challenge

Staring in Defiance – Friday Fictioneers

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 35 Comments

Title: Staring in Defiance
Source:  Friday Fictioneers sponsored by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple
Word count: 100 words

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

It’s been forever, and I wonder if I still look like I should.

You pause in the doorway. Your face reveals it was always about you. Despite your madness, I believed I could walk through fire, and I wear the battle scars of hardship, pain, and struggle. They are etched on my heart’s shield, and they call you a liar.

I introduce the characters in my parade, the countless faces, forgotten places, and lonely nights traveling to nameless cities for another show. The demands of Orion’s sword were not in vain.

I stand where you said I would never be.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Mums the Word – 100 Word Writing Dare

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 7 Comments

Title: Mums the Word
Source:  100-Word Writing Dare
Prompt: Photo
Word count:  100 words

white flower

Photo by Di Maitland on Unsplash

“Mums the word,” Calypso whispered.

Lethe stepped backward, sinking into the shadows, and pulled Calypso with her. Rivers of people surged around them. Lethe scanned their faces, searching for a clue. No one noticed two women hiding in plain view.

“Can you give me a hint?”

Calypso’s face paled as she extricated her hand from Lethe’s tenacious grasp, and she shook her head. “It’s a secret.”

Tears glistened in Lethe’s eyes as desperation suffocated her.

“You must tell me. For my assignment.”

“It’s not my story. You should ask the Administrator.”

Lethe’s shoulders slumped. Her only option was to wait.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Homeward Bound – Friday Fictioneers

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 10 Comments

Title: Homeward Bound
Source:  Friday Fictioneers sponsored by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple
Word count: 100 words

PHOTO PROMPT © Dawn Miller

I ran, rejecting the past, I raced headlong into my future.

Twisted years manipulated iron forged values that made me a success machine. I paid a tragic price, leaving my heart on the altar. Then one morning the prodigal child woke and realize what I had become.

I didn’t need the GPS. The red barn was the only signal I needed. She looked older, neglected, but she still stood. She greeted me without reproach, her sun-worn boards reached for me, offering me comfort I didn’t deserve.

True North revealed forgotten facts and pointed to the golden road leading me home.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Touching Divinity – Weekend Writing Prompt

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 10 Comments

Title: Touching Divinity
Source:  Weekend Writing Prompt # 144 – Sculpture
Objective: Write a poem or piece of prose in exactly 71 words

lady statue

Photo by Matthieu Pétel on Unsplash

Lenore dared to bend normalcy, pursuing a love the world condemned.

She imagined perfection and drew truth from her memory like a strand of silk from the Bombycidae. Ancient powers surged from an eternal source. Devine words merged with graceful movements, creating a work that demanded to be made. Delicate fingertips balanced the intersection of fleeting inspiration with brute determination.

Her hands revealed universal feelings which manifested in her beautiful sculpture.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

A Storm Named Waterloo – Friday Fictioneers

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 30 Comments

Title: A Storm Named Waterloo
Source:  Friday Fictioneers sponsored by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple
Word count: 100 words

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

I cracked an eyelid to face my accuser. One o’clock. I should have been up hours ago, and yet…

The tapping at the window urged me to forsake my warm cocoon. I stumbled across the room and opened the blinds. The day mocked me. Rain splatted on the pane. Foggy condensation distorted my view of the miserable world.

At least it’s not snowing, I sighed.

Minutes ebb into eons, dulling the achingly familiar pain as I tried to reach past the emptiness.

At my end, I abandoned my post and crept to my haven of dark forgetfulness as snowflakes fell.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Things We Do for Love – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 18 Comments

Title: Things We Do for Love
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story to the theme “a dog in the daisies.”
Word count:  99 words

short-coated white and black puppy lying on green and purple flower field

Photo by Ian Wetherill on Unsplash

Abra was true to her name – mother of many. I had qualms about breeding her, but since she was the county’s best herder, every farmer wanted one of her pups.

She whelped ten, five males and five females. I named the girls after flowers and the boys after trees. Everyone asked about them. When would they be weaned? How much did I want for them?

I auctioned nine and they passed on the runt, Daisy. I gleefully keep her. Daisy resembled her mother, and she stole my heart. And like her mother, she became the county’s best herder.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Feeding My Soul – Weekend Writing Prompt

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 19 Comments

Title: Feeding My Soul
Source:  Weekend Writing Prompt # 143 – Elysian
Objective: Write a poem or piece of prose in exactly 56 words

gray concrete buildings

Photo by Alexander Kagan on Unsplash

I close my eyes, allowing my shoulders to drop and feel my stress spiral outward, evaporating like the water from my pasta pot. I inhale, rekindling my dearest memories, I am transported. I see my dear Florentine friends Alighieri, Botticelli, Brunelleschi, Buonarroti, Boccaccio, Da Vinci, Giotto, and Masaccio. My goblet overflows with their life-sustaining Elysian essence.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

The Paradox of Free Will – Friday Fictioneers

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 24 Comments

Title: The Paradox of Free Will
Source:  Friday Fictioneers sponsored by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple
Word count: 100 words

PHOTO PROMPT © Ulrika Undén

Tabbris allowed his gaze to follow the escalator’s path upward towards the light. In the eerie stillness, tinny speakers pumped strains of show tunes that echoed in the space like tennis balls bouncing off granite canyon walls. He hesitated.

A finger snap cut through the haze, reality thundered into focus and urged him to act. Tabbris stepped aside, letting the automatic stairs continue without him. He ran his hand over his eyes and considered his options. Was everything pre-ordained, a foregone conclusion, or could he conjure freedom? Did he possess power?

Long moments passed before Tabbris turned and walked away.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Teatime – 100 Word Writing Dare

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 8 Comments

Title: Teatime
Source:  100-Word Writing Dare
Prompt: (5 random words): Strong, Circle, Party, Four, Lid
Word count:  100 words

group of people holding mugs

Photo by Nani Williams on Unsplash

Demir ordered four Caykur Rize teas from the gritty street vendor. Ender arrived as the man poured strong sludge the color of muddy streets into paper cups. Ender waved away the proffered plastic lids, passing two steaming cups to Demir while he grabbed the remaining two.

They didn’t wait long for Kadir and Cemil to join their party, completing their circle of trust. They shared bonds forged in a different world. None of them remembered when they met, how they became friends or any day they had failed to meet, and sip the tea that stopped the hands of time.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Step Right Up – 3 Line Tales

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 5 Comments

From Sonya’s 3LineTales at Only100Words.
You can find the original prompt here. Thank you, Sonya.

three line tales, week 209: a guy spinning a basket ball on his finger with Pokemon in the background

photo by Bannon Morrissy via Unsplash

Desi wasn’t looking for a job.

No one wanted a boy who hid behind sunglasses and an attitude to camouflage a pronounced stutter.

The arcade manager, seeing Desi’s ball-handling skills, declared speaking an overrated skill and leveraged his talents to charge a dollar per try.

______________________

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer