FLASH-FIC IS HERE
PLEASE JOIN US EACH FRIDAY TO SEE WHO'S FLASHING US
Each Friday a new prompt will be posted along with the previous week's winners.
What exactly is a Flash-Fic? It's pretty much a spur of the moment, tiny story, prompted by words, images or silliness. Not sure if you've ever been on twitter when this has happened, but it's pretty awesome when it does. It also happens often in threads, with a combination of people contributing.
How does it work? Each Friday one admin of TLS posts a picture prompt here to the blog. Using this image, entries are created by commenting on this post. Submissions must be 100-300 words ONLY. No more, no less. The entries are then judged and we post the winners here, each Friday, to share with all of you.
THIS WEEK'S NEW PROMPT
You will have until next Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST to submit your entry.
Picture prompt and judge this week is Nicffwhisperer.
Please leave your submission in the comment section at the bottom of the post using this format:
Your name (use your Twitter, Facebook or FFN name)
Your link to your FFN profile if you choose to share it
Submissions will be judged on Thursdays and on Friday the winning entry will be posted here, on the TLS blog. This feature is open to everyone, so come one, come all!
LAST WEEK'S PROMPT AND WINNERS
FIRST PLACE WINNER
@bebeginja
Word count: 296
I ignore the buzz of my phone on my nightstand. I can’t talk to anyone right now.
I can’t talk.
October.
I’m sprawled spread eagle on my bed. On the inside I’m writhing, begging for a reprieve from this nightmare. A wide awake nightmare.
Are my eyes open? Is my heart beating?
Feel.
I’m trying to feel but I can’t. What am I supposed to? Am I supposed to? Is this why people self harm? To feel? To focus?
Crazy. They’ll call me crazy. Off.
Something’s off.
November.
I curl in a ball on my chair in the middle of the room. Somewhere deep within me a voice is screaming get up! Get. Up. GET UP! Knock it off! Snap out of it! He’s not worth it!
But he is. He’s worth everything. I was stupid to do that, I know. To make him everything. I never wanted to be one of those people. I know better.
What have you done? Look at you, you’re pathetic.
But I don’t understand. Was I too much or not enough?
It hurts. The pain is so intense I can’t even tell where it hurts the most.
December.
I lie on the floor and stare up at the popcorn ceiling. If I believed in God, I’d ask him to take me now.
I am frozen. Consumed. And certain that no one else has ever felt this way.
Because no one else had him.
I could laugh at the absurdity. I should hate him, but I take it all. I take whatever he gives me, and right now he’s giving me this. His absence.
Even as he damages me I cry for him.
Even as he slays me I die for him.
Even as he leaves me I’m lost for him.
SECOND PLACE
Megan
http://www.fanfiction.net/~virginalvampire
Word count: 297
Sitting alone in the darkness and solitude of my childhood bedroom nearly drives me past the brink of sanity.
I quickly grab my jacket, not caring that the rain is pouring down outside. Standing on my porch, I rip my jacket off and toss it back into the house, suddenly craving the feel of the wet, cold drops falling on my skin.
I walk aimlessly for a while, soaked to the bone by the time I finally stop. I swallow and push open the wrought iron fence. I follow the worn path, careful to avoid the mud so I don’t slip.
When I reach the headstone I’m looking for, I drop to my knees.
“Everyone told me to just give it time, they said I’d be fine eventually.” I let out a cynical-sounding laugh. “Edward,” my voice breaks. I can feel the warmth of my tears mixing with the cold of the rain. “When is eventually going to get here? It’s been four months. I can barely breathe without you.”
I run my hand along the grooves in the headstone, tracing his name. The marble should feel cold to my touch, but it doesn’t, it feels warm. The wedding band that rests securely on my left ring finger and the dog tags nestled safely between my breasts seem to heat up as well.
It’s crazy to think that he’s somehow giving me a sign, isn’t it?
Just as I’m about to brush the feeling off, for the first time, I feel a kick. My free hand clutches at my stomach. I can’t help it, I smile. A sense of peace rushes through me, calming me.
I take a deep breath and stand, blowing a kiss to the stone.
“I hope he has your eyes. I love you.”
THIRD PLACE
@GeekChic12FF
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2331711/
Word count: 229
Wandering.
That’s all my mind does lately.
All my feet do.
There’s never a specific destination.
Just wandering.
Thinking.
Walking.
You’ve been gone five months.
It’s never a conscious decision to seek you out.
My feet take me down the path in the woods where you told me I wasn’t good enough.
They take me to our meadow where you once told me I was everything.
My brain wanders around these conflicting thoughts.
It can’t make sense of them.
It wanders through memories of us--touching, kissing, laughing.
Through every ‘I love you,’ not believing them anymore.
Why should I?
Was any of it real?
You’re not coming back. I can feel it in the very marrow of my bones.
I’m lost now.
Literally.
My feet have wandered past the spot where you stood and ripped my heart out.
Past our meadow full of happy, purple flowers.
My mind doesn’t recognize these surroundings--mossy rocks and sparse trees.
I hear water crashing against rocks in the distance.
My feet wander that way. My mind wants to see the chaotic waves.
When I reach the cliff, my mind wanders down the path of no return. How will it feel when my lungs fill with water? When I can’t breathe anymore?
Will my mind finally forget you?
Will I finally be able to let go?
My feet wander.
Right over the edge.
HONORABLE MENTION
@QuinnSkylark
Words: 271
“Fallen” (Sarah McLachlan)
What am I supposed to do?
The room spins around me and my head matches the revolutions in a sickening, dizzying whirl. How did I let this get so messed up? I sat by, idly watching as the control I once had slipped right between my fingers and I just...allowed it. I permitted him to speak to me that way. I accepted the ache inside of myself and ran away. I signed off on my own downfall instead of fighting back.
Now, Rose truly believes that I’d been fucking Jake, and apparently Edward does as well. How can anyone believe that when I had him—the highest and most powerful of all sexual deities—at my fingertips? Edward’s life and mine have been intertwined by the fates, spun on the thread that held my entirety. It would seem, now, that the cotton has been cut as my world unravels around me.
My stomach lurches and my vision blurs in the twisting room and I slip off the chair, falling to my knees before the garbage can just in time to empty the contents of my stomach. Over and over, I heave until there is nothing left for me to surrender. The pain serves as a reminder of why I’m doing this; why I’ve made these choices, but also a reminder of just how lost I really am.
But then Ben opens the door, knocking lightly before he steps inside. As I fall into the strong arms of my best friend, sobbing in frustration, I remind myself that I haven’t lost yet. No. The battle has just begun.
HONORABLE MENTION
@Twilightladies1
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2878973/twilightladies
Word Count 283
I watch as you sleep on our couch.
Curled in the fetal position, it’s as if you’re trying to protect yourself from something. Even in slumber, your thoughts are consumed by darkness.
I want to smooth the frown lines between your eyes, wishing that just for once,
your dreams at least, are a happy place.
Recently, it seems that everything makes you cry, and I hate how helpless I am
in all of this.
I used to be able to make you smile or laugh, no matter the situation. Your
eyes danced with mirth as you played your practical jokes.
Now, your tears are my demons.
“Edward,” you murmur, and my heart breaks just a little more.
You begin to whimper, and I consider waking you, to calm you. Only, that didn’t
go too well last time.
“No…Edward…Sorry…” Your voice breaks and tears roll down your face.
I hate the tears.
Drawn to you, I move from my chair and take you in my arms.
You stiffen, and I brace myself, unsure of which Bella I’m going to be faced
with.
“Edward?” your murmur.
“I’m here,” I soothe, kissing your forehead softly.
Your arms wrap around my neck. “I’m so sorry,” you sob. I feel your tears on my
neck.
“You don’t have anything to apologize for, baby,” I whisper.
You sigh, melting into my embrace.
I close my eyes, cherishing this moment, unsure of when the next one will come.
Pushing the hair from your face, I look into your tired eyes.
“We’ll beat this won’t we?”
I smile softly, “Of course we will.”
For the first time in weeks, you smile—a proper Bella smile—and I know we’ll be
okay.
HONORABLE MENTION
@TinsleyWarren
Words: 296
“Compose yourself Bella,” I growl at my reflection.
The girl looking back at me isn’t the girl I saw when I came in here. That girl was full of hope. The girl I see now knows it’s over. The tears stain her face like battle scars as she clutches a stick, her knuckles turning white.
I know I should be happy, I should feel blessed. But instead I feel dread and emptiness.
I’m so lost.
I know I shouldn’t have let him pursue me. I knew it would blow up in my face. But I went with my heart and I let myself fall without thinking of the consequences. I just thought of him and the way his smile made everything better, and the way his fingers could make me feel so alive.
Now I won’t ever be able to forget the way he made me feel, because the evidence of our love for one another is growing inside of me.
I know I have to keep this to myself. Even if his promises and declarations of love are true, this could ruin him. It could ruin everything if I let this slip.
No matter what my feelings are for him, I’m just the help. I wish I remembered
that before all this happened.
I don’t have time to dwell on my mistakes, I need to do my job.
I hold my head up high as I dispose of the test. Securing a smile on my face I grab the tray of appetizers. It’s my job to make sure this event goes smoothly, it’s the most important one of the year for our country.
Today I’m working Prince Edward’s engagement party, and the future Princess has no idea I’m having his baby. And neither does he.
The Lemonade Stand would like to also thank all of the participants. We thoroughly enjoyed ALL of the entries!
And I have to add that it was a really hard one to judge this week - I wanted to give everyone an honorable mention, so thanks to everyone for entering - Nat xx
