The Device

        Ever since Max had moved to South Carolina ten years ago, he had fell in love with the beach only miles from his front doorstep.   He belonged there.  The ocean called to him.    Even when no one else ventured to the beach, he was there.  During storms, he would go suited up in rain gear to take pictures and watch nature’s fury first hand.  It was there that he could forget for a moment that Beth was gone from his life forever.  It was also where he allowed his heart to remember her and ultimately mourn his loss.  It had been years since the hurricane’s humongous waves had carried her away and drowned her.  He had wanted to photograph the hurricane’s fury first hand.  When everyone had evacuated to safety, he had convinced Beth to stay and see it with him.  How ironic that the place where he found her would ultimately be the place he lost her as well.

       He scoured the beach for the treasure that would wash up on shore with the tide.  He was never quite sure what he was searching for, but in the deepest depths of his heart he felt empty and knew he had never found it.  Instead, he had a vast collection of colorful beach glass, fragments of seashells, and driftwood that he had collected over the years.   Unfortunately, all the beach glass, shells, and driftwood in the world wouldn’t bring back his precious Beth. His guilt had ate at him ever since.

      One bright April morning he headed to the beach like any other for another leisurely stroll where he always ended up taking more pictures of everything he seen there and adding to his ever growing collection.    He bent to pick up what he thought was another piece of driftwood.  That is when he found the device.  He felt the hair on his neck stand up on end while he looked at it.  It was pulsing in his hands, as if alive.   Nervously he looked around and found the beach as deserted as it had been moments before.  Eerily enough, he felt as if he was being watched.  He thought about Beth as he pushed the buttons randomly wanting badly to share his find with her.    He heard a crackle, and his breath caught.  Beth was walking towards him.   His Beth!  But that was impossible!  He had lost his true love to the sea years ago…still here she was defying all common sense and reason.

         Unable to believe what his eyes told him were true, he ran towards her, the device completely forgotten where he had dropped it in the sand in his shock.  Her smile lit up the beach and warmed his heart.  He wrapped his arms around her and melted into her soft loveliness for the first time in forever.  It was like coming home.  Tears fogged his vision as he took in the essence of her.   The fragrance she always wore enveloped him and filled his senses.  Such joy filled his heart as he kissed her and drank her in.  There was so much he wanted to say, so many questions he wanted answered.  Still he couldn’t find the words.  His ability to form coherent thought was lost to him.  He lifted her in the air and twirled her around as he had always done, overwhelmed with the joy of finding her once again.  She had come back to him!

        He grabbed her hand and led her to the device lying on the sand where he had dropped it, picking it up once again.   He wanted to show it to her, show her this miraculous piece of treasure that had brought her back to him.    She suddenly looked frightened.  Shaking her head frantically she dropped his hand and backed away.  He didn’t understand.  She turned and walked back toward the sea from where she came.  This time he wouldn’t let her go! Determined to not lose her again, he went after her with a sense of purpose he had never felt before or since, pushing the buttons in desperation.  He disappeared, lost forever to this world, his insatiable curiosity finally getting the best of him.   She never looked back, she just kept walking.

      

I Will Follow

 
        I stood on the bridge at midnight as the clocks were striking the hour.  I looked out on the water below and the twinkling lights of the city reflecting there.  It was in those moments I thought about my life.  I thought about God and asked him for guidance.  My life has spiraled out of control since you took your own life a month ago.  How could you leave me?  How could you?  Tears trailed down my cheeks as I looked out on the harbor feeling utterly lost.

           I thought about the hundreds of cups and saucers I had painstakingly washed at the diner tonight and how I had stacked them neatly in preparation for another long day tomorrow.  I felt bone tired, weary, and heart broken.  All that awaited me at home were bills and the glaring eviction notice that had been delivered today.  Things just seemed to be going from bad to worse.  I thought about the dreams that had brought me to this city.  You know the ones, the ones that kept us awake long into the night giggling and making plans.  You and I were going to take Broadway by storm.  We would see our names in lights.  We were going to be stars.  We were going to live the glamorous life together. Everyone at home believed in us…their small town stars.  What a joke that turned out to be.  I simply can’t go home a failure and face all of them again seeing pity in their eyes, and seeing the “I told you so’s” in the eyes of the cynics.

       Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I could shine and touch the stars.  I could be a star after all.  I could soar like you did.  Like you, I could make headlines…go out with a big bang.  With my mind made up, I began to climb.  Balancing on the edge I felt the wind in my face, could see the stars calling me.  I could hear you in my heart urging me on.  We went together like peas and carrots, and we would again.  Holding my hands out at my sides, maintaining a precarious balance, I looked up to the stars and then reached.  I would fly.  I would touch the sky just as you had.  Without another thought, I moved forward and followed you again.  For the last time, I followed you.

Written for the Light and Shade Challenge

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Fly Haiku

soaring in the clouds

kissing rainbows, racing birds

into sunset’s glow

Inspired by the prompt at

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The Shipment

      Until the day I die, I’ll never forget those glassy, unblinking eyes.  She needed to die, plain and simple.  She had known entirely too much and was getting a little too free with sharing the knowledge.  I couldn’t afford to have her blabbing my business.  It would cost me everything.   Not only that, a lot bigger heads would roll if I were ever caught.  It would be a classic domino effect, and they would make sure I paid dearly with my life if that ever happened.   I should have never got involved with her in the first place.  Looking back now, I know I simply couldn’t resist.   She was hot…and a piece of work.  She had needed the job, so I had hired her as a receptionist at the art gallery thinking at the time she wasn’t too bright.  Little did I know that the beautiful bombshell actually did have a brain to go with those sapphire eyes, long sexy legs, and amazing rack.

       All of a sudden she starting putting 2 and 2 together, and lo and behold, it didn’t always add up to 4.  We were exporting art overseas packed with cartons lined with bags of the best cocaine money could buy.  The shipments were worth millions.  We packed it all in the best smelling coffee grounds to throw the scent off so the drug hounds at customs wouldn’t get wise to the operation.  All was going like clockwork until I decided to give in to lust and sleep with the bimbo.  That is when everything started going south.  I fancied myself falling for her.  I found her intoxicating and my tongue loosened up when she was around.  Once she figured out that my business didn’t only involve art, she got scared.  A scared woman with too much explosive knowledge can be dangerous.  I had no intention of going to prison for a loose tongued piece of ass no matter how good it was.

       So I killed her.  We had been intimate, so I figured it was up to me to get rid of her.  A friend of the boss owns the crematory in town and they wasted no time cremating her remains and helping me clean up the mess.  I personally packed what was left of Bridget in a crate holding Albrecht Durer’s painting of Oswalt Krel among this week’s shipment of coffee grounds and drugs.  My associates overseas would see to it that her ashes were disposed of.  No one would ever have to know.   As a stroke of luck, Bridget seemed alone in the world so no one should come asking questions.  If they do, I know nothing.   Surprisingly, I have never killed anyone before and never hope to again.  It left a bad taste in my mouth.  However, if they get in the way of business like the fair Bridget did I will be left with no choice.  After all, business is business.

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The Road to Adventure

      She was at a crossroads.  All of her friends were getting married and having babies.  Although she really wanted to have a family one day, she wanted to experience life first.  She chose the road less traveled filled with promise and adventure.

         This week's question for yeah write's #162 gargleblaster challenge is "Which way to go?"  We were to write our response to that question in precisely 42 words.

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A New Life

         She wished she knew then what she knew now.  Things would have gone down a lot differently.   She had never played the lottery and had never won anything in her life.  That is why when she bought the lottery ticket on a whim and gave it to her daughter for safekeeping she quickly forgot about it. 

  
       When the winning numbers were revealed, Dawn realized she had won millions!  Intent to have it all, she checked her ailing mother into a nursing home’s Alzheimer’s unit.  Escaping to Europe where her new identity awaited,  Dawn and the money disappeared without a trace.

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Owl in a Tree

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Secrets in the Woods

Photo by Lyssa Medana

        Hurrying along the old stone wall in the woods, they checked periodically to make sure they weren’t being followed.  This is where they hid it years ago. 

      “This is it!” Kara exclaimed in excitement.  They dropped to their knees and frantically began to dig.  It didn’t take long to unearth the box.  Inside a tattered book, to the naked eye, it held a worthless catalog.  Within, the secrets to their universe: crimes they committed and where all the money was hidden.

     "Remember,"  Ben warned, "If you don't find it in the index, look very carefully through the entire catalogue."  

        A 100 word fictional story written for the  Friday writing prompt at Light and Shade Writing Challenge where we were inspired by a quote and a picture prompt.

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Present Haiku

Surprises within

Concealed by pretty wrappings

Adorned with ribbons

Inspired by the prompt at

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The Walk Home

       Since the ruling had passed there was no more busing to her neighborhood in an attempt to cut costs.  It was a crock but she had no other choice but to walk to school.  Anyone who lived within 3 miles of the school had to now because the district simply couldn’t afford to run the buses for everyone.  She didn’t mind the walk really.  The exercise did her good.  Now that winter was fast approaching, the mornings were decidedly darker and by the time she reached home it was almost dark once again.  She did mind the dark.  It made her uneasy. 

        Now that she was forced to walk to and from school she wished she hadn’t joined the band and chosen to play the tuba.  Seriously, what had she been thinking?  The damn thing grew heavier with every step she took.  She was required to take it home to practice each day and cart it back day in and day out.  What with her backpack, her purse, and the damn tuba she was loaded down.  By the time she reached home she was exhausted from the trek.  Today was no different.  She approached the woods that provided her a shortcut home.  By all rights, she should stay on the sidewalk.    By that point in her journey she was tired and ready to be home, so with misgivings she took the shortcut anyway.

       Once surrounded by trees on all sides, the night closed in slowly around her.   She picked up speed, feeling a sense of foreboding the farther she walked.  The breeze rustled through the branches above.  A twig cracked behind her.  She turned quickly, but saw nothing.  Her heart beat double time as she walked a bit faster.  Another twig cracked.  The leaves rustled.  With her heart in her throat she looked back again.    In a split second her eyes focused on a shadow of a dark form lurking from behind the trees.  She saw a flash of metal…a knife.  The shadow smiled an evil white grin and started moving towards her.  With her heart in her throat, she ran.  He laughed and quickly pursued her, closing the gap between them.  He grabbed her arm and she screamed.  He pulled her towards him as she swung the tuba case at him.  The heavy case hit his chest, leaving him gasping.  She hurried away leaving the tuba behind.

       “You bitch! I’ll make you pay for that!” he promised as he chased her.  She tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground.  As she scrambled to gain her footing, he was upon her, slapping her hard across the face.  He grabbed her, laughing as he did.  “I have you now and you will be mine.”  He forced her to the ground, pulled duct tape from his pocket and bound her arms above her head.  She struggled and screamed for help.  He taped her mouth and produced a knife from his pocket.  Her eyes widened in horror as she watched him cut her and blood gush from the gash. “Ready to have a bit of fun?” he asked with a wicked grin.  Tears escaped her eyes as he raped her mutilating her body for his pleasure.

     “Oh dear God, help me escape!”  Her mind screamed.   The clouds shifted, casting an ominous shadow on the ground.  She realized then he was standing over her, finished and quite satisfied with himself.  “Thank you, too bad you didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as I did.” He mocked.  He walked away, as if he hadn’t a care in the world whistling a tune as he went.   Wearily, she closed her eyes, shutting him out, and welcomed the light that enveloped her.  She walked toward it with determination, away from the fear and pain that had consumed her only seconds before into the paradise that awaited her for eternity.

This is my response to the Speakeasy weekly prompt #161, which is to write a piece in 750 words or less (mine is 646).

 (1) using “The clouds shifted, casting an ominous shadow on the ground.” anywhere in the piece, 

 (2) making some kind of reference to the music prompt, which is Adele’s "Rolling in the Deep".  As an added challenge, we were challenged to write a story that was “family-free”, which means no mention of family relationships in the story.

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