Welcome back to the home of Paranormal & Dauntless Romance. Today is Thursday and that means it’s time to start flashing. We’re nearing the end of our ninth year of weekly prompts. It’s amazing we’ve gone this long! This is Week 509 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 509:
Scottish Word Slinger, Dauntless romance author, and #ThursThreads host, Siobhan Muir.
Facebook | Twitter | Patreon | EdenBooks |
And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
The Prompt:
“What do you think?”
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!
The Road Home
Leaving Frank behind scrubbing Solly Vapors gold-encrusted lavatories (he had to have at least two biffies, I thought, being a man of very conspicuous consumption) was easier than I expected. We had our assignment. Get Terry Kane to her bank, negotiate a huge chunk of mortgage change, and pay off Solly.
As important as that was, I also now had my hands on the long-missing Henry Samuels, and I had no intention of letting him out of my sight. His daughter had gone a year without laying eyes on him and Henry needed to make amends.
We’d parked my car a block away from Solly’s. Once back there, I spelled out how I saw things.
It was early afternoon. I tried to remember what the term banking hours actually meant.
I then asked Terry, “What do you think the bank will say?”
“I don’t know about THE BANK,” she answered, “but Larry Buchan, the loans manager has a sweet tooth…that I know for sure.”
I smiled at that.
“Still,” I said, “it could take a while. We don’t want to leave Solly with dirty johns…do we?”
She laughed…”I see your point. Okay, a day or two at least. I’ll keep Solly informed…”
Henry and I dropped Terry off at the bank branch and then drove off toward the Samuels family home.
“You ready for this, Henry?” I asked.
“I’m still a target…No, I’m not ready,” he said, suddenly jumping out of the car at the stoplight…
249 WIP
@billmelaterplea
Meg watched Dalton retreat, brow furrowed. Something was going on and she had the distinct impression that she was caught in the middle of whatever intrigue these guys had been discussing. What the heck had Kin meant when he said he was a wolf and not a circus lion? She’d caught the sidelong glances Loch occasionally cast her direction when he thought she wasn’t paying attention. She was also acutely aware of Kin’s… She glanced down at him. His what? His attention? That seemed too mild a term. She often found him watching her with an intensity that felt both flattering and scary, like she was his favorite obsession.
She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped one foot. “Well? Since Dalton is a chicken, that leaves you to explain. What is it you aren’t telling me? And what do circus lions have to do with anything?”
Kin remained on the ground. He’d wanted to court her, let her get to know him before he shared his darkest secrets. Explaining he was a wolf shifter and that she was his mate? That would truly float like a lead balloon. “Nothing.” There, that answered both questions. Her expression said it hadn’t. “Fine, What do you think we were talking about?”
Her nose crinkled. “Me. I want to know why.”
Wishing the earth would open up so he could fall through a big hole, he rubbed his eyes again. “Yes, you. And what you are to me.”
What am I?”
“Mine.”
GAH! I hit post too soon.
250 Hard Target: Crossfire WIP words
@SilverJames_
TOTALLY need more coffee, obviously!
“I’ve come up with a creative solution to the problem,” I said and then I outlined the solution I envisioned and asked “What do you think?”
“I think I’ve lost my ever-loving mind,” husband answered.
“But…”
“Sentences that begin with but are never good.”
“We can’t let my sister languish. I mean if I had known she existed I would have already helped her.”
“I hadn’t planned on having kids for years and with her difficulties but…”
“Genetics played a role here. What if we had a child and she, or he were like Lorraine?”
“I love you. I know we are just finding our own life together and will find a way through this too. She’s my family too.”
“You’ll help raise her?”
“With your help, because I don’t know a lot about raising girls.”
“I’m going to get Lori from the council, right now.”
“I’m coming to because they might not let her go without a fight.”
“Lori’s not dangerous.”
“Tell that to the three people she killed the other day.”
“Those people had it coming they abused her and they wanted to kill her when she wasn’t as subservient.”
“The council may want to keep her breeding her because of her abilities.”
“How dare they she’s not an animal…not really, she’s a werewolf just like them she’s just a little more invincible since silver won’t taint her.”
“We’ll have our hands full with a teenager but let’s save our sister.” my husband replied smiling.
247 Words
@SweetSheil
Through that morning, into the afternoon, Rose continued her journey to the ocean. But, as the sun approached the western horizon, Rose whispered, “Stop.” Everything stopped. She turned her head, side to side, and listened. “Something’s wrong.” The rabbit in her lap looked up at her, and twitched its nose. “What do you think?”
The rabbit didn’t answer. The wolves closed ranks to protect Rose, and her rabbit and bird friends. She looked up at a hawk that circled above, “I hear someone. I think you should go find them.” The hawk flew toward the north.
Rose stood up on her crescent moon shaped bolder, and whispered, “Hear.”
At first, there was no sound, then faint sounds of twigs breaking, and the swish of small brush being moved. The sound grew until it was obviously the sound of someone running. Rose whispered, “Heart?” The sound of a furiously beating heart faintly echoed around her. She whispered, “Running?”
She heard the hawk scream from the north, and knew. Someone was lost in the forest. Lost, and running, and scared. But who? How did they get so far from anywhere?
She flicked her wings, and took to the air. Tiny Rose flew toward the sound, faster than any hawk could fly. She flew through the trees, without touching them, between branches, between trunks, in a torturous course only a master of flight could have matched.
She found a woman running through the forest. A woman who was lost, and desperately afraid.
249 Words
@mysoulstears
The fish swam in the jar, their eyes bulging. One of them was notably larger; its fins quivering as it maintained its position; its mouth opening and closing as it spoke my name.
Bob.
I didn’t mind that it used the name I’ll only accept coming from my closest friends. I was glad it was making an effort to connect; fish are notorious for the shortness of their memories: I must have impressed it.
I’d decided to call him Nemo. I didn’t name the others. For all I cared, they could have been Fish #1 through to Fish #5. One of them had a black mark on his dorsal fin: I would have called him Fish #1 if I’d cared enough. Another had lost a chunk from his tail – he was probably the lowest in the pecking order – his eyes constantly swivelling, watching the others. Nemo continued to float in the centre of the jar, letting the others pass around him, giving nothing away. I fancied that it had been him that had eaten a piece of #5, using him as an example to demonstrate his dominance. Fish #1 would have been the first to turn on him: Nemo was too wise to challenge him directly, preferring to intimidate the others.
The other fishes were all whitebait – the makings of a sandwich, lacking enough dignity for me to give them a name.
Fish #1 was a minnow with the ambition of a shark.
What do you think?
250 floundering words – twothirdsrasta.blogspot.com
“Look for the names of the Marshals. We need to add them to the list. Also find out which case put the Grossmans in hiding and see if we can learn who might have hired the hitman and who he might be. Then we’ll have Anubis or Luke pay him a visit, ja?”
Neo nodded. “I’m on it.”
I let out my breath slowly as I kissed Harley’s head. I hadn’t realized how much it bothered me that Laurie probably knew I was alive and would come after me. Oh sure, I was much older than I’d been when I “died,” but my maturity didn’t stop the old fear from taking over.
“I’m gonna go change Harley.” She didn’t have a dirty diaper, but I wanted an excuse to leave the Lair without company.
Despite that, Trigger leaned close. “Do you want some help?”
“No, that’s okay. You stay and work out a plan with Loki and Neo.” I waved him off and headed back to the main room.
“What do you think? Should we get the 9mos or the 12mos jacket?” Dollhouse stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Karma, looking at something on her phone. “I don’t want to get one that’s too small. I want something she can wear right now.”
“What are y’all lookin’ at?” I stepped up next to them and Dollhouse had the grace to blush.
“Uh, we were gonna get Harley a baby biker jacket.” She held up her phone. “They’re vinyl but they’re so cute!”
249 ineligible #ConcreteAngelsMC words
@SiobhanMuir
Lily never saw the ocean. Or she didn’t remember if she had. Everything was hazy, now that the world had ended.
“I can’t wrap my head around the fact that Professor Avery set all of this in motion with his freaking equation,” Maya said. She walked alongside Lily as they tried to figure out what to do next.
Lily dug her feet into the wet sand. “I’ve been giving this some thought, Maya. We need to reverse Avery’s equation.”
“How do we do that?”
“With magic, Maya. We do it with magic.”
“Oh, right…magic. Why didn’t I think of that?” Maya rolled her eyes.
Lily picked up a fistful of the wet sand and tossed it at her. “If you have a better idea, let’s hear it.”
“Well, actually, Lily, I don’t know if it’s even worth it. Bringing the world back, I mean.”
“Not worth it?”
“Well, yeah,” Maya hesitated a moment. “I look at this way,” she continued. “The universe has to be telling us something. Maybe we’re meant to create something different. Something better.”
“Okay,” Lily said. “But like what, Maya?”
“Well, I was hoping you would have some ideas.”
Lily kept walking. “I’ve got one idea.”
“You’re not actually going to use magic, Lily, are you?”
“Hey, don’t underestimate magic, Maya. But, no. No magic. What do you think about messing around with a little chemistry?”
“Wait. What? I mean, Lily, isn’t that what ended the world in the first place?”
“Is it?”
Catherine Verdier
@CatherineVrdr
250 Words
Deep Thoughts
It was dark, but Cal knew that wouldn’t last, just as he knew he wasn’t alone. The air was silent and he could feel a call to worship on the air, but this was not his kind of church.
The air smelled of pine ash mixed with the stench of sweat and old blood. The scents of terror and death.
He painted a mental picture of his surroundings, based on what he heard and smelled: a small building with a broken concrete floor and four men, sitting in silence.
This was not a good place, and these were not good men.
“How long do we wait?”
That was the youngest one. It wasn’t too late for him, but the others had been here too long. This evil was part of them and they were waiting.
“He’ll be here.” the eldest answered dismissively.
“And then?”
“What do you think?” Cal answered as he sat up. “You offer me up as your pastoral sacrifice.”
“You seem rather calm about that,” the young man said as he moved away from Cal.
Cal gave a half-smile and shook his head. “Nah, I ain’t calm, I just know something you haven’t thought of.”
“What’s that?”
Cal sighed, “ah son, you think whatever you’re offering me up to is going to want a scrawny ol’ swamp rat when it’s got its choice of four strapping lads in their prime?”
He snorted. “I ain’t even a worthy appetizer. I’m more of an after-dinner toothpick.”
250 words not including title
@mishmhem
Jacqueline held her girlfriend’s hand and frowned at the outfit on the table. Across from them, Doctor Murray explained what they were looking at.
“And, when we bombard the material with my best recreation of the radiation in Jillian’s cells,” Doctor Murray flipped a switch on the table. “The outfit grows like Jillian does!”
The outfit did get bigger, though hardly to the degree of Jacquline’s girlfriend. Not that she was about to suggest increasing the radiation level. Even Jill frowned as the doc turned off the table and the outfit resumed its original size.
“Get bigger?” Jill cocked her head.
“In theory.”
Jacqueline shook her head, “How did you get the material to grow like that anyway?”
“The flora from Gorgantuan’s island has several remarkable characteristics.” Doctor Murray pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“What!?”
“Do you think I wouldn’t have kept some of the samples?” Doc laughed.
“You said you wouldn’t,” Jacqueline grumbled.
“No, I said I’d return the containers,” Doc corrected. “I never said I wouldn’t skim a little out of each one.”
“What if that had set the gorilla on the warpath again?”
“But it didn’t!”
Jacqueline did her best not to explode at the lighthearted scientist. Jill picked the outfit up off the table and held it up to herself.
“Get bigger, with me?”
Doc nodded, “I’ll need to monitor your transformation a few times, but I’m sure we can find a way to synchronize the outfit’s state with your own.”
249 PRUDENT words
@DavidALudwig
#ThursThreads is now CLOSED. Thanks to everyone who wrote this week and I hope to catch you next week.