likely to say.
“He didn’t. He didn’t come. I’m so worried.” And she burst into a blubber of tears. Covid-19 protocols and man-girlchild inhibitions kept me from comforting her up close. I motioned her into the office and pointed to a chair. She whimpered her away to the chair and sat down.
I left the door open. More inhibitions.
Once she was settled, more composed, I asked THE question. “You want me to find your dad?”
“Yes. Please.”
“Then that’s what I’ll do.”
250 WIP
@billmelaterplea
One small edit…
The Easter Case: Bunnies Were Involved
The kid wore a mask. The rabbit face mask was grinning like the devil. A crazy cousin of Bugs, maybe.
Anyways, she was in the doorway. I’d left it open to get a breath of hallway Spring breeze.
It was April 1st.
The world was full of jokers.
I hoped the kid wasn’t one of them.
“Help you?” I asked. It seemed the thing to say.
“Are you the detective?”
“That I am,” I affirmed.
“My dad…I was supposed to spend Easter with him…”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“He was supposed to pick me up last night. He called…” she was starting to weep. I made a mental note to buy some more tissues.
“He called and said what?”
“He said he might be a little late…but…”
“But?”
“He sounded sick. Sounded…I don’t know…”
“Did you feel..?”
“It was him, but it wasn’t…That’s how it felt.”
“Did you ask him when he finally did come?” I asked, knowing what she was likely to say.
“He didn’t. He didn’t come. I’m so worried.” And she burst into a blubber of tears. Covid-19 protocols and man-girlchild inhibitions kept me from comforting her up close. I motioned her into the office and pointed to a chair. She whimpered her way to the chair and sat down.
I left the door open. More inhibitions.
Once she was settled, more composed, I asked THE question. “You want me to find your dad?”
“Yes. Please.”
“Then that’s what I’ll do.”
250 edited WIP
@billmelaterplea
Like being on the combine harvester before setting off to collect the maize, the windows rattled and the floor trembled. Michael hauled himself out of bed and ran into Tilda’s room. Though happily married, they slept better in separate rooms these days.
He flipped the lightswitch.
“Did you feel it?” he asked.
“What?” She looked at him groggily, hair up in a pillow-made quiff, squinting under the lightbulb’s harsh brightness.
Another, more pronounced tremor arrived.
“Earthquake,” Michael said. “Get over here, under the doorframe, quick!”
But the floor collapsed under Michael and he plunged with a long, sustained shriek into a hole that rumbled like a hungry beast from the depths of the earth. The hole in the floor stopped short of the bed.
Tilda, now fully awake, gasped as magma oozed up, rising only to the level of the floor, with Michael’s now charred and lifeless torso bobbing in the lava as though regurgitated by the hungry beast.
Tilda screamed as the walls collapsed around her and the bed slipped forward, its wheels collapsing into the red, purple and black liquid, which conveyed her slowly, tortuously out onto the road and down its length, now a river of lava, away from what had been their farmhouse.
Is this a dream? she asked herself. With rising heat and gases from the surrounding tectonic phenomenon, she went drowsy. Her rising panic subsided, and – like a fainting goat, perhaps – she returned her head to the pillow and closed her eyes.
249 words @ragtaggiggagon
Shandor had hidden Denton’s first visit from Bianca. She didn’t want a repeat of the issues she’d faced being married to Denton, and she certainly wasn’t going to put up with that in a new boyfriend, even one as handsome and sexy as Shandor.
Dammit, couldn’t I just have someone who’s honest and normal?
Shandor had left text and voice messages the last couple of days, apologizing and begging her for a moment of her time to talk. But she hadn’t been willing to hear him out. Yet. She couldn’t avoid him forever, but she required time to work out what she needed in a lover and what were her hard limits.
Hiding truth and outright lying are way past my hard limits.
She let out another sigh and put the kettle on to boil for tea. She hadn’t known she had hard limits because she’d never been faced with them. Hell, she hadn’t expected to get involved with anyone so soon after leaving California. But now she recognized what she wasn’t willing to put up with.
But you didn’t tell him that, did you? Feel it was too hard to say?
It was hard, but she hadn’t responded to Shandor’s messages because she hadn’t known what to say. It had taken her the two days apart to realize what was important. They needed to work out some ground rules if they were going to make this work.
And she definitely wanted to make it work.
246 ineligible #ElementalHearts words
@SiobhanMuir
“Are you writing for the contest?”
“I dunno. Is there a theme?”
“Yeh—it has to do with Nature.”
“Like animals and landscapes and waterfalls and stuff?”
“Yes—oceans and flowers. Anything natural—trees.”
“What about personality? Describe someone’s nature?”
“You could.”
“I don’t think I’ll do it anyway.”
“C’mon. Just try. I’m gonna. But I won’t turn mine in without you.”
“You’re a better writer than me anyway. You always do great stuff. Your descriptions are better, and your dialogue is superb.”
“I’m not better. Look who won all the awards and Honorable Mentions.”
“That was pure luck, not skill.”
“Luck my ass. You are a master wordsmith.”
“Not really.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I try. That’s about all I can say. But you—you are excellent.”
“Okay. We always have these fights. Who’s smarter, the more creative cook, the better driver. Remember when we argued about who’s gentler and more peace-loving?”
“Yes, and that never got resolved!”
“Yes, it did! It’s me! So, you gonna enter the competition?”
“I don’t think so. Not after all the shit you just gave me about what a crappy writer I am.”
“I said nothing like that. Just the opposite. Your writing brilliance echoes your calm demeanor–exquisitely sublime and serene. Way more powerful than mine. I am more like a sledgehammer.”
“’Zat so? How about this?”
With that, Lois approached Harold’s chair and thumped him several times on the head.
“There. Did you feel it that time, my gentle-natured brilliance?”
249 words
@rrats1231
Halston burst into my apartment shutting the door behind him, He took me in his arms placing a kiss so forceful and passionate on me that it rocked me to my core; bringing out feelings that I thought I’d buried so deep they’d never surface and yet here I was wanting more. I hesitated then shoved him away.
“Did you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“The once in a lifetime magic, Shona.”
“How many times have you used that line, Halston?’
“I could be the one of you have us a chance.? Yes, I’ve sowed some oats. I’ve put myself there, really tried, have you? Losing your husband made you close your heart and look for any excuse not to try and find love again. Give us a chance Shona .”
I wanted to trust what he was saying. Without even my brain knowing it my heart took over and I nodded Halston took me in his arms again and kissed me senseless. Clothes were shed on the floor; our legs were soon entwined and our hands touched everywhere. Hours later satiated I asked, ”Where do we go from here?”
“We can take it your pace Shona; but know that I’m going to stick around.”
“I think I believe you Halston.”
“Let’s get dressed and I’ll take you on a real date.”
“This wasn’t a real date?’ I laughed.
“I can do better.”
“Really? I can hardly wait shall we delay the clothing?”
“We can order in.”
“Great idea,” I agreed.
250 words
@SweetSheil
“Did you feel it?”
“What are you talking about?” Min picked up the stack of towels and loaded them onto the cart.
The redhead that was stalking behind her grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her arm. “You know what I’m talking about! You felt the surge, didn’t you?”
“I said I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now get your hands off of me before I have security throw you out.” She turned, brows rising up. gaze moving from the other woman’s face to her hand and back again. “I’m no longer involved in whatever you are doing. What your group is doing. I don’t want anything to do with whatever you’re scheming to do. I thought I had made it clear when I left last year.”
“Really? You’re going to give up a profitable job to clean up after other people?” THe woman sneered. “That’s beneath your abilities.”
“Maybe. But that is my decision. Just remember that the people that you look down on for doing manual labor are the people that you seem to ignore. And they are the people that can hit the hardest.”
“Are you threating me?”
“No, just a warning about people who can be invisible and stand in front of you at the same time.” Min narrowed her eyes. “Now get the fuck out of my face.”
@solimond
224 words
they call it deep hypothermic circulatory arrest
in a nutshell, doctors put you under and then reduce your body temperature to about 60° Fahrenheit, almost 40 degrees below your normal body temperature and then stop your heart while they do the surgical repair
it sounds crazy but the brain can exist for a while at that temperature without suffering any damage
did you feel it?
I didn’t feel them touching my heart or repairing the torn part of my aorta for that matter, but that is when I met you
excuse me, I’m sorry what did you say?
that is when I met you
okay, now you’re scaring me
no really, I was sitting on the front porch and you walked by pushing a baby carriage
you stopped, looking distressed and I asked if I could help
your baby’s water bottle spilled and you were concerned about walking all the way home without any way to quench her thirst and asked if I could refill her bottle
I said of course and then we sat and talked for what seemed a long time, in the cool breeze on my porch
that’s when I knew I had to see you again because we had such a connection
Gemma tore off a piece of the warm bread, swiping it through the olive oil with one hand while taking a long sip from her wine glass with the other
but wait, this is a blind date
twitter: @taforu
word count: 241
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She’d forgotten to turn the ringer back on. Grabbing it, she tried not to hope even as those hopes were dashed by the wrong vampire.
“Hello, Mathias.”
“Where is Sinjen?”
“How should I know? He’s pissed at me and not taking my calls.”
“I can’t reach him.”
“Okay. So he’s pissed at you too.”
“No. Sade. I cannot reach him.”
“Wait. What? Oh fuck me running. Where is he?”’
“This is what I am asking you.”
“I don’t know where the fuck he is. He left Paris and went back to Chicago for all I know. I’ve been calling him for weeks.”
“Did you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“Focus, Sade. He marked you. You should be able to feel the connection between you.”
She shivered despite the Paris noonday sun. Icy fingers of dread clutched her. “You made him, Mathias. Why can’t you feel him?”
Silence. She could almost hear Mathias planning his response. “Sinjen is a master in his own right,” her godfather eventually answered. “He is capable of…suppressing our link.”
That didn’t make her feel better. She didn’t want to ask but she had to know. “If he can cut you off, why wouldn’t he do the same to me?”
“Sade.” Reproach drenched her name.
“It’s a fair question.” This was a bone she couldn’t stop gnawing.
“Despite everything, you are his. He would not leave you alone. Not willingly.”
She might argue that, all things considered.
“Find him.”
“I will.”
****
250 Penumbra Papers WIP words
@SilverJames_
My hand wraps around the siberite gem, its pulsating energy giving off a faint purple hue, drawing me in. Before I realize what I’m doing, I take it off its stand and bury it in my bag. The Insight feels heavy, the weight of it not quite solid but triggering a pressure in my chest that wasn’t there before.
“Did you feel it calling you?” The voice comes from the other side of the curtain behind the stand. He steps out into the light – a tall, elegantly dressed elf. I can only assume it’s Noquate. Dressed in black, he almost blends into the shadows. Noquate’s hair is slicked back, revealing pointed ears adorned with too many earrings for me to count. If this world has taught me anything, at least half of them must be enchanted.
I step back, nearly falling off the dais. Maybe I should have waited for Valmong, but it’s too late to think about that. Before I can react, he continues.
“It’s tempting, isn’t it? The power to see through anything – deceit, illusions. Imagine what you could do with it.” His voice is smoother than honey, and I wonder if that’s natural or another piece of subtle magic.
“I don’t intend to use it.” I take another step back, hoping I can make it to the door, but knowing that running away probably isn’t an option.
“What a waste. Might as well just give it back.” He smiles a predator’s grin.
Shit. I’m screwed.
250 first glance at the villain #TeamRPG words
@katheryn_avila
Queen Alessandra de Blanche smiled as a maid removed her daughter’s silver tiara. Taking the diamond tiara from the velvet pillow proffered by another maid, the queen placed it proudly on Crown Princess Isabel’s head.
“Happy birthday, my darling.” Alessandra kissed Isabel’s forehead.
“Thank you,” Isabel choked through happy tears.
The princess glanced at the empty orchestra corner. Queen Alessandra exchanged her own glance with King Dominic at their daughter’s side. Guests were becoming unsettled by the irregular atmosphere, including the guest of honor seated at the right hand of Queen Alessandra’s throne. The one person in Terre Reine more important than the entire royal family raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Isn’t it time for the father daughter dance?”
“The orchestra…” Alessandra apologized.
Isabel lowered her head. Exalted Songstress Melody Fayth rose resolutely from her seat alongside the royal family.
“I understand.”
Before the royals could stop her, Melody strode in her billowing gown to the orchestra corner. In a gesture unfamiliar to those gathered, the Songstress raised an imaginary microphone to her mouth and projected her voice through the great hall.
“Let’s get this party started!”
Melody laid a soft drum beat with bass accompaniment as the foundation for her song, just traditional enough for the nobles but jazzed up for the young princess and her peers. At the end of an evening of filling the hall with rich layered music, the a cappella one-woman band raised her chin and dropped her imaginary mic.
“Did you feel it?!”
248 Cat’s Fools words
@DavidALudwig
“Did you feel it?”
I looked at Deborah and shook my head, “There you go again. Asking me if I felt something that’s invisible, not the wind, not the air pressure, not the temperature, not the ground shaking.” I shook my head, “I didn’t feel a damn thing, and you know it.”
“I…”
I cut her off. “You know I have you around to feel all the stuff I can’t. ‘Cause I can’t ever feel it.”
“I know.”
“Crap.” I’d have hugged her, and told her I was sorry, but I knew it wasn’t that time, or we didn’t have that kind of time. “What’s coming?” I did the simplest thing I could, and put my hand on top of hers. “What do we need to get ready for?”
She was quiet. Too quiet. I knew from her eyes, and the way her jaw was clenched, she was thinking, trying to figure something out. “This is new.”
“Crap may be too weak of a word?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never felt this.”
There were times I wished I was an empath, and could feel what she felt. But I knew, if she couldn’t identify what it was, didn’t know what it was, it couldn’t be good.
“I’m not taking any chances.” I stood up, and started to the door, dragging her with me. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Too late! It’s here!”
The sky went black, the building shook, the windows exploded, the wind screamed.
I woke up days later.
250 Words
@mysoulstears
How many ‘l’s in Apocalyptic?
“I was there, when the world began, just a thought, nothing more.”
I looked up from my sudoku and smiled at the man. Today he was feeling philosophical and I could deal with that. Weird yes, but I could deal with weird.
When he was like this we could talk and I didn’t have to dodge silverware or fists.
“There was a moment, right before the divine breath blew across the void, breathing light into our darkness,” he added, drawing strength from my attention. “The sun appeared— and it was good.”
I nodded. “What was it like?”
He paused and as I waited the earth trembled.
He smiled at me, and that smile made me shiver. “Kind of like that,” he said. “Did you feel it?”
I set my puzzle down. Living on a fault line, you tended to roll with the quakes, but his timing was perfectly deadpan. “Yeah?” I asked.
He chuckled. “It was a lot like that, only that was the start of the end and not the beginning of the end.”
I pulled up an incident report. Something told me that whatever was coming— It would be best to have the paperwork in order.
His smile widened as he watched and waited. “Going to be one hell of a show.”
214 ineligible words (not including title)
@mishmhem