Apr 29, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story
PHOTO PROMPT © Mary Shipman
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Semi-realistic fantasy-fiction
Genii
©April 29th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
My husband had died. My son had taken the house. My relations were scattered.
All I was left with now was the shop. No one wanted it. By law, it was mine (an old will left by my husband before things soured).
I sat there, my heart in pieces, selling a small thing here or there, just enough to buy food, and pay for my heat.
“How much for that lamp?” asked a bell-clear voice.
I looked up.
A beautiful gray-haired woman stood there. Her eyes were mist-gray. “I’m Jeanie,” she said, “I need that lamp.”
I fell in love.
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This is my third attempt. Bear with me, please! Something about this photograph calls out to me.
Once again, many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother of FF, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, where we get to read the work of some of the best story-tellers in the blogging world. Thanks, too, to Mary Shipman for that lovely photo-prompt!
Tags: #Genie, #Genii, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Apr 28, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story
PHOTO PROMPT © Mary Shipman
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Realistic fiction
Parallel-Life
©April 28th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I’d travelled many miles. Bandits had taken all I had. My only child had died when they attacked. I had to bury him in the forest, my heart a stone.
Grief and hunger assailed me. I hadn’t eaten for five days. I’d walked for miles. The berries I’d found had made me sick.
I reached a shop. Incongruous things hung there.
“Please,” I croaked, collapsing at the door, “Some food …”
A boy came out of the shadows. “Come in. My father went out five days ago, and never returned. My mother’s in shock.”
He seemed strangely familiar. I crawled in.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother Extraordinaire for hosting Friday Fictioneers, where we get to meet and mingle with some of the finest story-tellers in the blogging world. Thanks, as well, to Mary Shipman for that photo-prompt!
Tags: #Coincidence?, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #RealisticFiction
Apr 28, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story
PHOTO PROMPT © Mary Shipman
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Fairy tale? Demon-Tale! (Alas, I seem to not have much realistic fiction left in me – I’ll give it another try!)
Shopping Trap
©April 28th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
It was a curious shop. Rolling pins, lamps and chemises hung down. At the far end, wearing a long, dirty nightgown, sat a man, with wispy white hair on his head. His teeth were yellow-stained, his fingernails dirty.
As far as Nina knew, he’d never sold anything. Day after day, she passed his shop; the same things hung down, or sat on the shelf.
Passing one day, she looked straight into his eyes.
His returned gaze rattled her. Despite herself, she entered.
In seconds, the shop, the man, and Nina vanished, before the mournful words, “Another one gone” echoed everywhere.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother Extraordinaire for hosting Friday Fictioneers, where we get to meet and mingle with some of the finest story-tellers in the blogging world. Thanks, as well, to Mary Shipman for that photo-prompt!
Tags: #Fantasy-FairyTale-Mystery, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Shopping
Apr 20, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story, Uncategorized
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Fairy tale? Demon-Tale!
Demon-Town
©April 20th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I can’t take anymore, sighed Hans.
He’d been walking the fence for twenty minutes, trying to find a gap. THEY had segregated him, his family, and town, for unknown reasons.
Psst! came a voice from a tree beyond the fence.
Peering out, a young demon grinned wickedly, and said, Sell me your soul; I’ll let you all go free.
“Why?” asked Hans, incredulous.
I’m not paid enough for this. I need a soul. I’m hungry. Yours looks delicious.
Hans thought, If this is a hallucination, so be it.
By the time he breathed, “Okay,” the maw of darkness engulfed him.
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Thanks, always, to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother, powerful story-weaver, and of Friday Fictioneers, and to Madison Woods (whose url I could not find) for the photo-prompt.
P.S. I wanted to write something about the Holocaust, but since Rochelle already wrote one, I thought, Head to fantasy world!
P.P.S. I’ll be travelling by car later this evening (to Toronto), and will not be able to visit any sites until tomorrow evening (we’re stopping on the way). Running around, getting things ready. I look forward to reading everyone’s stories.
Apr 13, 2016 Friday Fictioneers
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Fairy tale
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis
©April 13th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
A castle stood deep in a forest. An imposing tower frowned upon the trees that ringed it. A timid moon shone behind the smaller turrets around it.
The oaken gates opening onto a courtyard revealed a strange scene:
On a velvet couch, lay a maiden with floating hair, and star-flecked lashes. Her scarlet cloak lay athwart her shoulders, and her hand held a knife.
Into this space stepped a man in a whoosh of air.
Holding a palette and brush, he began painting the rest of her.
Awaking, she saw him, smiled slowly, and asked, “What took you so long?”
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, our Fairy-Blog Mother, for her lovely hostliness while maintaining the purity of Friday Fictioneers, and kind words to all of us from every Wednesday to the Tuesday of the week, as we struggle to put our stories into words. Thanks, also, to Kent Bonham, for that mysterious photograph. I had to figure out what to do with it. It was fascinating.
Tags: #ArtvsReality, #Galatea, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Pygmalion, #VitaBrevisArsLonga
Apr 8, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story
PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reminiscence
©April 8th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
“Do you remember, love? Do you remember how you and I built our house? How we lived, loved, fought, and laughed together? Do you remember the flowers we planted, the vegetables, the trees, our pup in the garden?”
I don’t show her pictures of the place from recent times, just the ones from long ago.
Her left hand caresses the photo-album. Looking at the pictures, then, up at me, lips trembling, she whispers, “Who are you?”
She reaches for my arm with her right hand, and her grip tightens.
A tear falls on a photograph. Whose?
We grow quiet together.
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Thanks, as always, to our dear Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, and to J Hardy Carroll for the haunting photo-prompt.
Tags: #100-wordFlashFiction, #Alzheimers, #MemoryLoss, #Nostalgia
Apr 6, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Horror (ish)
The Detention
©April 6th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Two things you should never do:
a. Contradict your teacher.
b. Stay back after school for an extra session.
I did both.
I stayed back after school. My outburst in class about yet another incorrectly-explained algebra problem had earned me yet another detention. Unwilling to look Ms. Know-Nothing in the eye, I stared at her hands, as I handed her my insincere apology-note.
And stared.
The fingers started flaking off. In minutes, all that I saw were bones.
I fainted.
When I awoke, I was a babbling mess. The teacher was not seen again. The school was closed down indefinitely.
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Thanks, as always to our gracious Fairy Blog-Mother and Fearless Leader of Friday Fictioneers, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for inspiring us every week! And thanks, as well, to
J Hardy Carroll, for that intriguing photo-prompt.
Tags: #Detention, #Mild horror
Apr 2, 2016 Friday Fictioneers
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Grimly-Realistic fiction
Chance
©April 2nd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Aparna stood, transfixed. Beside her stood Ajay, her husband. Together, they gazed out on the city.
The city was everything she had imagined. The morning sky was clear and blue. The streets teemed with life. Somewhere within, however, she felt a tremor, a tectonic shift.
Shivering, Aparna said, “I’d like to go down, now.”
“Why?” said Ajay, who didn’t like changing plans midway.
“Please,” she said, her hand tightening on his.
He knew her too well to argue. They made their way to the elevator.
Just as they reached the street, the building collapsed.
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Not entirely satisfied with my last story, I tried again. Thanks to our Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers with patience and grace every week, and to Marie Gail Stratford for the photo-prompt this week.
Tags: #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #RealisticFiction
Apr 2, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Mythological fiction
Resurgam, OR, Babylon Revisited
©April 2nd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
“This one’s mine,” said Tammuz.
“You can’t take over this one, Tums,” said Ishtar. “You’re too gloomy. That city is MINE. I’ll call it the City of Love.”
Marduk, on her left, laughed at her with his sky-blue eyes, and spoke in many tongues:
“You may be beautiful and powerful, darling Ishtar, but that city was ALWAYS mine. See that shadow tower rising up? That was built for me in Babylon. Confusion reigns here; the sky’s the limit.
I, Marduk, the sky-god, rise again – and Babylon rises with me.”
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, whom I have dubbed our Fairy Blog-Mother for her devotion to Friday Fictioneers, an online pow-wow which she hosts counter-intuitively on Wednesdays, just to befuddle those of us who like time-tables and such. All of us are addicted to writing flash fiction, and to her kind and generous feedback. This week’s photo-prompt is by Marie Gail Stratford. Thank you, Marie!
Tags: #Babylonian gods, #Babylonian mythology, #Urban landscapes, yl
Mar 23, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story, Uncategorized
PHOTO PROMPT – © Ted Strutz
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Philosophical Realism / Science-Fiction at the end
Out of the Muck
©March 23rd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
We cannot live without hope.
Throw us in the dirt – we’ll rise. Throw us in the ocean – we’ll swim. Feed us rats – we’ll survive. Toss us down a cliff. We will cling to every rock, every branch, until we climb back up.
It’s coded into our DNA. You don’t believe us? Come, walk through this yard in the heart of the slums. See that toilet? What’s in it? Flowers?
THAT’s who we are.
So, please leave our planet alone. Go to another one. We are human. We WILL triumph. We WILL prevail. We are the Masters and Servants of Life.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, whom I have dubbed our Fairy Blog-Mother for her unwavering commitment to hosting Friday Fictioneers, an online pow-wow for those of us addicted to writing flash fiction – and for her thoughtful feedback to everyone who posts stories on the photo-prompt de la semaine. This week’s photo-prompt is by the redoubtable Ted Strutz, an amazing storyteller and thoughtful commentator on others’s posts.
Tags: #Humans will prevail, #Out of the ooze, #Triumph over adversity