Aug 10, 2017 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story

Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Depressingly realistic fiction

I Don’t Want To …
©May 10th, 2017
By Vijaya Sundaram

I try to avoid that stone when I go visit that clearing.  I don’t want to remember.
I don’t want to remember I was once that fourteen-year old, running through tall grass. 
I don’t want to remember who was chasing after me.
I don’t want to remember my breath coming in quick bursts.
I don’t want to remember how he caught up with me.
I don’t want to remember how I fell, how I grabbed a stone.
I don’t want to remember where he lies.
The clearing calls to me, every year.
I don’t want to go, but I do.
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Trying to make up for months of silence on the Friday Fictioneers front.  Many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting us, cheerfully, thoughtfully, and generously.

Aug 10, 2017 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story

PHOTO PROMPT© CEAyr

Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Geological-astronomical anthropomorphic rock-fiction

Never Water
©August 10th, 2017
By Vijaya Sundaram

Out of the soil, slowly emerging, out of the dirt, into the air, fault-lines converging, purging itself of all memory, all melodies of another time, another place, another birth, another face, I push aside what was, and raise my eyes to what is.

Once, I remember flying through space like a winged God, particles of me racing, spinning, then joining, then forming into larger and larger particles.  I was fire and joy, born in the heart of a nebula.

Now, I am a mere thing, small, cooled, reduced.

Fire and earth, but never water.

I am athirst.  I am athirst.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, our Fairy Blog-Mother, who tirelessly and steadfastly hosts Friday Fictioneers for all of us.  I was out for a long time in this space, but I’m back!

Sep 14, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction

PHOTO PROMPT © Shaktiki Sharma

Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Realistic Fiction

Grindstones and Gold
©September 14th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

The dowry covered the basics:  A grindstone for godumai mavu, another for makkacholam, and a stone idli mavu-grinder, plus the usual assortment of stainless steel  kitchen necessities.  Kavita also brought a gold necklace, pearl-and-coral earrings gold bangles, and silver anklets. 

The groom’s family pronounced themselves satisfied. 

What did it matter that the groom was dull-witted?

What did it matter that Kavita was pregnant with her low-caste lover’s child?

Did it matter that on her wedding night, she wept?

And did it matter that the next morning she was dead?

At least, they had the grindstones and the gold.

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Thanks to our dear Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, a wild and creative assortment of story-tellers from around the world!  Thanks to Shaktiki Sharma for the photograph!

Tags: #dowrydeathstory, #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #RealisticFiction

Sep 7, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story

Treadle and Thread
©September 7th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

Lyra sat weaving at her loom.  Behind her was a strange device.

Cursed to dwell there eternally, Lyra dreamt of freedom.  Food was brought to her, and mead.  Through the shuttered window of the stone castle, she glimpsed a silver river weaving through the woods.

How I wish I could be there! she yearned.

The sun played about her fingers, impelling her towards the machine behind her.

Placing her just-woven silver cloak on the strange device, Lyra worked the treadle, enspelled and ensnared.

A heartbeat later, something unravelled out the window, a cry spinning wood-ward.

Silver threads joined the river.

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Thanks to Fairy Blog-Mother Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, as always, for hosting Friday Fictioneers.  Thanks to the inimitable Sandra Crook for the photograph!

Tags: #Fantasy-FairyTale, #FridayFictioneers, #Loom, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Treadle

Aug 31, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction

Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Science-Fiction / Apocalyptic Fiction

Sub-Woofer
©August 31st, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

Leena had had no inkling of doom that day.  She’d gone to bed at 1:00 p.m., after reading for an hour, but was awoken by a noise that she’d never heard before.

Tiptoeing down the stairs, she pushed aside the curtains.

The sky was suffused with a blood-red luminosity.  A sound coming from beyond the building across hers chilled her bone-marrow – a prolonged scream at sub-woof frequency, unlike anything she’d heard.

Then, one by one, buildings winked out of existence. 

And she spun alone, in space, at the centre of a blood-red nothingness.

A sub-woof frequency scream emanated from her throat.

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Thanks to Rochelle, as always, for being our gracious Fairy Blog-Mother at Friday Fictioneers, and for choosing my photograph (gasp!) as a prompt.  Very honored!

Tags: #ApocalypticFiction, #FridayFictioneers, #ScienceFictionShortStory, #Semi-Horror

Aug 30, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction

Word Count:  100 words
Genre:  Paranormal romance

Ghost-Boat
©August 30th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

Every evening, Saras goes down to the banks of the river flowing near her house. 

A dark boat emerges silently from the gloaming.  Saras steps on board.  Sitting back, she sighs.  The boat moves.  No oars break the water’s surface.

Long ago, she’d loved the boatman.

A bamboo flute breathes desire and despair into the air.  Saras sings with it.  And she waits, calmly, without hope.

Now, Saras hears a question.  Her dead lover’s shimmering form emerges.  Saras says softly, “What took you so long to ask?” then, dissolves into tears.

When the boat returns to shore, it is empty.

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.I was away on vacation this past week.  Catching up is hard to do.  I thought I’d post this before the next FF prompt showed up.
This is a serious addiction.
Thanks to Rochelle, our beloved Fairy Blog-Mother, for hosting Friday Fictioneers.  Her stories always inspire and move me.
Thanks to Georgia Koch for that mysterious photograph!

Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Love and Death, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Supernatural

Aug 18, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, The Daily Post

PHOTO PROMPT © Janet Webb
Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Post-apocalyptic magic-sci-fi

Hive-Bound
©August 18th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

I wait, resting my haunches, dreaming of other times.

My people went away millennia ago, leaving our perfect hive among beautiful, polished stones on a blue china plate, which sat on a table abandoned by humans who’d left in a noisy hurry, and hadn’t taken anything with them.

Everybody on the planet had left.

I stayed behind.  I am the guardian of this beautiful, irradiated, breath-killing world, and I know they won’t forget me.

In stasis, I watch my dreams flow by, iridescent as the wings of my people.

Time passes.  I wait quietly on my eggs, which never hatch.

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Thanks to Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers every week, and for letting us bloom into story-tellers in the magic of her warm encouragement!

Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Post-apocalyptic fiction, #Sci-Fi Magic-Realism

Aug 12, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction

PHOTO PROMPT – © Adam Ickes
Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Realistic Fiction

Long Walk
©August 12th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

I remember the clouds that day.  The sky shone like my mother’s eyes, when she told us to be good, to always listen to Dad.  She told us to stay inside the house.  She told us to give Dad her letter.  She reminded us to say our prayers.  She said she loved us.  Her eyes were wet.

Then, she walked away with her suitcase, her pretty dress fluttering in the breeze.  At the other end of the boardwalk, a car waited.  She got into it, and it drove off.

I will never leave you, I think, holding my girls close.

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It’s been horribly hot, but FF beckons, and I cannot resist the call.  Thank you, Rochelle, for always urging us on with your gracious example, and your moving stories!  This is a very evocative photo-prompt.  Thank you, Adam Ickes, for the picture.

Tags: #Abandonment, #FridayFictioneers, #RealisticFiction, Original short story based on photo-prompt

Aug 3, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Uncategorized

Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Realistic-magic-realist fiction

Empty
©August 3rd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

Every day, they peer over my shoulder with haunted eyes.

I ignore them.  I’ve a job to do.  Some days are good.  The money’s okay.  At least, the drunk ones can’t reach over far enough to grab my breasts.

My parents died from alcohol poisoning.  I don’t drink.

At closing time, I cleared out customers, then sat for a few minutes.  My feet hurt.

“Join us,” said a silvery voice.  Heart hammering, I turned.  Her hand emerged from the painting.  I had nothing to lose.  I took it.  Colours swirled.

The world faded like a dream.  I drank new air.

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Thanks to our dear Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for hosting Friday Fictioneers in her indefatigable, inclusive, and cheerful way every week.  Thanks to Ted Strutz for that strange photograph, which I like very much.

Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #SupernaturalFiction, #Surrealist story

Jul 27, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story

PHOTO PROMPT © Janet Webb

Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Realistic Fiction

Drowning
©July 27th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

Leila stood in a corner, sipping water, wondering why she’d attended the party.

It’s not that I’m ugly, she thought.  I’m … boring.  And I hate small talk. 

Well, I won’t stick around, she decided, setting the glass down.  She moved towards the door, waving a vague goodbye. 

A beautiful woman who had glanced over a few times, detached herself from a group of attractive hipsters and came over.

“Hi, I’m Rona.  Want to join us?”

“I’ve got to catch a taxi home.”

“I’ll drive you home.  What’s your name?”

“Leila,” she answered.  She locked eyes with Rona.  Her heart lurched.

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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, our much-admired Fairy Blog-Mother, for hosting us tirelessly at her Friday Fictioneers Salon, and to Janet Webb, for the evocative photograph.

Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Loneliness, #Love, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt