The Way Home

leaves

The leaves made a long-forgotten sound as she walked across the field. Danielle took a deep breath and let it out, watching the white mist sail out in front of her. She wasn’t used to the cold. She’d spent nearly a decade in the desert helping the dragons reclaim what was theirs. The war was finally over. The dragons won but Danielle had lost so much. Her brother died defending what was right. She came back home and discovered Mom and Dad died in a car accident.

Now she was going back to the only home she had left. Grandpa had grown old but he was still alive. Ten years ago, she sat on his lap and he read her the first story about the dragon’s quest, how the demons had taken their homes and put them into exile. She was only a girl when she found the stories were true. She was barely a teen when she stepped through the portal to help.

Now she was back. There. His cabin. Smoke rising from the chimney. She could almost smell his pancakes. She opened the door. He never locked it. “Grandpa, I’m home.”

“Darling. I’ve missed you,” he replied smiling.

I wrote this for the Sunday Photo Fiction Challenge for September 24th 2017. The challenge is to use the image above as the inspiration for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 200 words long. My word count is exactly 200.

To read other stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.

33 thoughts on “The Way Home”

      • oh even better! I sometimes connect my posts to real life – in random ways – but later it kind of time stamps certain memories- and you reminded me – tis the time for pumpkin…..

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      • yes – but another side to it – for me – a gal still learning about all this fiction – well I get frustrated when some folks assume my fiction is autobiographical – any tips for that?

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      • Tips for frustration or tips for dealing with people who make assumptions? I think all writers of fiction pull at least somewhat from their/our personal experiences. Obviously, I’ve never met a dragon or been to another dimension, but I do have grandchildren I love very much.

        You could add a disclaimer to your stories stating that they are totally fictional and any relationship to real persons or situations is purely coincidental. Probably what I’d do if I were in your situation. Also, as you may have noticed, I often write some sort of note after my stories adding some details about them and where they come from, etc… I know as a reader, I’m always interested about an author’s inspiration and any bits of trivia they care to reveal, so I try to provide some of that myself occasionally.

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      • Thanks for the tips – and I LOVE how you add the bits of data – it does help. I have done this with poems in the past and found that people enjoyed them more (or even a little as opposed to skipping it altogether).
        I also love how you add it afterwards – so we can form an opinion and then see how it fit with the back data.

        and thanks for the feedback on tips –
        but one last question…
        you really never met a dragon?
        jk

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    • No. That was me trying to imagine not seeing my granddaughter for a decade and then having her come back home. In real life, she’s only 27 months old and I just put her down for her nap after giving her a bath a little while ago. In my fantasies, when the grandkids get older, they go on a grand adventure.

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