Welcome back to the home of #ThursThreads for Week 635. Year 12! What a fantastic testament to the writing community. Y’all rock!
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 US.
- 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 635:
Gamer, writer, and responsive connoisseur of characters and stories, David Ludwig.
And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
The Prompt:
“This timing unsettled him.”
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!
Reunion
The clouds parted. Donald Gizmo couldn’t believe his luck. The whole day had been dark with lingering storm clouds. The river nearby was running wild from the latest storm. The radio reported a landslide down by Tucker’s Folly that had taken out a section of track and Bing Bellows cabin just above.
Bing had been a character, a Korean War vet, a novelist who had penned a series of Science Fiction epics, including one best seller, They’re Here, Aren’t They.
None of his other writings had achieved the success of that book but sales and residuals had allowed him to live the life he wanted which was basically living in his hillside cabin, shooing people off his property, and waiting for the visitation he argued had already occurred.
Donnie Gizmo had been Bing’s acolyte. He’d met Bing back in ’63 when he’d been hiking in the woods above Tucker’s Folly. He’d tumbled into a gully and lain there for a couple of hours before Bing found him and helped him back to the cabin.
Bing had harangued him about what had caused him to fall. “You saw them, didn’t ya?” After a couple of hours of interrogation, Gizmo had finally agreed that he had seen something.
That satisfied Bing.
Over the years, Gizmo had come to believe that he had indeed seen something and that something was a space visitor.
Now Bing was dead. This timing unsettled him. Bing’s death… the ship above the clouds…it was all too much.
250 Words
@billmelaterplea