Rotten #99WordStories

Posted on May 4, 2022 by Gloria

The masked face stood over my dread-filled body. Inhale through the left nostril, exhale from the right; they said to do, in a book I read once. So I did. Imagine having your feet massaged. Visualise soft hands gently kneading away your fear. I did that too. But I couldn’t relax my tremoring body. I dug my fingernails into the palms of my sweaty hands as his latex fingers came at me.

I cried inside as I imagined life without lemon drops and fudge. I tasted blood. I felt dizzy. Then it was all over. Another rotten tooth extracted!

Written for Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch. #99WordStories. In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about extraction. What is being extracted and from where?

Free

Posted on January 14, 2022 by Gloria

The monarch butterfly spreads her wings 
I see orange church windows 
Arches inside arches
Delicate yet resilient
Darkness and light merge

Thick black ridges separate each part 
Translucent to let light in
To let light out 
Protect or to conceal? 
Tiny white specs
Purity

Enticing the curious among us to delve beneath the wings
Go behind the orange windows
Is it true that you carry a spirit? 
We whisper
We listen for a message from the spirit
We don't always hear one

We leave you be monarch butterfly
We leave you to fly free
Monarchs behind orange windows...let us fly free
Leave us be

This post is in response to Esme Salon’s Picture Prompt #6 Join in with the monthly prompt and let your imagination be a rebel.

Picture Prompt #5                                                                                                                                                               Picture Prompt #4                                                                                                                                    Picture Prompt #3                                                                                                                                    Picture Prompt #2                                                                                                                                   Picture Prompt #1

Featured photo curtesy of Katherine Jourdain

The Author is Alone

Posted on September 27, 2021 by Gloria

The author is alone in her chair

Thinking judging

Moving the words from here to there

Sits back to scrutinise

Feeling insecure

A need to criticise

She stares out the window

She leaves her chair

More coffee

Resistance

She sits again

Persistence

Delete restore

Add more

She leans forward in her chair

Plotting planning

Aims for perfection

Fear of rejection

The author’s chair holds her there

Until she is fulfilled

Until everything fits

And more ink is spilled

It all comes together

When she stays in her chair

Her passion for writing

Keeps her there

Right until

The End.

In response to Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch. In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about an author’s chair. It can belong to any author. Where is it located and why? Does it have special meaning? Go where the prompt leads!

Image by Ray Shrewsberry • Thanks for Downloads and Likes from Pixabay

The Headless Blacksmith

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Gloria

The blacksmith was hanged on a tree that once stood tall and strong. Now, its branches hang low, weeping for him; an innocent man. Guilty only of seeking to castigate the cretin who violated his wife; the influential man who smoked cigars and drank fine whiskey.

The headless blacksmith rides the dark lanes on his big black horse. With no need for sight nor light, he circles the weeping tree before galloping into the night, hunting for the dissolute rich man—who has long since perished under the hooves of the black stallion. The blacksmith rides on; doesn’t rest.

In response to Charli ‘s Carrot Ranch 99 word flash fiction.

In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a Big Black Horse. It can be a horse, a metaphor or an interpretation of KT Tunstall’s “Big Black Horse and a Cherry Tree.” Go where the prompt leads!