Welcome back to the home of #ThursThreads for Week 604.
Today is Thursday and that means it’s time to start flashing on #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 social media handle or email in the post (so we easily notify 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, Bluesky, MeWe, and Mastodon, etc.
Our Judge for Week 604:
Programmer by day, writer by night, Katheryn J. Avila.
Facebook | Bluesky | Goodreads |
And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
The Prompt:
“I just had to find a way.”
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!
Bea Waxes On
In that moment, he saw so clearly the pleasure and the pain of her libertine-like past. He thought he might try and ease the sorrow for her.
“So, you were with child and who the father might be…was…that was somewhat in doubt.”
“Elegantly spoken. Yes. There was some doubt. And it remains to this day.”
“And Ted Scott? His visit?”
“He is my child. Was. I gave birth to him…in a time where I was bound to be scorned.”
“And the Scott’s?”
“Followers. Adherents of Edwards. Loyal, I believed. Still do. Fanatics in a quiet sort of way, not humble but intense. You know the sort. We saw them in the last war. There were the wild-eyed followers of Hitler but also the patient, methodical technicians. The Scott’s are like that.”
Danny had not looked for any information about Ted Scott’s adopting parents, assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that they were simply do-gooders offering a significant gesture to the mystical cult leader, Brother XII.
“Yet,” he asked, confused, “you gave your newborn to them?”
“Oh, I had reservations about doing that. My choices were minimal. I just had to find a way to insure the baby’s safety and my own…”
“Your safety?”
“Not especially. More, my continued privacy. No one needed to know that I was unsure of who the father was. The Scott’s were pleased to think that Edward was. They wouldn’t have taken him otherwise. And where would the baby or I have been? Lost. Quite lost.”
250 WIP
@billmelaterplea
The horse manure was building up too close to her living space. Come high summer, the place would stink and be full of flies.
But I’d have great fertilizer for the garden.
“Yeah, it might be a good idea to build an enclosure for the horses far enough away from my sleeping space to keep the manure in check.” Allira grimaced as she noticed the piles that would need to be moved.
“Excellent. The workers should be here soon to help.”
“Wait, what? What are you talking about?”
Josten pointed and several goblins and orcs tramped along the wall of the Tombs toward her camp, carrying rails and a tool resembling a post-hole digger. Gundri was in the lead and she had several shovels braced across her shoulders.
“What are they doing here? Josten?”
He waved to the orcs and goblins. “Right, let’s make a big enough enclosure for the horses to roam enough. Ulfer, make sure to clean up the manure and move it away from the stream.”
The newcomers nodded and hopped to work as Allira stood there with her jaw open.
“What just happened?”
Josten shot her a grin. “I’m delegating labor to complete a task.”
“But why?”
He shot her a smirk. “I just had to?”
“Find a way to work through that, Josten, because pretty soon folks will start looking at you like a town leader or king or something.” She shook her head but didn’t miss how his shoulders tightened and he swallowed visibly.
250 ineligible #WIP words
@siobhanmuir.bsky.social
“I can’t believe she managed to hide one of her duplicates from me!”
Toni Tyler stopped pacing to shake her head at the seated Helen Harper. Miss Tyler, better known as the Tinkerer, was the only person to ever make the Powered Response Unit with no Power of her own. Unless you counted her wealth or technology as Powers.
“So, this is you?”
Miss Tyler continued, activating a holographic screen in the center of the room. Helen frowned at the footage of three of her saving a client from a falling barbell. That angle had to be the security footage from Dan’s Gym.
“How did you get—”
“But you didn’t know you could duplicate before that?”
Helen shook her head. Miss Tyler folded her hands thoughtfully behind her back. Silence.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not certain. Can you duplicate now?”
Helen wasn’t sure she wanted to. It felt weird before. Also, superhero her thought she’d be happier without her Power.
“I, don’t really know how.”
“How did you do it at Dan’s Gym?”
Helen winced at the confirmation that the Tinkerer knew where she worked.
“I just had to.”
“Find a way to tap back into what you were feeling then.”
That wasn’t hard. Helen had been trying not to do it all evening. She returned to the urgency and adrenaline then felt something lift out of her chest. A brief lightness was followed by a hand on Helen’s shoulder.
She looked up and met her own gaze.
250 The Many Lives of Gemini words
@davidaludwig.bsky.social
#ThursThreads Week 604 is CLOSED. See y’all next week.