Friday Fictioneers – 11 OCTOBER 2019

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Family Background

“How about this one?” he asked in broken Teochew.

His grandmother peered at it through her glasses. “Oh, that’s your grandfather. We were watching an opera,” she said as she handed it back to him.

“What’s the name?” he asked.

She told him but he would forget as soon as he heard it. His Teochew was at best elementary so talking to his grandmother was tedious at times, since she could only speak Teochew.

It was a long afternoon but he was determined to understand what happened in the past from grandmother before everything disappeared into the forgetful history.

(99 words)

---

This is really what I wished I had done before my grandmother passed. My grandfather was dead before I was born, so I never really knew him. My father’s generation could speak Mandarin, of course, but they were not in the habit of talking about our family history. Meanwhile, with my rudimentary command of our dialect, I was too embarrassed to talk to my grandmother because she spoke the purest form of Teochew while my Teochew is contaminated with all the rubbish slang and weird altered pronunciations derived from other languages – or so both my parents claimed.

Sadly, that chance is lost forever. I don’t think my parents will ever tell me what happened in the past – they wouldn’t even tell me how they met!

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneers – 11 OCTOBER 2019

Advertisement

Friday Fictioneers – 20 SEPTEMBER 2019

PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

Destiny

“Frog at the bottom of the well.”

“What?” Euan looked over. They were lying shirtless in his room, staring out the sky window when his male friend suddenly blurted out.

“We’re naive to think this is how big the sky is. But this is just a portion of the vast sky,” he explained. “We were born and raised in this town but they’ve never accepted us. Somewhere out there though, someone will accept us for who we are.”

He mulled over the words and decided. “All right, let’s run away together!” Euan finally agreed.

They squeezed each other’s hand.

(99 words)

---

Frog at the bottom of the well. A Chinese proverb. I think this is possibly one of the most well-known proverb many people would know, so it does not really require much explanation.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneers – 20 SEPTEMBER 2019

Friday Fictioneer – 13 SEPTEMBER 2019

PHOTO PROMPT © CEAyr

Marx.

Highgate.

That was the clue.

When he read the news, he immediately knew what he was supposed to do. The cemetery and the police thought it was vandalism; he knew better.

It was a coded message for him. The promised day finally arrived.

He studied the image of the vandalised tomb belonging to Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery. Then he began deciphering the message using the prescribed book. It took a while but he finally decoded the message. And reeled back in horror.

Shocked by the implications of the message, he took off his glasses.

Could it be true?

(100 words)

---

In all honesty, I was stumped by this image until I saw the words on the note. It looked like “Marx” and “Highgate” so out of curiosity, I searched for these words. Lo and behold, there was a piece of news about Karl Marx’s tomb in Highgate Cemetery in north London!

That was when this story came about. That and I have been watching too much Sherlock Holmes and Poirot these days.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneer – 13 SEPTEMBER 2019

Friday Fictioneer – 9 AUGUST 2019

PHOTO PROMPT © Randy Mazie

Boarded Up

“That’s the meeting place for the most close-minded people in our town,” his grandma replied. “They think they’re solving problems but all they do is talk, blame others and re-direct townsfolk’s attention to unimportant matters, like harmful effects of video games and outsiders arriving at our town.”

“So that’s like a town hall? Is that why we decorate it with flowers?” the boy asked.

“No, that’s probably because Mother Nature can’t stand the thought of our leaders being unable to spell ‘trespassing’ correctly,” his grandma replied. “Let’s go, we actually have important things to do, unlike those jokers in there.”

(100 words)

---

Keep calm and continue what we are supposed to do.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneer – 9 AUGUST 2019

Friday Fictioneer – 2 AUGUST 2019

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Flight of the Seaplane

When the seaplane took off, his fist clenched.

“Chris, nothing’s going to happen.”

“I know,” Chris replied. “I can’t help it.”

His fiancee held his hands. He felt heat from her hands. And the smoothness of her skin. And the rattling of the seaplane.

“Ouch.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s scary, I know. But it will be fine.”

“What if they hate me?”

“Chris, they’re going to like you. There’s probably a good reason why they gave you up for adoption! If they’re willing to see you, that means something, doesn’t it?”

He returned her smile.

Maybe it was all in his mind.

(100 words)

---

There is so much I want to say in this story and so much I want to expand on. But alas, the word limit forced me to revise and edit the story to the bare minimum. I still hope the double play of the fear, fear of flying and fear of meeting parents, comes through in this story.

Some day, if I’m up to it, I might expand this story and flesh it out. But for now, this will do.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneer – 2 AUGUST 2019

Friday Fictioneers – 19 JULY 2019

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

Three Wise Monkeys

“Yes, I know, I’ve already informed the owner. She’s left,” he answered, holding his phone to his ear. He gave the owner a thumbs-up and smiled. “OK, boss,” he acknowledged before hanging up.

“Here, extra spicy with mustard, just how you like it,” Betsy handed the hot dog to Channing. “Careful, it’s hot.”

“Thanks, Betsy. Anyway, my boss’s leaving soon. Just hide here for a while, ” Channing informed.

“Thanks, Channing, you’re the best.”

“Hey, gotta look after our own, right?” Channing grinned. “See no evil, hear no evil -”

“Give no shit,” Betsy and Channing said in unison, laughing.

(100 words)

---

I saw the white statue covering the eyes and the security guard seemingly speaking into his mobile phone, I could not help but think of the three wise monkeys. And given that lady barely bothered by the security guard’s presence, this story slowly surfaced into my mind.

I was honestly surprised by where this story took me, actually, as I started without a single idea where it was heading. But in a way, I like how this story ended, showing how the base people could hardly care about what the higher management wants. So I guess everything works out in the end.

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneers – 19 JULY 2019

Friday Fictioneer 26 April 2019

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

Title: His Hobby

Joel first murdered people as a professional and was phenomenal at his artwork. He arrived, did his job and departed quietly.

Later, he murdered people as a volunteer for helpless women who wished revenge for themselves or their daughters.

He murdered rapists and abusers in front of these women to satisfy their lust for vengeance. His favourite moment was then snapping these women’ necks before sauntering out of their houses, whistling.

These days, he murdered people as a hobbyist. He was by a beach, watching swimmers. They would have never suspected the slime-covered railings contained traces of powerful contact poison.

(100 words)

---

Disclaimer: please don’t call the police.

Well, this idea came to me when I was on the toilet, so it pretty much sums up the quality of this story…LOL. Truth be told though, I quite enjoy writing this dark story. Better channel all negative emotions through fiction than action, eh?

If you are interested, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneers 26 APRIL 2019

Night Creatures

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson for Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers (other stories using the prompt can be found here)

Genre: Fantasy

He should have expected it when he turned around the corner. His head was in the clouds and now, he was paying for it.

The vampire glared at him balefully. He knew how to summon these night creatures accidentally from his imagination, but he never mastered the skill of dismissing them; the vampire realised that too.

It had been waiting patiently for this chance.

Turning into a bat, the vampire quickly disappeared into the night.

He shrugged and continued his journey, keeping his mind where it belonged.

Having a vampire on the loose was better than him being sucked dry.

(100 words)

---

Rundown buildings, nighttime, dark alley, vampires…I just could not resist putting all these elements into a story when I saw this photo prompt. It has been a while since I write anything of fantasy element and personally, I quite like this story.

It took me a while but I finally got it down to 100 words, shaving words here and there without compromising the story, Or at least I hope I did not compromise the story.

If you are interested to play, the prompt is linked below.

Prompt: Friday Fictioneers – 19 April 2019