Flash Fiction Challenge

Bosco Verticale – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 6 Comments
Photo by Daniel Seßler on Unsplash

Title: Bosco Verticale

Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge

Prompt: Write a story to show what it is to protect nature around us.

Word count:  99 words

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Stefano lifted the heavy portfolio in his hand and swiped his forearm across his sweaty brow. A city bus whooshing past momentarily offered a welcome breeze followed by the acrid aftertaste of hot exhaust. Concrete, glass, and steel, absorbed, intensified, and reflected the summer heat.

As a child, Nonna told him tales of long-ago country summers. Tree leaves danced in gentle breezes, birds sang, and the earth cradled soft blue skies.

He featured urban forestation and nature in his architectural designs. Trees, shrubs, and perennials festooned every design, and he proudly wore the title of The Baron in the Trees.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Lofty Undertaking – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 9 Comments

Title: Lofty Undertaking
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story about justice for all.
Word count:  99 words

orange canoe on lake surrounding with mountain at daytime Steep valley sides and moody clouds made this paddle an overwhelming experience. Gudvangen is one of the most beautiful places in Norway!

Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash

Skyscrapers defined the canyon walls of Anders’ world. Imposing shadows modulated light and dark and framed his existence. He marched predictable paths that left him stuck in mechanized monotony.

Searching for more, his friends convinced him to kayak a Norwegian fjord. Landmasses dwarfed anything he had ever seen. The guides told stories of massive sperm whales, sixty feet long and weighing eighty tons, that ate giant squid who swam four thousand feet below his kayak’s thin fiberglass shell.

Anders imagined he was the whale, diving deep, he hunted dark waters. He breached the surface, reborn, and ready to soar.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Take It All Back – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 12 Comments

Title: Take It All Back
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story about justice for all.
Word count:  99 words

man sketching portrait of woman

Photo by Samuel Castro on Unsplash

It should have been a simple assignment. A modest portrait of his patron’s daughter. While he didn’t like children as his subject, the commission promised to launch his budding career.

Except, when she showed for her appointment, she wasn’t a child. She was no blushing bride-to-be, but a temptress with a siren’s song. Engaged, another man’s prize, she exchanged the poor artist’s heart with her own. Forbidden love blossomed.

There was only one solution.

“I cannot do her justice,” he declared, “For all our sakes, take these godforsaken sketches, and I will try to forget I ever met her.”

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Kaidan – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 9 Comments

Title: Kaidan
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story about 100 candles.
Word count:  99 words

lit candle in foreground with blurred candles in the distance

Photo by Tim Umphreys on Unsplash

Twilight fell as storytellers crowded into the room. Ryu finished lighting one hundred candles. They gathered to repeat their favorite accounts of weird happenings, walking sprits, and vengeful ghosts.

They told tales of a man’s escaped from hell, monsters roaming misty woods, and bridges conveying the dead into eternity.

At each tale’s conclusion, the storyteller rose and extinguished the life of a single torch. The night progressed, the chamber grew darker, and shadows haunted foreboding corners.

Ryu earned the honor of the evening’s final story. With his last breath, he blew. His candle smoldered, and everything descended into darkness.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Dark Encounter – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 13 Comments

Title: Dark Encounter
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story that answers the question, “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you are in absolute danger?”
Word count:  99 words

selective focus photography of fox

Photo by Geran de Klerk on Unsplash

I stayed too late. Perils line the path home, and no guiding lights pierce the darkness to keep dangers at bay.

A rustling bush. I freeze. Frozen. Heightened awareness, my senses alerted to keep me alive.

Muscles tense, heart pounds, breath held, pupils dilate. My mouth fills with cotton balls.

Grasses sway without a breeze, an inky silhouette and steely eyes regard me. Somehow, they seem as surprised as I.

Flight or fight. Fight or Flight.

Sinews prepare for action as we stare, access, evaluate.

Golden orbs wink, I inhale and dip my chin.

Tonight, we go separate ways.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Grandfather’s Legacy – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 6 Comments

Title: Grandfather’s Legacy
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story to nourish.
Word count:  99 words

evergreen bonsai tree growing on a rock

Photo by Elissar Haidar on Unsplash

We discovered the tenacious evergreen sprig on our daily walk. Grandfather pitied the seedling clinging to bare stone. A full-grown pine needed access to the earth’s nutrients, and the minuscule reserves in the stone’s clefts and crevices would stunt the tree if it lived at all.

I was only a child, but I vowed to help the sapling. On warm days, we carried water. We sheltered it from storms and patted dirt at its roots.

Today my grandson and I took a walk. I introduced him to the tough tree and smiled when he vowed to protect Grandfather’s legacy.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Optimal Velocity – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 8 Comments

Title: Optimal Velocity
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story that features longboards.
Word count:  99 words

greyscale photography of woman using snowboard skis 1940

Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash

Miners extracted millions from Gold Mountain, but Peggy didn’t want money. She sought powder and speed. The day dawned bright and clear, as she and the longboarders climbed the 1,700-foot slope to the starting position.

Reaching the top, she strapped on her 12-foot long Norwegian skates. She had rubbed her secret dope into the hand-hewn, kiln-dried, vertical-grain Doug fir skis. The mixture of paraffin, tallow, tar, and hemlock oil guaranteed optimal velocity.

The contestants crouched, waiting. The starter hammered the giant saw blade. Peggy pushed against her pole and shot downhill.  Sixteen seconds later, she began her next ascent.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

A Matter of Perspective – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 8 Comments

Title: A Matter of Perspective
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story about something crazy.
Word count:  99 words

Galaxy

Photo by Clarisse Meyer on Unsplash

Insanity is measured by degrees, strictly classified by definitions, interpretations, and clever disguises. A tight white coat choked the evaluator, stripping him of his humanity. If he would only release himself from his strait-laced leash, he would see. He scribbled unintelligible notes with invisible ink and labeled my actions a Hail Mary call for help.

Nobody listened to the warnings I screamed loud and clear. Sometimes a hero must first rescue herself, so that night, with the walls closing in, I climbed Signal Mountain and sent my desperate S.O.S.

The mother ship answered, and I escaped this helter-skelter world.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Operation: Recover Home – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 9 Comments

Title: Operation: Recover Home
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story that declares, shield your face.
Word count:  99 words

person welding gray metal equipment

Photo by boostinjay on Unsplash

Heavy metal blared, drowning the crackling and buzzing, as sparks flew. The fiery shower bounced on the cement floor.

“Jason.”

Switching off the torch, he pushed his heavily gloved hand against his forehead, lifting the face shield. Except for the music in his helmet, the garage was silent. Hot wind blasted through the open door.

He was alone.

Desperation clutched his heart. Glancing at his watch he assessed his chances of completing the needed repairs. He couldn’t stay. He had to find the passage home.

“Shield your face. Return to me.”

“I’m coming.”

Or I’ll die trying, he vowed.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Feeding the Soul – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 11 Comments

Title: Feeding the Soul
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story that includes pizza.
Word count:  99 words

person standing and making dough

Photo by Theme Photos on Unsplash

Saffron sunk the measuring cup into the container. The flour poofed, and billowing white clouds dusted the counter. The scent of yeast permeated the kitchen, as she worked the tacky, gloppy mess until it formed a loose ball.

The heel of her hand pushed into the dough and rolled it to its starting point. She kneaded the dough to a silky smoothness. After a quick rise, she created a rough circle and added simple toppings. The hot oven melted the mozzarella and browned the crust on her classic Margherita Pizza.

Accolades were nice, but baking was its own reward.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer