Welcome back to the home of #ThursThreads for Week 675 of 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 675:
Most Consistent #TT Winner, Newfie mom, and Romance Author, Silver James.
And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
The Prompt:
“That was too simple.”
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!
Sam the Squirrel
Where I live there are many trees. And several squirrels. Or, as I began to believe, just one. It’s hard to tell with squirrels. I mean, they live in trees but they don’t hold conventions. I had only ever seen one at a time. Part of me wanted there to be a whole scurry of them. Even that term for multiple squirrels suggested that they scoot, or scurry so that you never quite see them just hanging out.
They’re always on the move.
They or just one.
Unless they freeze up.
I used to have three cats. Well, two house cats and a third, Wild Wendy I called her. She was pretty much a loner, lived outside, snarled a lot.
And chased squirrels.
Until she didn’t.
Took off one day.
Or so I thought.
The other two eventually got old and died. I opted to not replace them.
Too much trouble, I suppose.
Started talking to the squirrel. Sam I called him. I’d sit out on my deck, ground level and put out some seeds. Over a few weeks, Sam would shimmy in, closer and closer. We’d talk about world events. I mean, I would and he would almost listen. Occasionally I’d mention Trump but Sam seemed disinterested in the wonky American President’s antics. That was too simple a notion I suppose for a squirrel to grasp, that a world leader was…squirrely.
My little joke but Sam seemed to enjoy it.
As much as a squirrel could.
250 Words
@billmelaterplea
@sterlings-son-2.bsky.social
Sometimes, Sunshine wondered if she would find any more people along the ocean. It had been weeks since she found people. It has been weeks since Oceana had visited her. Sometimes, even with the presence of the machines, she still felt isolated and alone.
It was in the early morning on one of those long, endless days, that she came across the remains of an infant fairy. The fairy was too young to have learned to fly. “How old was the fairy?”
The machines answered, “Two. Three at the most.”
“They couldn’t even fly.”
The machines didn’t answer.
“How did the fairy die?”
The machines didn’t answer. Instead, they showed her. The little fairy was carried out onto the sand, away from the ocean. A male human put the fairy on the sand. The fairy was bound, their ankles and hands tied. They couldn’t walk or even stand. The man dropped them on the ground and walked off.
Three other men, with bows and arrows, stood across the sand. They shot arrows at the tiny fairy. The man who had dropped the fairy on the sand said, “That was too simple.”
The men with the bows nodded. “Another witch is dead.”
The men turned and walked away.
The images on the sand stopped.
“The fairy had wild magic, didn’t they?”
The machines said nothing in response.
Sunshine knew what she had to do. She had to find the men and show them what a real witch was capable of.
249 Words (Per Google Write)
@mysoulstears.bsky.social
The Helen Harpers who weren’t fully occupied keeping parasitic insects from entering their heads had already succumbed and turned on the rest of her. One supervillain under her belt and she thought she could handle the one who disappeared the superhero Gemini? Stupid.
“This could all go much easier if you stopped resisting.”
The humanoid bug queen taunted Helen. The way Helen’s duplicates screamed as they were taken over, Helen was not looking forward to reintegrating them and their memories. But she couldn’t just leave a dozen of herself out there. Right?
An explosion on the overlook interrupted the battle between the Helens and the bugs below. All turned to see a missile speed into the bug queen’s torso. The explosion sent her skidding. Even before she came to a stop, all the insects and controlled copies fell limply to the ground.
Gemini stood on the overlook, reloading a shoulder-mounted launcher. That was too simple. Also, if that one wasn’t Helen and wasn’t the superhero… Did her supervillain double just save her?
“You have ten seconds to get clear with any duplicates you want to save!” Supervillain Gemini called down. “After that I’m going scorched earth!”
Helen exchanged a glance with her three duplicates still standing. She raised a hand between her and Gemini while backing toward the unconscious bug queen.
“Wait! We can take her in! Maybe help her! We don’t have to kill her!”
Gemini hefted her launcher back to her shoulder.
“You forget, I’m no hero.”
249 The Many Lives of Gemini words
@davidaludwig.bsky.social
“All done.” They smiled. “Let me get a mirror and a broom.”
“No need. I’ll check in the bathroom.” She was out of the chair and gone before they’d even grabbed the kitchen broom.
They tried not to be nervous. She hadn’t seen what all they’d done to her hair, but she had asked for it to be short. Sometimes a request that was too simple got messed up in ways no one ever considered. They swept up the golden hair from the floor and tossed it in the trash before putting their things away, and Lisa still hadn’t come out of the bathroom.
Barrett frowned and stood outside the bathroom door. They rapped their knuckles on it.
“Everything okay in there?”
“Yeah, I’ll be out in just a second.”
Barrett tried to interpret how her voiced sounded, but the door masked too much of the nuances. To distract themself, they went into the kitchen and set about to put the leftovers away. They heard the door opened and turned just in time to catch Lisa as she flew across the kitchen and jumped into their arms.
She damn near strangled them with her hug, but they didn’t care. Just the feeling of her breasts against their chest and her arms around their shoulders made their night. They gently hugged her back, not wanting her to leave anytime soon.
“Thank you, Barrett. I love it.”
They squeezed her with all the relief in their chest. “You’re welcome.”
247 ineligible #SirensInc words
@siobhanmuir.bsky.social
“Is it done? ”I asked.
“Yes, but that was too simple, and way too easy,” Jack complained.
“Roberto can’t hold that over me anymore.”
“You said you could cared about me, but Roberto’s a mobster, I don’t believe anything you say, so I’m keeping them.”
“I could maybe fall for you, if I had my pictures,” I protested.
“You give me some more bacon and I walk away. ”
Just then the front door burst open and in walked in man.
The man menaced, “You think you can shake down the fiancée of Roberto Campi?”
“She asked me to get the nudes. I did.”
“You looked at her picture? Now you will die! She’s soft hearted ,but just so you know I’ll begin cutting off your fingers unless you hand over the goods.”
The man took the pictures from shooting him Jack dead, he rolled him up in my carpet and took him to his truck. I went with him to planted Jack in place next to the other body where cement was being poured tomorrow.
“Will you marry me tomorrow, Anna?” He asked.
“We have to wait a short time, at least until your brother Roberto is reported as missing Lorenzo. ”I said but the minute he turned his back I plugged him right between the eyes. The three of them would be history in the morning ,and me? I’d picked a new husband, their grieving daddy who would soon leave me a rich widow with a little planning.
250 words @sweetsheil.bsky.social
#ThursThreads Week 675 is now CLOSED. Thanks to everyone who wrote this week and I hope to catch you next week… For the 13th ANNIVERSARY!