Welcome back to the home of #ThursThreads for Week 713. 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 Facebook.
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 713:
Cat afficionado, Editor, and Mid Week Flash host, Miranda Kate.
Facebook | BlueSky | Goodreads |
And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
The Prompt:
“It’s been a while.”
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!
A Courtly Demise
It’s been a while since I’ve taken a sports case. Jocks are depressing people. They spend every waking hour worshipping their bodies. However, business was slow and Missy Berk, the trim, middle-aged maven with ruby lips and a Garbo sound was offering hefty coin to have a look at her issue. I was in a generous mood, I admit, and slightly smitten.
Missy laid out the issue. Three weeks earlier, Mac Henshap, President of the Hazelnut Tennis Club, had suddenly keeled over at Match Point 40/love. A heart attack, it was supposed.
Missy thought otherwise. “Our club has doubled its membership in the past year, with…infiltrators.”
“Infiltrators?”
“Pickleball ruffians. A tiresome breed of wannabees. I’m afraid it’s a hostile takeover. Mac, dear Mac, stood in their way. In fact, he’d called a special meeting of the membership to tighten up our by-laws.”
“And the heart attack? Did the police get involved?”
She looked a tad downcast, said, “Mac wasn’t a spring chicken. Eighty -six. Feisty old rooster though. But no…”
I didn’t know anything about tennis other than that some players, men and women, grunt quite a lot. Pickleball was even further outside my experience. “So, this Pickleball subterfuge…you think its an organized effort to take over your club?”
She nodded.
I could feel my bank account being infiltrated by a giant money tree.
“Could take a while,” I said. “Cost quite a bit.”
“Pickleball ‘s a disease,” Missy said.
“Consider me a disease vaccine,” I smiled.
250 Words
@billmelaterplea
@sterlings-son-2.bsky.social
A pensive expression crossed Sinjen’s face. “You are human, Sade, with free will. Caleb was raised with you rather than under the rule of a werewolf pack’s alpha. Ariel is Fae. He owes his very existence to King Oberon. Neither of you understand what this is like. To know that another has the literal power of life or death over you, who can command your every breath.”
“That would suck,” Sade said. “No pun intended.”
“It does, indeed.”
She watched him covertly then gave up all pretense at guile.
Sinjen almost smiled. “If you keep biting it, your tongue will start bleeding.”
“Okay fine. How long?”
He tilted his head, his expression one of curiosity. “How long for what?”
“Since you feared for your life.”
“Ah. It’s been a while.”
“Mathias.”
Her voice held an edge and he needed to thread this needle carefully. Sade’s relationship with his sire was tenuous at times. She both feared yet loved the man in whose household she’d been raised. “Mathias never needed to threaten me.”
“Well, aren’t you the lucky one.” Now her sarcasm was tinged with bitterness.
Sinjen had not forgotten that Mathias once used Sade as a pawn in his battle with Oberon and she’d overheard his decree that he would see her dead before losing to the Fae. He reached out to touch her but she jerked away.
Caleb chose that moment to intervene. “You could always ask him.”
Sade blinked. “Point blank?”
The men exchanged looks.
“Fine. I’ll ask.”
****
250 Penumbra Papers #6 WIP words
Silver James
https://silverjames.com
Kazuya Takahashi sat with the girl calling herself Himeko Harada on the school roof. The magnitude of her secret was thrilling, even for the teen hiding his own mental Power.
“Your world is quite lovely. There are so many different plants unlike anything we have back home.”
“You’ve been here before. Haven’t you?”
Himeko lowered her eyes.
“Yes… It’s been a while. Kazuya-kun?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m so sorry.”
“For what?”
“Four of your years ago, the Demon Queen firing on my ship is what caused the crash. The crash that… killed your parents.”
Kazuya took a long, bracing breath.
“I kind of figured that out. But you’re the ones that saved me back then, right?”
Himeko nodded. Kazuya smiled reassuringly.
“What happened wasn’t your fault. But why Earth?”
Himeko’s face brightened.
“I’m fascinated by your superheroes! Our science is quite a bit more advanced than yours, but our planet never developed such varied and exceptional Powers as this one.”
“What about the Demon Queen?”
“Her modifications are highly illegal and dangerous. But all accomplished with technology and gene editing.”
“Well, if she’s going to keep coming after you, I’ll use my Power to become a superhero.”
“Really!?”
“I was planning to anyway. This is just earlier than I intended.”
“Then I might be able to help!”
Himeko retrieved a thick rectangle of metal from her school bag before continuing.
“With your Power, I think this alloy can be useful to you. Even if I’m forbidden to share the technology behind it.”
250 words
@davidaludwig.bsky.social
“It’s been a while.”
Andy stopped as she turned away from the bank of mail boxes to give a dead eyed look to the man standing in the doorway of one of the first floor apartments. He was dressed in a starched white shirt and dark slacks while she was sweatiing in a tank top and ragged shorts and it still felt like she could lose more to get cool.
But he was just cool as a cucumber, white blonde hair slicked back. If ‘yuppie’ had an image, it would be the seraph who stood there like he wanted to ask for a cup of sugar.
“Yup. And it’s going to be a lot more.” Her lips pulled tight against her teeth in a grimacing smile as she started to turn on her heel.
“Are you coming to the meeting? People were asking about you.”
“Pass.” She didn’t need meetings. Meetings were a pain.
There was a squeal of delight behind her that grated on her nerves. “BENNIE!”
She gagged. Bennie? He never seemed like a pet name.
Andy looked over her shoulder at the statuesque blonde who wrapped her arms around him. The woman’s gaze flicked over to Andy and dismissed her right away. “Are you busy? You promised me something and I came to collect.”
“Uh, yeah. Sure, let’s go in.”
Andy gave a snort that wasn’t quiet at all. People forgot that the Devil was an angel first. They should watch what they asked for.
248 words
@solimond – bluesky
#ThursThreads Week 713 is now CLOSED. Thanks to everyone who wrote this week and I hope to catch you next week.