Welcome back to the home of #ThursThreads for Week 701. Year Lucky 13! The last year of the cycle, the Moon Year. To those who keep coming back, I’m delighted to see you again!
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 Discord 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 Bluesky, MeWe, Discord, and Mastodon, etc.
Our Judge for Week 701:
Scottish Word Slinger, Dauntless romance author, gluten-free baker, and #ThursThreads host, Siobhan Muir.
Discord | Bluesky | Patreon | Eden Books | YouTube |
And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
The Prompt:
“Just get it done.”
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 in the Moon Year. Good luck!
The Appraisal
It was a weird dream, I tell ya. Stupid in a scary way. Like most of my dreams. Not that I keep a list. Tried to get out of this one but, you know, the way dreams are, you’re kinda stuck with them. Mine anyway.
It was all sort of hazy…an office…or a burger joint, can’t quite remember…but there we were. Me and Trump. He’s munching this huge sloppy burger, sauce dripping down his lips like lava and there’s me, some sort of corporate dolt, trying to get his attention, saying things like…“I’ve got to get your appraisal done, Mr. President. It’s long overdue…” and “our bosses, your bosses…they told me, just get it done…” and all the while me knowing that he’s King Tut and Kings don’t have bosses…but it’s a dream, right, so there’s no script and it’s not real except he’s chomping away, and more burgers are arriving and he’s oblivious to me…and I’m thinking, I’ve never done a job appraisal before. Never wanted to. All my life I was a worker bee. Didn’t want to be a boss. Yeah, maybe I had the occasional urge to tell somebody to do something.
Finally, he stops eating and then he switches roles. Says straight out of his April 1st speech, “…we are going to finish the job and we’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close. “
Then the phone rings.
Nobody there.
No idea what that dream meant.
Crazy, eh!
248 Words
@billmelaterplea
@sterlings-son-2.bsky.social
And so history repeats itself, Ariel Daoine thought. It hadn’t been all that long ago that he’d stood here, leaning against the marble wall with one booted-foot propped against it, waiting to be summoned into the throne room. That time, he’d been sent to Carcair. If not for Titania, he’d likely still be sitting in that dungeon cell.
The massive doors opened and he heard his name called. Pushing off the wall, he squared his shoulders and headed inside. Courtiers gathered in knots, their conversations a susurration that filled the room like a spring breeze whispering through a stand of rowans. He strolled toward the dias and the arrogant man sprawling in the massive chair. Created from a live oak, it’s branches formed a bower for the royal.
“What news, Ariel?” Oberon smiled, in a magnanimous mood for the moment.
“Had I news to report, I would have come without your summons.”
“Stow your insolence, whelp. Why is the changeling still breathing?”
That was a question Ariel did not want to answer. Admitting he was falling in love with his target would see him back in Carcair.
“There are extenuating circumstances.”
“Explain.”
“The person you have identified may be an innocent.” And was possibly fated, but he wasn’t ready to explain that.
“Don’t care. Just get it done.”
Ariel walked away, muttering under his breath. “Easy for you to say.”
“Daoine!” Oberon shouted. “Face me.”
Turning, Ariel raised his chin. His gaze locked on the King. “As you wish.”
****
249 Penumbra Papers #6 WIP words
Silver James
https://silverjames.com
It smelled like old motor oil and hay or straw, and there was a camera mounted between the rafters, pointed at the door. Which they slammed in Eddie’s face, and leaned against when he began screaming and pounding on it.
“You can’t talk to me like that. Ladies don’t act like this! You should know better. I should wash your mouth out with soap! You’re going to be sorry.”
Barrett didn’t respond, wondering if they’d made things worse by standing up for themselves and showing their strength. But they were fucking done with this bullshit. Eddie was a kidnapper and psycho, and it was past time for Barrett to do something about that.
Eventually, Eddie stopped banging on the door and went away. Barrett stayed braced until they heard the locks engage, and even then waited a few more minutes to be sure Eddie was gone. Then they looked around at the carnage on the floor.
They grimaced at the white slop that was left of the cottage cheese. The last thing they wanted to do was touch it.
Just get it done so you don’t have to stare at it all day.
They scowled and knelt to scrape it back into the bowl, trying not to gag at the slimy texture. They put it on the tray and gathered up the rest of the things. All the food was ruined, even the egg, but that was better than just accepting the garbage Eddie thought they should eat.
248 ineligible #SirensInc words
socel.net/SiobhanMuir (Mastodon)
“Yup, this door is totally sealed with magic.” Luger declared confidently.
The party had made better time than anticipated and already stood in the somber shadow of the Forlorn Tower. The party had circled past the fifteen-foot-tall double doors adorned with bones on the front of the tower and found this more modest entry disguised by the stonework. Hanako nodded toward the smaller door.
“Can you open it?”
Luger crossed his arms and nodded thoughtfully, humming with each nod.
“That is definitely the sort of thing a wizard like me could do.”
The wind over the blighted landscape was chill and dry.
Luger’s party members exchanged glances. Boogey growled. Luger jumped.
“Well, I can’t just get it done.” He scratched his cheek. “I need to figure out a way to look cool doing it.”
Zee looked up at Hanako and Boogey with a shrug.
“Makes sense to me.”
148 words
@davidaludwig.bsky.social
#ThursThreads Week 701 is now CLOSED. Thanks to everyone who wrote this week.