She watched the young couple walk through the woods. She could feel their new love tingle in the air like static, fresh and exciting. She followed them, unseen, unheard, as always. Finally, they stopped.
“This is the place.” He stepped back and swept his arms widely to indicate the trees in the forest.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“This is where I shall build our future home. The builders start tomorrow.”
The wood nymph felt her fury rise, and when the lightning struck the woodland, she felt only sorrow for the plants and trees, but she would heal those later.
Couple in the Forest – Image credit; Shahzin Shajid @ Unsplash
For the visually challenged reader, this image shows the scene of a forest. One can see a couple walking in the distance through the hazy fog.
Some days you just want to shower, wash your woes away and start again with a new day tomorrow.
Want to play along?
I love playing around with the magnetic poetry blocks. I’m no poetry writer so I prefer to create a short story of sorts. The kits can be found here (and they are free):
“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.”
― Helen Keller
“Quick, grab the loot.”
“No, stay in the shadows, I’m sure someone’s coming”.
“I don’t want to stay in the shadows”
“Why? Are you scaaaaarreeeddd? Look if you are too scared to do this, I’ll grab the loot myself.”
“No. I can do this”
“Right, you wait here whilst I check the coast is clear.”
The creak of the door immediately gave away their location.
“Alex! James! Get yourselves back to bed this instant!” The bedroom light switched on startling two young boys. In the doorway stood an angry woman with her hands on her hips.
“Mum… we were only after a midnight snack,” Alex whined.
“You’ve already been told. Any more of that nonsense and James will be going home. You know you were only allowed to have a sleepover if you boys went to bed on time.”
The boys skulked over to the bed, wading through a trail of dolls and cars and toy guns.
“Fine! You can have a quick hot chocolate but then it’s straight back to bed.
“Mum?”
“What Alex?”
“Can we have marshmallows too?”
“I suppose…but then bed.”
“Score!” The two boys said triumphantly. It had been worth waiting in the shadows after all.
“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.” ― Helen Keller
Nothing beats hearing the right words at the right time.
Francheska
Sam curled up in a ball, she pulled the blanket over her head and sobbed into the sheets. The force of the sob caused her to choke and cough but she couldn’t stop, her whole body needed her to cry, to release some of the pent-up pain, anger and frustration. Eventually, the noises stopped, her breathing calmed and she lay on the bed exhausted. Removing the quilt she rolled over and lay staring up at the ceiling. She had no idea how long she lay there but she could see the light from behind the curtains was fading and causing shadows to dance along the ceiling. Her phone rang loudly startling her.
“Hello?”
“Hi, just calling to say that’s me setting off now.”
“Okay.” She sat herself up on the bed, she needed to go to the bathroom, wash her face and then try to muster the energy to face preparing tea.
“Have you been crying again?”
“Yes,” her voice escaped her in little more than a whisper.
“Okay, I’ll be home as soon as I can to give you the biggest hug.” Despite her mood, she smiled. “Don’t worry love, we’ll get through this together.”
“Okay, see you soon.”
“Love you.”
Nothing beats hearing the right words at the right time. – Francheska
How had she got here? Her mother always told her she had the worst taste in men. So she had decided to try something new, so here she was.
She sat across the table listening. Listening… Listening…
Don’t glance at the clock, don’t glance at the clock.
3 Minutes left. Dammit, you glanced at the clock. 3 more minutes being harangued by this guy.
She nodded politely. Took another sip. Another guy with no interesting properties she could quantify.
Why was she doing this to herself?
Blimey, they loved the sound of their voice, didn’t they?
Buzzzzz
Thank god.
She glanced at the next guy approaching.
“Hi there.”
“Hi”
“Do you want to tell me a bit about yourself?”
“Well, I am Jack,” taps his name badge. “Which is the perfect name as people would refer to me as a jack of all trades.”
Nervous chuckle.
“Oh, that’s interesting, in what way?”
“I’m currently looking into creating a new app that will help low-cost families, it searches the supermarkets’ deals for that week and creates the lowest cost menu for them.”
“Wow, that doesn’t really sound jack of all trades.”
“Well, I’m also gathering together a team of savvy elders who are putting together old-style hints and tips to help the next generation.”
“Wow. That’s impressive, makes my life seem pretty boring. All I do is go to work and come home.”
“Oh, I never asked, what do you do?”
“Oh, I am just a software engineer.”
“Really, you might be just the person I am looking for actually. I do have some software algorithms I’m struggling to figure out.”
“Erm..” she paused.
“You would be helping people and… well, it would be a good way to get to know each other.”
Buzzzzz
Oh no.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
He smiled and ticked his sheet as she ticked hers.
Maybe she’d finally figured out what she wanted her taste in men to be… and maybe her mother would give her some peace at last.
Intelligence is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas
“No, no, no……”, a tiny voice shouted into the darkness. “Not Tony, we can’t have lost Tony.”
“Pull it together man. We’ve got to get the rest of the gang to safety. We’ll come back for Tony.”
In two’s the men made their way for cover. Safely in shelter one of them dared to turn on the light.
“Geoff, what are you doing? Do you want us to get caught?”
“Chill, we’re in the all-clear.” In the distance, they could hear glasses clinking, laughter and soft music. Still, it was clear some of the guys were nervous. They’d been caught out before and they knew the repercussions.
“Look we’ll hunker down here for a while. See if we can get one or two of those vehicles started and then head out.”
More laughter drifted through the air towards them, and they heard a door banging in the distance. Ignoring it they focussed on the cars. How many would they need to fit everyone in?
“Alex! James! Get yourselves back to bed this instant!” The bedroom light switched on startling two young boys. In the doorway stood an angry woman with her hands on her hips.
“Mum… It was just getting to the good bit,” Alex whined.
“You’ve already been told. Any more of that nonsense and James will be going home. You know you were only allowed to have a sleepover if you boys went to bed on time.” She walked into the room and removed some of the dolls the boys were playing with.
The boys skulked over to bed, wading through a trail of dolls and cars and toy guns.
“I expect this mess to be cleaned up first thing in the morning, then you can have these back.” His mother said then with a whoosh she switched off the light and closed the door.
“What now?” came a quiet voice in the dark. A dull torchlight appeared under the bedsheets.
“Give them five minutes to get back to their dinner party and we can play again.” “Yea, now we’ve really got to rescue Tony!”
📖 A collection of short stories which all revolve around an anniversary of some kind (finished off with a few recipes from the Hairy Bikers). This book contains short stories from Fanny Blake, Elizabeth Buchan, Rowan Coleman, Jenny Colgan, Philippa Gregory, Matt Haig, Veronica Henry, Andy McNab, Richard Madeley and John O’Farrell.
✍️I’m pleased to say that the entire collection was enjoyable and featured quite a range of stories, timelines and writing styles. See below a quick summary of a few of them to whet the appetite:
The Other Half by Fanny Blake is about a young single mum who has taken on a taxi job to support her family after her husband ran off with her best friend. It’s a funny, warm, light-hearted story with a great ending.
Moment of Glory by Elizabeth Buchan is a wonderful flash into the second world war. Ellen, now a stay-at-home mother, was working at a top-secret signals base. She gives us a little insight into life at the station. It’s a sweet uplifting story, championing motherhood. The type of tale you would expect to find in a people’s friend magazine.
Birthday Secrets by Rowan Coleman is an intriguing little tale giving an insight into families discussing LGBTQ+ within the household and opening up to partners/parents about it. It’s a kind, positive story and handled with a brilliant sense of positive normality.
May Day by Philippa Gregory was my favourite story of the bunch. It follows Henry VIII sixth wife, Katherine Parr but more interestingly it tells the story of St Tryphine, a woman forced against her will to marry her father’s husband. Exploring her husband’s castle, she finds some secret rooms which contain several of the murdered remains of her husband’s previous wives. The two stories are brilliantly woven together. Historical fiction at its finest. 💭 Overall View: Needless to say, I liked this book. It is part of the “quick reads” collection which I like to intersperse between larger novels. The idea of this collection is exactly as it says on the tin (or should that be cover), a shorter than normal book by world-leading authors. Well worth the £1 cover price and highly recommended. 👍 Please leave a like if you think my review/feedback of the item was helpful to you. Alternatively, please contact me if you want me to clarify something in my review.
This is a quirky little book which I picked up after a visit to Athens hoping it would capture some of the pretty Greek city between its pages.
Some of the stories have a bit of a moral to them particularly the Kafenion which tells the story of twin brothers who get an equal share in their fathers café but are forever jealous of the other and find it difficult to share.
The Periptero is another little story that holds a bit of moral within the tale, telling the story of a young flashy man who flaunts his money and wealth in front of an elderly newspaper kiosk owner who has learned the value of the little things. Will the young man get his comeuppance for his greed and vanity?
The writing in this book is often very beautiful and very evocative of Greek settings. For example:
“Manos worked through the night and with a giant can of white emulsion and a roller he swiftly covered the stained anaglypta. Soon the place was transformed. He repainted the bar in a bright blue and resolved to paint the frames of two chairs each night until they were all in matching azure. The effect was dramatic.”
All the stories are quite slow burning which is fine for a holiday read but just something people looking for a fast action page-turner should be aware.
Despite the book containing ten short stories all the characters were quite unique and a joy to read about. Of these, one of my favourites was Kyria Kakanidis from the story “The Lesson”. Her character was smart, humble, and overall very likeable. Well-portrayed by the author.
As I said this is a quirky little book.
I think it’s probably a 3.5 stars. It is slow and despite being short stories the author spends a long time on description rather than getting to the plot. Also, the stories have limited conversations so sometimes you get page after page of words without dialogue to break it up. This can be a little off-putting. However, the stories themselves are joyful. There is a well-thought out range of tales and I enjoyed the authors not with photos and inspirations behind the pieces.
Please leave a like if you think my review/feedback of the item was helpful to you. Alternatively, please contact me if you want me to clarify something in my review.
People stood muttering to one another, some yelled angrily at the flight teams, some napped uncomfortably on the harsh metal chairs. It was during the chaos that Alfie escaped. Making his way down the restricted corridors, he couldn’t help his excitement. He had always been curious by airports, now he had a chance to explore. When the tannoy went off calling his name he ignored it. Eventually, he made his way to a doorway where an air hostess was announcing they had been cleared for flight – slipping his way past the queuing muttering people he moved down a long gangway. He stood with a large family, smiling at a boy about his age. The air hostess moved out the way to allow them all past and he found he was on an aeroplane, time to find a new hiding place. He fell asleep beneath a large holdall, waking some time later. He was excited to tell his family of his great adventure. He just needed to get home now.
Short fiction piece of 175 words for FFfAW challenge – This week’s photo prompt is provided by Dawn Miller. Thank you Dawn!
Click on the frog to see more flash fiction inspired by this image
Voyages, trips, journeys. Why did everyone think they were good things? Couldn’t things just stay the same? Emily looked at Ben sitting next to her on the couch. He took her hand gently.
“Don’t worry Emily. Don’t be sad, it’ll be okay.” He said but it just made her more upset.
“I don’t want to go I’ll miss you too much.” She said between sniffles.
Emily’s mum walked in. “Emily time to get in the car. It’s two weeks at camp, not death row!” She said pointing to the door. It was going to be a long two weeks.
Aeroplane Image courtesy of Rich Voza for Friday Fictioneers
New2Writing 