For this weeks Flash! Friday Fiction the aim was to base your story on any two of their four given story elements, I decided to go for conflict – man v nature and setting – an island. The aim is also to keep the word count between 75-125 words.
So below is what I wrote, my short story The Awakening.
The Awakening (111 words)
Awakening from a forced sleep I feel a cooling breeze and an itchy sensation on my face.
Listening to the distant breaking waves I imagine a perfectly shaped glowing pellet. It closes in and expands into a burning planet above me. Spotting the curling flames descend from the orb I watch on as they slither across night sky, generating a portal to the inside of a volcano. The peaceful and unaffected sea water lights up and reflects the fierce and tender bloodshot sky. I feel escalating footsteps numbly thudding around me, and then I remember.
Opening my eyes I stare across the deserted sandy island. They said this day was coming.
Flash! Friday is 1 years old, congrats! Which means it’s competition time for all, all week!
I thought I’d take part AGAIN! We had to write a piece from the image given, and it had to be no more or fewer then 350 words. Pretty tough… But below is what I wrote. It’s an ambiguous piece with lots of imagination, leaving it up to you (the reader) to decide what’s real and what isn’t.
This is the picture supplied below…
Dragon of Halong Bay (Vietnam). Photo by LoggaWiggler.
So from that picture, this is THE METAPHORICAL TRUTH? by T. J. Blake (350 words)
I lean over-board, seeing my reflection down in the ripples the dragon creates.
I look ahead to see a hexagon piece of blue sky, and the sun beginning to be smothered by the clouds.
The irregular sizes of land around us scattered unevenly, as we bobble in the centre of the lake.
I stand behind the dragon feeling its layered, semi-circular scales on the top of its head under my flat palm.
“It isn’t real you know?” I hear Dad say behind me, containing his laughter within his chest and throat.
“He is.” I sigh.
I continue to stroke him, looking at the land nearest to us on my left. I watch a teenage boy and girl holding each other, gazing into each other’s eyes. She wears a white and blue hatchet dress; he wears his knight’s uniform.
He steps away from her on the high land, her eyes widen. Her light pink lips open as she takes a step back. He kneels down, his mouth moves like a prayer.
She smiles, runs up to him and he lifts her up as they kiss.
The dragon continues to glide along the water, moving closer to the clusters of land. I see the tops in destruction. The edges crumbling, the grass burnt, people fighting with swords and bows and arrows. A king is hiding behind his knights, until they are tossed aside, some in the water and others hit the rocks. The king begs I hear his screams echo towards me, until an arrow pierces through him, hitting the dragons left side of his neck.
I see a body in the water, a young knight and a blue and white hatchet dress floating on the water.
I blink, the arrow disappears.
I look across the water to the knight to see tangled seaweed floating over the ripples. I look away from it and instead look ahead at the route the dragon will take. I stroke the dragon’s head and move my hand down to the left of it, feeling the hole of the arrow.
I look behind to dad, he’s gone.
So, what did you think? Feel free to let me know. Check out Flash! Friday’s site and have a go yourself.
So I have once again had a go at Flash! Friday. This is what I came up with from the picture I was given. You can check that at the flash Friday website and have a go yourself!
WANDERER By T. J. Blake
Pushing my way through the crack in the window, I escape the direct burning rays of the sun, and the gawping beaks of soaring birds.
Clambering across the dust and dead flies on the ledge, I rest myself against the window frame.
I look into the building I’ve entered, and see humans. They all sit on separate chairs facing the front, looking down to their desks.
I shoot my web onto the ceiling and then lower myself down onto the floor. As I walk across the floor, dodging the bails of rolling dust, I climb up onto the chair to find another spider, like me.
That’s my piece for this weeks flash Friday…
I don’t know why I decided to write this, I hate spiders!!
I decided to take part in Flash! Friday Fiction for the first time yesterday!
What Flash Friday does, is weekly upload a photo for users to write a 150 word creative piece.
I thought it would be fun so I gave it a go. Admittedly, my piece may not be that great, but what can you do with 150 words which is a first draft and written in a small time scale? Not too much, but I gave it a go, some people had some great ideas and produced good writing.
Below is my piece on the Flash Friday Fiction blog…
THE PATH by T. J. Blake (151 words)
“Gravel crunches under my feet. The gentle breeze smothers my surroundings; making the leaves above me chafe, the barbed wire fence scrape against the wood, and press my orange robe against my body.
I amble whilst staring at the wicker huts and small mountains ahead of me. Birds glide above me in the dark grey overcast. Slithers of glowing light occasionally bursts through the clouds lighting the dim skies. A deep roar sounds in the distance and echoes towards me, chattering the specs of dusted gravel by my feet.
My eyes glance back to the path, lapse of concentration will kill me.
A man in a black robe stands not far from me, his head hidden in the darkness of his hood.
I slip my arm into my orange robe and feel the handle of my sword.
As I approach him, he opens his robe revealing the glint of his blade.”
Feel free to let me know what you think of my piece.
I will definitely have a go at Flash! Friday fiction again when I can and maybe you should too?
It is on a wordpress blog, just google flash Friday fiction.
T. J. Blake #Author 