Thanks to Writers Victoria, lock down in April was a lot of fun! They ran a daily Flash Fiction competition for the month. Each day a ‘prompt’ word was tweeted, and writers had until 9pm to tweet their flash fiction reply. All entries had to contain the prompt, and be less than 30 words long.
I didn’t manage to enter every day, but got there most days. I even won on day 19!
Here’s a selection of my entries.
Moving through the abandoned spaceship, Alana heard a rumbling growl. She unholstered her laser gun. There! She fired, missed. Her last thought – why is there a lion on this ship?
Day 18, prompt word – Laser.
A person forces spoons of mush into my limp mouth. I drift into memories.
You, me, swimming off the Italian coast. The sea sparkling, hypnotising.
The majesty of youth, lost.
Day 19, prompt word – Drift. The winning entry!
It’s here. I need it.
Tears roll down my cheeks, then a spotlight hits the memory.
There!
You, in bed, smiling sideways at me, face creased.
God, I miss you!
Day 20, Prompt word – Spotlight.
‘Theesway,’ she said.
‘Thee sway?’ I asked, confused.
‘Si.’
I swayed. She walked away. I followed, swaying side-to-side.
‘Your table,’ she said.
Oh! This way!
I stopped swaying and sat.
Day 21, prompt word – Sway.
They pushed me to the centre of the dais. Tears flowed. I smiled proudly and knelt, my head overhanging the block.
The honour of being chosen to appease the gods!
Day 22, prompt word – Centre.
I read the letter again; white faced, slack jawed. Lymphoma – confirmed. Words drift dizzily across my vision – radiation, chemotherapy, bone marrow. All I see is a death sentence.
Day 23, prompt word – Read.
‘Measure twice, cut once,’ my father always said.
Sage advice from the old bastard.
He screamed into his gag as I sawed his leg, exactly 25 centimetres from his foot.
Day 24, prompt word – Measure.
The mirror assaults me.
I pinch skin between my fingers but it’s stretched too tight.
My eye’s reality is distorted in my mind.
I’m so fat!
My body consumes itself.
Day 27, prompt word – Distorted.
Lashes dipped seductively over smoky eyes. Lips licked in anticipation. Elation a dance beat in the veins.
Fixated on you.
Magnetic gaze drawn together. Breathing faster. Velvet touch.
We crest.
Day 29, prompt word – Fixated.
‘Paola! Focus!’
Paola pushes the tablets away, fear scowling her face.
‘I don’t want them! Leave me alone!’
Her mother sighs, exhausted by this daily battle with a damaged mind.
Day 30, prompt word – Focus
David McK Writes 