Tag Archives: 100 words

The Happy Birthday Circle

card

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

“Spanish dancer in green cap. What the heck?” Al set the pen down on the greeting card and envelope trying to work out why Emmie liked this kind of art.

“Looks like some sort of mermaid stuck in the muddy Mississippi to me.” Then after a moment, “Oh, well.”

He picked up the pen and opened the card. After all, it was her birthday and getting her a card he knew she’d like was the least he could do.

Alastair wrote the expected greetings and added a few designs of his own. She’d appreciate the new circles for binding demons.

Continue reading →

Dark World

window

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Cameron Hall’s invention worked. The filter over his living room window let him see the world outside at a different time than the present. He had run the calculations repeatedly and they always came out the same. He was seeing the world as it would be one year from now.

Cam slapped his forehead with his palm. “The side effect.”

He wasn’t a spiritual man but the math seemed to disagree with him. It predicted not only a shift in time but a metaphysical one, too. He was seeing the soul of the world to come. It was very dark.

Continue reading →

It’s So Peaceful With All The People Gone

rock garden at blandford

PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

It was too hot to go for a picnic, so we escaped. I’d promised my granddaughters we’d go on a picnic, just the three of us. But the highs have been over a hundred degrees F for nearly a month now and even at noon, it was too oppressive.

I thought about the past, but there was too big a chance of running into someone or changing something. I found a future where things had cooled off again. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would once there were hardly any people around.

Nice and cool and peaceful.

Continue reading →

Changing Reality

lost shoe

PHOTO PROMPT © Ronda Del Boccio

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

“I’m not going to lose her again. I can’t. She’s not even four years old.”

Every time Ron remembered losing her in the parking lot because she ran away, every time he found one solitary shoe behind his car, he died inside.

“Not this time.” He hadn’t used his gift to manipulate reality since he was a teenager. It was too dangerous. But for her, he would.

“Ha, ha. Fooled you, Grandpa.” She peeked around the corner of his car. Thirty minutes ago, a panel van with the four human traffickers had a fatal collision with a semi on I-84.

Continue reading →

Whatever Happened to Hyacinth Hippo?

Nancy's hippo

PHOTO PROMPT © Nancy Richy

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Hyacinth Hippo had her rise and fall in 1940. Everyone knew the lead dancer in Disney’s animated film “Fantasia.” She had a few cameos like in “Roger Rabbit,” but there wasn’t much of an audience for a big girl in a tutu.

“So bleeping Ferguson Library in Stamford, Connecticut. This is what it’s come down to, eh?” Private Detective to the Weird, Donny (Sweet and) Sauer whistled at her mournfully.

“Shut up, Donny.” Numerous casual library patrons screamed and ran when the “statue” came to life. “Disney stopped being fun years ago. This was the only gig I could get.”

Continue reading →

Compensation for a Spider

web

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

“Please don’t struggle,” She gently crooned. “Don’t you see how we’re honoring you?”

“Honor?” Only his face was exposed in the webbing. “You call being eaten an honor? You’re going to kill me, my children, my grandbabies. How is that an honor?”

“Dearest offering.” She stroked his hair lovingly. “You are an atonement for what your ancestors did to us. You will sacrifice your flesh for their sins.”

“That was ages ago. You control everything now.”

“It doesn’t matter. We will always be the oppressed little fly. Nothing appeases our appetite. Consider you and your family a morsel of compensation.”

Continue reading →

We’re Not As Alone As You Think

resized rooftop garden

PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

She was alone in the deserted park two blocks from home when she heard his breathing. It was too late to run. Rough hands grabbed her from behind. Instead of screaming, she whirled around in his grip and exposed her vampire’s fangs.

“What? You too?” Nigel retracted his fangs and stood back looking disappointed.

“Oh darn.” The voice came from their right and a slender, dark-haired vamp in goth black appeared.

One by one, they emerged looking rather sheepish.

Desiree, also known as “shortcut girl,” said, “If a real person comes along, I’ve got dibs.” Naturally they all started arguing.

Continue reading →

Junk

roger

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

“What are you doing with that big stick, Mike?” Then Jessie saw what he was doing. “Wait. Those were Mam’s favorites. She paid a lot for them.”

“Mam is dead and she willed this junk to me. Now get out of the way, Sis.”

“She loved all her little pieces of junk. At least you…” She tried to grab the club out of his hands but he wouldn’t let go.

“You got the house and the car.”

“Sure, I’m older and I’ve got two kids.”

“She made me throw out my vintage silver age comic books when I was fifteen.”

Continue reading →

Revenge of the Geek Show

binks

PHOTO PROMPT © Mr. Binks

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Willard looked up from beneath the discarded canvas at the base of the ride. He heard the squeals of the happy rubes spinning and twisting, hoping they’d vomit.

The sound of tinny calliope music, the sickening smell of cotton candy, or someone gorging another cheap hotdog with mustard filled him with nothing but hate. Big Luther said he still got nostalgic, but his brain rotted long ago.

Will nodded to the others, each one in their hidden positions. Just at ten, when the crowds were wildest and the carny lights blotted out the stars of heaven, they’d begin the slaughter.

Continue reading →

Mime Fabriek

mime kitchen

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

He was the only one who didn’t have a name. He was the one who had to choose the other names who were right for the job.

The inside cover of the folder said:

We encounter so many inspiring makers and performers, each one of them so rich in their work, so specific in their approach to a creation, so different from each other.

They were dancers, actors, mimes, each especially gifted. He scanned their photos and read their stories. Tonight, he would select five and then begin to mold them.

Soon, they would be ready to save the world.

Continue reading →