PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

The kiosk to the park was long deserted when Charlotte pulled up alongside it. She was surprised that it was so easy to get here despite its reputation.

“Thanks for getting me hear across that crappy backroad.” She slammed shut the door of her ancient four-by-four.

It was still cold an hour later when her booted feet hit the sandy beach. Dark Lake was filled only by underground springs from deep caves. She watched her white breath swirl.

“I know you’re still down there, Mark,” she said. “I’m coming to take you back from that bitch mermaid.” Charlotte stepped forward.

It’s Wednesday and time again to participate in this week’s Friday Fictioneers writing challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The idea is to use the image at the top as the inspiration for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.

I tried to magnify Lisa’s photo and came up with something that looked like “Dark Lake State Park.” From there, I researched “mysterious lakes” and decided to superficially pattern mine after Blue Lake in Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia. There are numerous legends around the world about river nymphs and lake mermaids but I couldn’t find a single article that described them.

From there, I just let the tale write itself.

To read other stories based on the prompt, visit inlinkz.

Promotional image for the anthology “Ruins.”

The science fiction anthology Far Futures Four is now available for purchase in Kindle or paperback formats. It features my military SciFi short story “Awash on Titan’s Shores.”

Next there’s:

Across the vast expanse of space and time lie the remnants of civilizations that reached for the stars—and vanished. Silent cities carved into asteroids. Derelict megastructures drifting between galaxies. Temples buried beneath the red sands of dead worlds.

This book contains 13 bold tales of humanity’s encounters with these cosmic ruins.

That’s how the narrative for the Kickstarter for “Ruins: A Space Opera Anthology” begins. The anthology contains my short story “Sunrise.” Please consider contributing to this effort or even passing the information along.