Crimson’s Creative Challenge #46

CCC#46

Mystery at the Bottom of the Path

“You’re lying,” Jack whispered back. “No way a dead body is down there.”

“Sure is! You can check it out if you don’t believe me,” Kenny whispered back again.

“Why should I go check? You said there is a dead body down there. You go,” Jack shot back.

“Fine, we’ll go together!”

Jack hesitated before nodding. “All right.”

Gingerly, the two boys went down the steps and Kenny guided Jack to the body.

“There! I wasn’t lying, was I?” Kenny looked triumphantly at Jack.

“Well, it doesn’t look- Argh!” Jack cried out. The lifeless hand had grabbed his ankle. Jack immediately kicked to loosen the grip and scrambled up the path, screaming.

Kenny chortled. “Coward,” he muttered. “And thanks, Gor!”

His elder brother, Gordon, got up and grinned. “That was more fun than I thought actually. But you still have to clean my room for a month as you promised!”

(150 words)

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Here’s how it works:

Every Wednesday I post a photo (this week it’s that one above.)
You respond with something CREATIVE

Here are some suggestions:

• An answering photo
• A cartoon
• A joke
• A caption
• An anecdote
• A short story (flash fiction)
• A poem
• A newly minted proverb, adage or saying
• An essay
• A song—the lyrics or the performance

You have plenty of scope and only two criteria:

• Your creative offering is indeed yours
• Your writing is kept to 150 words or less

If you post a link in the comments section of this post I’ll be able to find it
If you include Crimson’s Creative Challenge as a heading, WP Search will find it (theory)
by ‘Searching’ in the WP Reader (fingers crossed)

Prompt: Crimson’s Creative Challenge #46

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Three Line Tales, Week 191

photo by Robert Collins via Unsplash

The boys were having fun, jumping and trying to catch the ball.

It seemed like a normal game of catch to them, but their parents would have freaked out if they saw what was happening.

The ball was bouncing from and falling back to the sky before it could reach the boys.

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

You’ll find full guidelines on the TLT page – here’s the tl;dr:

• Write three lines inspired by the photo prompt (& give them a title if possible).
• Link back to this post (& check the link shows up under the weekly post).
• Tag your post with 3LineTales (so everyone can find you in the Reader).
• Read and comment on other TLT participants’ lines.
• Have fun.

Prompt: Three Line Tales, Week 191

Kira’s Sunday Scribbles

“You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas
I am strong when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be.”
– Secret Garden, You Raise Me Up

She was willing to give everything for her children to have a better life than her.

Over the years, she took care of her children, physically, mentally or morally. She was kind and loving, just as she was strict and demanding; she would cook her children’s favourite food, just as she would encourage them not to be picky about their meals; she would care for her sick children, just as she would brush their minor injuries off; she would scold her children for misbehaviour, just as she would reason with them for immature wrongdoings.

Her children were her priority.

They climbed onto the back of her experiences and wisdom to avoid most traps in life. From a major authoritative figure in their childhood days, she became a best friend in their adult lives whom they felt comfortable confiding to.

But she is getting on in years and actions which seem easy in the past are straining her. Her children are now busy adulting and she has more free time to herself. They are soaring in the clouds because of her sacrifice.

She looks up to the clouds – it is time for her to do what she wants to do, not what she needs to do.

It is time for her to soar in the clouds too.

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A tribute to parental figures. We are so used to seeing our parents as parents that we forgot, sometimes, they want their parents too.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Welcome to Kira’s weekly inspirational art piece.

Let the whole picture tell you a story, or dive into the small intricate details to make one up! Write a poem, a fiction piece or come up with a picture or drawing of your own, that you feel relates to it.

Feel free to copy Kira’s drawing, to add it to your own post!

Anything goes, there are no rules. But don’t forget to link us to your post with a pingback. Not sure how to do that? See how to create pingbacks here.

Prompt: Kira’s Sunday Scribbles

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #31

AFP/Getty Images

Bubbles of Happiness

He watched as his elder niece blew the bubbles and the younger one tried to catch it in her palm. All her efforts were in vain; every soap bubble burst as soon as it touched her little palm. Yet, they were laughing and shrieking as they took turns to blow bubbles and catch it.

Bubbles of happiness, they called that little game.

They certainly looked happy but they did not seem to have caught much happiness.

“Did you girls have fun?” he called out to them.

“Yes!” both his nieces echoed.

He smiled indulgently. “I think you failed to catch any bubbles of happiness, girls,” he teased.

The younger niece stopped and looked at her sister in disbelief, while his older niece just stared blankly at him.

“Weren’t you watching? We caught the bubbles! They burst and the happiness went into us!”

His eyes widened. Bubbles of happiness indeed!

(149 words)

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This is a lesson for me.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Welcome to “Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge.” Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a relatively short flash fiction piece inspired by the photo. While there are no definitive style or word limits, I suggest trying to keep your posts to under 300 words.

If this picture inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post.

Prompt: Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #31

I Write Her Weekly Haiku/Senryu Challenge #25

Elena Mikhaylova

Innocence

windows of your soul
left wide open trustingly
may they not be shut

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

PLEASE follow them! I’d hate to not see your piece(s) represented in the recap the following week! Confused? Any questions – email me at sushibocks@gmail.com   

For more detailed information, read about this challenge here.

• Create a standard three line, 5/7/5 syllable count haiku/senryu
• Deadline to submit for this week’s challenge will be 11:59pm 6/29/19
• Up to 3 pieces permitted
• Link your piece to this “IWH Haiku/Senryu Challenge” on your post
• Always give photo credit if there is one
• Complete entry form below

Prompt: I Write Her Weekly Haiku/Senryu Challenge #25

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #31

CCC#31

Sailing to the End of Times

Ice was pelting down hard on the two sailors.

“Mad Hat! We’re going to hit the rocks soon!”

“Yes, One Eye, I know. I’m doing the best I can! Don’t get excited!” Mad Hat shouted back. “Loosen the lines over that side! Hurry up!”

“Why bother? It’s not going to make a difference,” One Eyed retorted. “Turn right! Right! We’re heading straight for the rocks!”

“No, we’re not. Take over the wheel!” Mad Hat started dashing about, tightening and loosening whatever that needed to be tightened and loosened.

Suddenly, he froze.

“Oh no,” Mad Hat whispered.

“What?”

“The Kraken! The Kraken is coming!” Mad Hat shouted.

Screaming, both Mad Hat and One Eye retreated to the back of the ship.

“All right, boys, you said ten more minutes. I’ve given you the ten minutes. It’s time to go home ,” their mother said firmly. “Come on now, let’s go!”

(149 words)

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If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Here’s how it works:

Every Wednesday I post a photo (this week it’s that one above.)
You respond with something CREATIVE

Here are some suggestions:

• An answering photo
• A cartoon
• A joke
• A caption
• An anecdote
• A short story (flash fiction)
• A poem
• A newly minted proverb, adage or saying
• An essay
• A song—the lyrics or the performance

You have plenty of scope and only two criteria:

• Your creative offering is indeed yours
• Your writing is kept to 150 words or less

If you post a link in the comments section of this post I’ll be able to find it
If you include Crimson’s Creative Challenge as a heading, WP Search will find it (theory)
If you tag it #CCC others should be able to find it by ‘Searching’ in the WP Reader (fingers crossed)

Prompt: Crimson’s Creative Challenge #31

Genre Writing Challenge April 25

Image by Alejandro Tuzzi from Pixabay

Title: The Lover

By the gods, he loved her. Jonathan really did. She drove him crazy, slowly taking her time to lean in and kiss him. First on the lips, then on the nose, then on the cheeks. She looked at him sensually before leaning in again, whispering into his ears.

“If you really love me, you would do it for me. Didn’t you say you would do anything for me?”

“Yes,” he replied, dazed. “Yes, I did.” By the gods, Jonathan really loved her. He would do anything for her!

“Good. Kill your family for me. Your wife and your kids. Without them, we can finally be together!”

“Yes, together,” he replied.

She read in the newspaper the next day that Jonathan had stabbed his wife, Amanda, and his three children, a little boy of seven and twin girls of four to death.

She smiled. The pain of plastic surgery and all the corrective surgeries on her once hunchback body was worth it. She finally had her revenge.

Serve Jonathan and Amanda right for making her high school years a misery with their relentless bullying.

(183 words)

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I’m starting to suspect my mental health. I did not think of this story; it just came to me as I was writing about the romantic interaction between the two, then unnamed, characters. I do feel sorry about the innocent children though.

Well, I have never tried Romance Mystery genre before. I think I got the Romance part down, but I’m not too sure about the Mystery part.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

This challenge is a bit different:

Response should use the photo prompt given
Response should be in specified genre

The purpose of this challenge is to push ourselves to dip our toes in other genres than we normally write in. The form of writing is up to you.

It doesn’t have to be good!
It doesn’t have to be right!

HAVE FUN WITH IT!

Prompt: Genre Writing Challenge April 25

Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge: The Basketball

Image by zgmorris13 from Pixabay

Title: The Basketball

Type: Flash Fiction
Genre: Realistic

She was puzzled when her seven-year-old girl left the counter empty-handed. “Where’s the basketball?” she asked.

“The man at the counter said I should play with dolls instead,” her little girl replied. “It’s ok, Mama. I don’t like the ball anyway.”

Furious, she grabbed her daughter’s hand and marched straight to the counter, pausing long enough only to get the basketball on the way.

“Here, we’re getting this basketball. For my girl! And don’t you dare tell her what she can and can’t play.”

Both the man at the counter and her daughter learnt a valuable lesson that day.

(99 words)

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This prompt is a difficult one, due to the large amount of discussion which could arise from this. Writing a 99-word story that portrays the layered complexities of the self and others in the society we lived in really pushed me out of my comfort zone. But I am still quite happy with what I came up with though.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Carrot Ranch April 18 Flash Fiction Challenge

Weekend Writing Prompt #102 – Impress

Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com

Title: Baby Steps

Type: Flash fiction
Genre: Realistic

“What do you mean he climbed over the gate and out into the yard to play? He’s only eight months old!”

“Maybe we just need to get a taller baby safety gate,” Benedict smiled sheepishly.

“Or maybe we don’t have to if someone keeps an eye on the baby like he was supposed to!” his wife glowered at him.

“Don’t say it.”

“You have one job!”

“Well, at least he didn’t hurt himself when he climbed over to the other side!” Benedict replied defensively.

The pause was just long enough for Benedict to realise he was in trouble.

“Is that supposed to impress me?”

(104 words)

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This story was rather unintentional, when I saw a child playing by himself and his parents were paying minimal attention at a local shopping mall. Let my imagination run wild a little and this is the product. I rather quite like the nonsensical and silly nature of this writing.

If you are interested, the prompted is linked below.

Prompt: Weekend Writing Prompt #102 – Impress