Tuesday 4 April 2017

Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 5

Last weeks challenge brought two entries. I had hoped it would inspire more, but maybe it was a little intimidating. Hopefully this week's photo will elicit more. 

This week's prompt photo was created by Marcela Bolivar, a digital artist from Columbia. You can check out some of her other wonderful creations on her website here.

This photo provides many different interpretations. I am interested in what others might make of it. This is what I came up with.

The General Guidelines can be found here.  



Once Bitten Twice Shy 

He carried the pain around with him as though it was on display. He thought others could see it as though his chest were made of glass and people could see inside, see the damaged darkness where there was once a heart – once a happy healthy heart, full of joy and love and giving. But it was no more. It was now an aching husk of darkness that poisoned his body, draining it of energy, of any desire, of any point of being.

He wanted it to end, but he didn’t have the guts to. He couldn’t quite bring himself to step out of this life. There was guilt at what it might do to those around him, those that felt they were good and close friends. And there were those that flung the word selfish around when people took their lives, which led him back to the guilt. Although he always believed that was a reflection of themselves: how they felt wrong and selfish for not understanding. No one knows the pain another suffers, let alone should judge it. 

He imagined being free of this pain; imagined throwing off the shackles of the dead weight it brought to his life. But it did little to change anything. She was gone. She was just a shadow in his heart. She had come, wrought her damage and left. Turned her back and walked away. He could even see her in his mind’s eye, walking away across a field, while he was unable to move or call out and stop her.

It was the risk he had taken; one he would never take again – or so he told himself. 



10 comments :

  1. I really will try to write an entry for one of your prompts! This is the busy time in work - that and other things have eliminated most of my writing time. I've only had one blog post in each of the last two months. You do have some interesting images!

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    1. I try and make them as inspiring as I can. You can always come back to any of them at any time. I will always be here to read them.

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  2. I always read your story *after* I've written mine - interesting that we both went with a loss theme :~)
    http://strangenotebook.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/mid-week-flash-challenge-week-5-you-are.html

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    1. Great minds think alive! ;-) Great tale, with a brilliant last line. Here's a clickable link: You are my Heart

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  3. Hi Miranda, Love your story. So glad you have a flash fiction running. I dont know how often I can play but at least for this week I am in. Here is my link: http://stacybennettauthor.com/2017/04/06/mirror-man-midweek-flash/

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    1. Wonderful entry, reflects the image well. Thanks for joining in!

      Here's a clickable link: Mirror Man

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  4. Zachary Johnson7 April 2017 at 19:33

    That same dream again. Months of the same thing every night had made the experience a lucid one. He knew it wasn't real, he knew he'd wake up like he always did. It didn't stop him from feeling. The opulent splendor of his 100th floor office crumbled into an ashen forest. That sharp pain as he dipped his hand into his chest, felt the ripples of his soul.

    It always emerged coated in viscous, black sludge. Whether it was from the depths he plumbed or the gentle caress of the presence that lurked within, promising more, more, more, he didn't know. He parted his fingers, oily strings of tar sloughing from them, sinking back into his skin, a photomosaic of broken promises and little compromises glittering within them. Missed recitals, skipped dinners, forgotten anniversaries, bribes, mass layoffs to pay for the kind of Christmas that would make up for all of it, a tryst or two while away on business because hey, he was a hardworking man, he'd earned it; she'd never know, the kids would never know. Until they did.

    A drop of the slime fell from his had, spreading, replacing the ground and at his feet. It gently coaxed them underneath, pulling him, bit by bit, into its warm
    embrace. A woman walked across it, offering her hand. His wife. Ex-wife. His two sons stood behind her. He always grabbed it, always held tight, always pulled and thrashed and struggled to surface, until he looked down. The forest reflected into the pool of onyx, but instead of rotting tress and ashen leaves, he say fine pillars of marble, glimmering penthouse views, Swiss bank accounts. There were all his. All he had to do was let go.

    He always did.

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    1. Wow, what a dream! Almost tangible. Great interpretation of the picture. Wonderful entry. Thanks for joining in.

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  5. This one was tough. And I'm not sure how I like the result. But, here it is anyway.

    https://mysoulstears.wordpress.com/2017/04/09/miranda-kates-mid-week-challenge-20170409/

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    1. Superb entry. I love it. Perfect Sci-fi.

      Here's a clickable link: My Soul's Tears

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