Tag Archives: friday fictioneers

Aftermath in the Shadows

Roger's window

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

Anthony put on his robe as he left the bedroom. Vague lights from the Brooklyn Bridge outside his window passed through the shades casting macabre shadows across the living room.

He sat heavily onto his grandfather’s old upholstered chair and let himself enjoy the fatigue that came over him after making love to Dolingren. She was not an easy woman to be with but the joys most often outweighed the anguish.

Even at this late hour, the sound of traffic came into his apartment unabated. It was life. The vampire in his bed was death but she was also ecstasy.

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The Food and Selfie Wars

PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

“I told you I’d only come to dinner with if you wouldn’t take pictures of your food like the paparazzi chasing a movie star!” Ed was on his feet fuming at the four other people sitting around the table.

“Look,” started Martin, “I’m sorry. I just forgot.” He tried disarming Ed’s temper with a shy smile. “Just let me get in this quick shot and post it to Bluesky.”

“That’s it!” Ed reached behind him and under his jacket producing a really nasty looking .45 semi-automatic pistol. He aimed it right at Martin’s smartphone starting the Food and Selfie Wars.

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Beneath Pale Stars

whatever

PHOTO PROMPT © Lily

John finally crested the alabaster rim of the crater after hours of climbing under the cold sun. He was sweating and couldn’t catch his breath in the thin atmosphere. He sat down on the edge looking downward, his chest heaving.

He said at last, “All wrecked.”

He’d been hoping that the Crater Base had at least one working spacecraft left, but they were crumbled and lying across each other as if they were toys mangled by an angry child.

“I’ll never get home,” he lamented looking upward at pale stars.

Then a voice came from one of the derelicts. “Welcome.”

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Phone Photography, Still Lifes, and Other Silliness

ted

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

“Dad, what are you doing?” Harold watched his father using his phone to take a photo of a collection of breakfast items and a tablet.

“Creating a still life,” Leonard said trying to hold his smartphone with one hand and maneuver his thumb.

“Uh huh,” replied his son. “I thought that was done with a bowl of fruit, a canvas, and oil paints.”

“This is the digital age, Harold,” Dad replied pressing the button. “Oh, now you did it. I didn’t get the framing right.”

“Digital photography is forgiving, Dad.” Harold rolled his eyes and went back into the kitchen.

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A Nice Place To Visit

sailboat

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

“Do you ever miss it?” Aaron felt a little nervous asking Sarah that question. After all, she was a California native and it would be natural to miss her home.

“Not a bit,” she answered slipping her arm around his waist in response to his holding her.

They watched the lone sailboat just offshore in silence for a few minutes.

“It’s pretty but it’s not home anymore,” she said. “Everything’s changed and not for the better.”

“Expensive vacation for a couple of retired folks,” Aaron added.

“It was a nice visit,” she said. “Let’s go back to where we belong.”

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Someone Has To Be “Equityless”

pot

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

The big, rusty pot on the top of the cabinet was everything that had ever been wrong with Henry’s life.

The state rated him as a “Standard” just like Mom and Dad, nothing horrible, nothing exceptional. He was the default an enlightened society blamed things on to prioritize other groups.

He was a Standard, so allowed one marriage, one career and one child. They were all Standard except Mao elected to retranslation camp to become prioritized as an Outsider N-5.

He rated a divorce after twenty years and in old age, everything the state valued was still out of reach.

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One Last Icing On The Web

ice web

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

“Ah, crap.” Jackson looked out the window expecting to see his salvation. Beyond the shed’s single window frame on the abandoned farm, he did see what he hoped for, but right before that, there was something much worse.

“You never give up, do you?” He almost let his fingertips glide along the lengths of frozen webbing. “So close.”

Outside it was Spring, the first Spring since he was a little boy. The climate was turning again in favor of life. But the ice giants were taking one last shot at him before they went.

Then he saw the first spider.

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Yield Sign To Heaven

sign

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

“I have to solve a puzzle if I want to get into Heaven?” Henry was standing next to St. Peter who was really a short, balding Jewish guy named Shimon bar Yonah and told a lot of Dad jokes.

“Not a puzzle,” said Shimon. “A reflection of how you treated Hashem and faith in life. Hey, what kind of shoes do frogs wear?”

“Never mind the jokes, Pet…uh, Shimon. Oh wait.”

“Open-toad sandals.” The gatekeeper started laughing maniacally.

“Traffic going down has priority,” said Henry. “Is that right?

“Got it. Too much traffic going down, not that much going up.”

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Wishful Thinking

wish

PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

Jerry had been a little surprised that Yasna still lived with her parents. She was twenty-five and a rising star in his company’s HR department. This was their first date and he didn’t expect to have to meet her parents.

While Yasna was getting ready (he’d gotten there ten minutes early), they left him in their den. Her Mom went upstairs while her Dad offered to get him something to drink.

“Christmas wreaths I can get, but what are these?” He reached up and touched one of the odd ornaments hanging from the lamp.

“What is your wish my master?”

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The City On The Edge of Heaven

city

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

“I’m in a city somewhere.” Rand stood on the sidewalk looking at his reflection in the windows of the building across the street. He pulled out his wallet.

“Yeah, plenty of cash and a credit card.” He stopped when he saw the name and address on the drivers license. “My picture, but from a long time ago.”

It got worse when he saw the expiration date.

“That was decades ago.” He looked at his reflection again. He was so young.

“What happened?” Then he remembered the wish he made. He had been dying. Cancer.

A voice said, “Welcome to Heaven.”

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