Jun 1, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Uncategorized

Word Count:  89 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Mythological epochal fiction

Wheel
©June 1st, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

The wheel turned, and time turned with it.  The earth rose and fell in large, slow panting gasps.

No one knew the stone-and-mud abode existed.  This valley had been formed millennia ago when the earth yawned, and everything caved in.  All that was left was this dwelling.

Well, not just that.  There was a person inside, sleeping.  When the wheel turned again, he awoke.

“Mother?” he called, confusedly. Where was his large family whose footsteps shook the world?

Earth answered.  The valley tumbled into oblivion.

The man slept again.

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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, our Fairy Blog-Mother, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, where story-tellers gather from around the world.  Thanks, also, to Piya Singh for that lovely photograph!

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

May 26, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Uncategorized

Photo Prompt © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Dream a Dream of Love
May 26th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

As the waves sweep towards these rocks where he stands, he dreams.

He is holding his beloved in his arms, she of the gossamer hair and glimmering eyes, of the breath sweet as wildflowers, she of the voice like the sighing sea-breeze, of the laughter that broke upon his heart, like the waves breaking upon these rocks.

He dreams she loved him and he loved her back, but in time, his heart turned hard.

When he left, she walked into the sea.

Dreaming, he mourns, as the water surges around him.

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With thanks to our beloved Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, and for today’s beautiful photo-prompt.

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

May 18, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story

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PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Realistic and semi-Paranormal Fiction

Beyond the Veil
©May18th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

The waiting was hard, but it was all Santosh could do.  Images of his new bride, now in the hospital, flooded his mind.

Standing up suddenly, he brushed his shock of black hair back, went to the window, and looked out blindly.  The world was racing towards its goalless future.  He couldn’t care less now about others.  Only the present mattered.

Suddenly, he felt a touch on his shoulder.  He turned, and smiled in joy.  “Amala!  Wait … how are you here?”

She laid a finger to her lips.

The door opened.  The surgeon entered, face sombre.

The room spun around.

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With thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother to all of us who cannot wait for her munificence (:-) ), and to J. Hardy Carroll for that evocative photograph which puts us all in mind of eternal waiting rooms.

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

May 18, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story

The Wait, or The Tame Elopement
©May 18th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

We waited with drumming hearts.  We were breaking a rule.

“Next!” came a voice from the office.  We entered with our friends, Ajit and Randy.

“Sign here,” said the magistrate.  We signed.  I didn’t remember much else in that bureaucratic blur.

“Have sweets,” he ordered us.  The dingy room burst into applause as we exchanged pedhas.

Later, after a wonderful thali lunch, followed by a happy party at W’s house, I went home.

That was precisely one day short of twenty-eight years ago.

Six months later, we were “officially” married in a Hindu ceremony.

And we began our married life.

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With thanks, as always to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother of the whole Flash Fiction universe (listen, all you other flash fiction writers out there!), and to J. Hardy Carroll for that photograph that makes us all think of waiting spaces.

This is a true story.  Obviously, I’ve left out a LOT of details.  It was a whole lot more confusing and crazy and exhilarating than I could say in a hundred words.

And our 28th Wedding Anniversary is tomorrow!  What a wonderful ride it’s been!

Tags: #Elopement(ofasort), #FridayFictioneers, #Marriage, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt

May 13, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction

PHOTO PROMPT © CEAYR

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

Escape
©May 13th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

When they came, I was asleep in my sleeping bag in the wooded park far from home, where my step-father had contributed to a life of mute terror. 

The woods bordered a lake, across which blue-gold city-lights glowed.  Along the trail, I’d salvaged chicken sandwiches thrown away by careless picnickers.  That night, I slept contentedly.

I awoke suddenly to a bright blue light, and quiet noises.  Creeping over to where I’d heard the sound, I saw policemen with dogs and flashlights.  Without waiting, I ran for the lake, and plunged in. 

What did it matter that I could not swim?

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I must be addicted to flash fiction! Not content with writing an inter-galactic romance in 100 words yesterday, I decided to go the route of grim fiction today in another 100 words.

With thanks to Fairy Blog-Mother and brilliant story-teller, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, and to the master of micro-fiction CEAYR, for the mesmerizing photograph.

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

May 12, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction

PHOTO PROMPT © CEAYR

Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Inter-galactic romantic fiction

Ad Astra
©May 12th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

Waves of light trembled brokenly on the water.  The buildings lit up like jewels.

Turning to face him, I saw his anguished look. 

“It’s time to go,” he whispered, embracing me.

“Why can’t I come?” I asked, held-back tears draining into my throat.

“They’ll kill you.  You have to stay.  I have to leave.”

He aligned himself with the light.  His eyes not leaving mine, he glowed brightly for a second, then vanished as if he had never been.

Now weeping openly, I looked at what he’d left me:  A ring, glowing blue. 

I wear it still.  And I wait.

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I decided on romance for this week’s FF.  This is unusual for me, because, as those who follow my blog know, I’m a hard-hitting realistic type with a no-nonsense attitude to such silliness as romance.  Bah, humbug to romance, I say!  Too cheesy, I say.  Still, all you need is love, as The Beatles declared.  Hope you don’t mind.  🙂
Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother of the Known Universe, for hosting FF every week, and to the wonderfully terse C.E. Ayr for that lovely photograph. 

Tags: #100-wordFlashFiction, #FridayFictioneers, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt

May 5, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot
Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Realistic Fiction

Song of the Air
©May 5th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

When things got unbearable, Lali would go up to the attic, escaping the constant carping of her mother.  Her cowed father’s silence, the result of his being sniped at daily, didn’t help.

Once alone, Lali would throw open the window and stare out at the birds, who ranged themselves on a wire, and sang to her, inviting her to join them.  And she would dream.

Today was different.  An ‘F’ in her science exam had gotten her a beating from her mother.  She wasn’t allowed to play outside for a month.

The birds seemed to be calling extra-insistently to her.

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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother Extraordinaire, for hosting Friday Fictioneers with her usual grace and élan , and to Roger Bultot, for that lovely, if gloomy, photograph.

Tags: #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt

May 4, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

Word Count:  100 words of text, exactly
Genre:  Whimsical Bird-Fiction

Dave
©May 4th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

“Where’s Dave?”

“Oh, you know Dave!”

“He’s late, dammit!  This concert will be a disaster without our bass player.”

“We could do “Flight of the Bumble Bee.” 

“Nah, that’s too overdone.”

“What about “The Lark Ascending?”

“Only you know it!  The rest of us aren’t that familiar with old Vaughn.”

The evening grew cloudier, darker.  They shifted around.  The audience began filtering in.

Suddenly, Dave arrived, amidst a flutter of whispers.  Taking up position, he bowed, and started a bass line in five-four.

The others joined in, one by one.

Thus began “Conference of the Birds.”

Peace descended.

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Tags: #Conference of the Birds, #DaveHolland, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt