Jun 5, 2015 Teaching and Learning

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Original Short Story by Vijaya Sundaram, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

May 13, 2015 Original Short Stories

,

PROMPT -© Marie Gail Stratford

Body text word count:  100 words

Genre:  Futuristic Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

The Others

©May 13, 2015

By Vijaya Sundaram 

Long ago, something happened.   Nobody mentions it.  Every full moon night, we young ones emerge from underground, tiptoeing around the fenced-in field, searching.

We are the People.  There were others before us …  Stranger People.  Tall, smooth-pelted, with five-toed feet, they had no bumps on their shoulders, like we do.   Then, we came to be.

Today’s different.

A shadow crosses the moon, getting larger.   A vessel descends, the hatch opens, and a Being emerges.

I kneel.

My shoulders blossom into wings.  My webbed feet become toes.  I turn and look at my People.

“Goodbye,” I whisper, and join the Others.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers every week, and to Marie Gail Stratford, for the photo prompt!

Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt

May 6, 2015 Original Short Stories

PHOTO PROMPT – © Madison Woods

Genre:  Realistic Fiction; current matters

Word Count:  100 words

Quench

By Vijaya Sundaram

©May 6, 2015

Rupa was in shock. Rubble surrounded her.  She was thirsty, but the taps were dry. Her dust-covered cheeks had two tear tracks, streams lost in a desert.  People were frantic, looking for their own. A neighbor offered her chappatis.  Rupa shook her head, returning to what she’d once called home.  Then, she gasped. 

A hand was clawing through the rubble. She screamed, “Kamala!”  Racing over to the spot, she began digging with bare hands.

Others came with shovels. 

An hour later, Rupa held her bruised six-year old daughter close.

“Ma?” whispered Kamala.

“What, my lotus?”

“Could I have some water?”

________________________________________________________________________

Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers every week,  a much-needed kick in this writer’s (my) derriere!  Thanks to Madison Woods for the photograph prompt.

Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Mother and Daughter, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt, Flash Fiction, Nepal earthquake, Rescue

Jan 16, 2015 Original Short Stories

Stat

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Jan Wayne Fields

Giving Thanks

©January 16th, 2015

By Vijaya Sundaram

Genre:  Realistic, depressing fiction

Word Count: 100 words

It’s Thanksgiving.

I’ve set the table.  There’s no one here — just me.  My father vanished six months ago.  My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV stomach cancer after that.  She died last month.  My sister, eighteen years old, eloped with her young, handsome college professor after that.  He was fired.  They moved to Montana.

Standing by the window, I’m blank as new-fallen snow.  There isn’t any snow, though.

I bring the food out — mashed potatoes, canned soup, bread, butter.

I sit down, raise an empty glass to an empty room.

“To my family,” I whisper, and begin laughing uncontrollably.

Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Thanksgiving, Vijaya Sundaram's Flash Fiction

Jan 8, 2015 Original Short Stories

PHOTO PROMPT – © Copyright Jean L. Hays

Genre: Realistic Fiction (current events-inspired)

Word Count:  100 words

Unthink

©January 8th, 2014

By Vijaya Sundaram

I found myself staring at the banner near the historic sign, and mouthed the letters to myself.

Unthink?

How had I gotten here?

Here, America’s Main Street, where songs arose from the dirt, and dreams were broken in the dust of racism?

Too much thinking, that’s what it was — too much reading and too many heartbreaking stories in the news.

I feared for my son — for his beautiful dark skin, his large-black-grape eyes, his woolly puff of hair, his idealistic spirit, his bursts of sadness.

I feared for him, for the safety of all our children.

How to unthink this?

________________________________________________________________________

Sorry, folks!  I’d been sick, then busy with schoolwork, and there was too much heartbreak in the news in the past five weeks.  I’ve missed being here, and seeing everyone’s work.  I will try and be more consistent, because I MISS this!

Thanks for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting this beautiful site, and for her use of unusual and challenging photo-prompts (for which I thank Jean L. Hays!)

Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt, Flash Fiction, Micro-Fiction, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Route 66 photo prompt

Dec 4, 2014 Original Short Stories

Frost-Flowers, OR: Aging

©December 4th, 2014

By Vijaya Sundaram

Genre: _____________?

Word Count:  100 words

I remember when frost-flowers froze.  Old Jack Frost put on his chill cloak of ice and snow, puffed his cheeks and blew out all life.  Then, he fell down in a swound, and lay, eyes open to the sky, which reflected death right back into his eyes.

I remember once, when the earth had been green and pulsing with life.  My friend and I would chase butterflies in the meadows, and thrill to the sound of birds, while we plucked wildflowers.

Now, memories are frosting over, covered with a thin film of despair.

I lay me down to rest now.

_________________________________________________________

Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for her prompt-selection, and to Janet Webb for the lovely photo-prompt!

Tags: #Aging, #Friday Fictioneers, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt, An Original Short Story by Vijaya Sundaram, Nostalia, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Dec 3, 2014 Awake in Dream Time - Journal Entries about the almost real, Original Short Stories

Water, Wifi, Rest, Knowledge

©December 3rd, 2014

By Vijaya Sundaram

Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Current Affairs

Word Count: 100 words

“I’m scared.”

Don’t be. We’ll take care of you.  And we have books.

“My father’s out there.  The cops hate us.”

I’m sorry it has to be like this in our town.  I’m sorry you have to worry.  We’re here.  And books are your friends.  We’ve got water, wifi, rest, knowledge.  Don’t worry.  We’ll take care of you.

“I’m afraid to go outside.  I think, I’ll be next.  I keep practising what I’ll do — hands up, pray, anything.  Will it work?”

We can only hope, children.  Dry your eyes.  The books will teach you.  Come. 

And quiet calmness took hold.

________________________________

(I’m VERY late in my response to last Wednesday’s Friday’s Fictioneers prompt.  I was too shaken up by the events in Ferguson, MO.  This Library picture made me want to weep, because I remembered that the library in their town was open for any children or families who wanted to be in a safe place among books.  Today, I was able to write about last week’s prompt.  If you’re reading it, do forgive my lateness.)

P.S.  I just contributed to their library, which apparently had a spike in donations after they stayed open on the day after the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict the Darren Wilson.

_________________________________

Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Water, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt, Darren Wilson, Ferguson, Knowledge, Michael Brown, Missouri, Rest, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Wifi

Nov 20, 2014 Original Short Stories

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Claire Fuller

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Word Count:  100 words

Trinity

There is no way to beat about the bush.

All life ceased to be.  So, how am I writing this?  I’m not.  I’m speaking directly into your mind.

You wandered into this spot three million years after it happened.  We were waiting.

The radiation levels were safe for you, and you happened to have been born, the Great Mushroom-Cloud only know how, and to whom.  We were waiting.

Our tires sustained no damage.  Even our store was standing.  See those two ghost-like figures on the door?  That’s us. We joined Michelin-in-the-Sky.  We are Roper and Son.

And we’re not friendly.

_____________________________________________________________________

 Thanks, as always to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, and to Claire Fuller for that depressing (but compelling) photograph!

Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Post-apocalyptic fiction, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Snark

Nov 12, 2014 Original Short Stories

Genre:  Tinsel Reality

Word Count:  100 words exactly

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

© November 12th, 2014

By Vijaya Sundaram

Welcome to Dreamland!

Herein lie shiny wares for those who wish to be taken unawares.  Yet, for all you know, you might be the one to go into the Land of Oblivion, standing beneath a palm tree, contemplating that which was never to be.  You might be bedazzlingly blonde, brilliantly blue-eyed — that cannot be denied, but who are you?  Therein lies the rub.

Latch onto a producer.  You might yet become a star.  Or, if he is a heartless seducer, you’ll end up waitressing at a bar.  Perhaps, you’ll go far.

If it’s Skid Row, I don’t want to know.

______________________________________________________

Thanks to our Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, both for hosting, and for the photo-prompt!

Friday Fictioneers is an online writing community that writes Flash Fiction of 100 words or fewer every week, and we wait eagerly for the photo-prompt to show up on Wednesdays, so that we can get in our stories by Friday.  I love reading what all of you write — the creativity and imagination I’ve seen so far is dazzling.  Thanks for reading my story!

Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt, Hollywood, New Indian Myth by Vijaya Sundaram, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Nov 5, 2014 Original Short Stories

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Jean L. Hays

Genre: Whimsical Fiction

Word Count:  100 words

I Married Her

©November 5th, 2014

By Vijaya Sundaram

I was a broken man, and I was broke. My wife had left.  I missed being loved.

One day, impelled by a whim, I awoke, and went to my car.

“Love me,” whispered Edsel-la.  I looked at her then, saw her true soul, and fell in love.

I whispered sweet nothings into her carburetor, and stroked her yellow-painted cheeks.

She told me to make some changes, promising me untold wealth if I followed her instructions.

Laugh at me if you will.  I did her bidding.  I’m not broke anymore.

Tomorrow, my car and I are going to get married.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

For some reason, I couldn’t get the InLinkz script to make a link to the other stories, and share the code.  I guess it now needs us to log in.  Please help, someone (do I need to make an InLinkz account, Friday Fictioneers?).

In any case, thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for sharing this strange and interesting photo-prompt for this week’s Friday Fictioneers (an online writing community that writes flash-fiction based on photo-prompts — for the uninitiated who might be reading my blog) .  I did the best I could in my 100-word story.  Hope you like it!

Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, 100-word original short story based on a photo prompt, man and car, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, the Ford Edsel