Jun 4, 2014 Original Short Stories
PHOTO PROMPT
Copyright – Douglas M. MacIlroy
Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers, and thanks to Douglas M. MacIlroy for this week’s photo prompt. Below is my 100-word story based on the prompt above.
Charon
©June 4th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
Heartbroken, I stumbled down a snow-smothered mountain. Hope and love were dead. It was time to end it.
Below, the turbulent river drew me like a lover. On its desolate shore, a boat waited to take me into a land from which I could never return. The seated boatman’s keen blue gaze sliced the air.
Mutely, I sloped river-wards, impelled by fate, impaled on grief.
Somewhere, above my consciousness, three candles flickered beside a spoon, some furry-slippered feet, a conch-shell, and a jar of peanut butter.
Pausing, I said, “Let me be.”
***
Hmm … thought my writer. Should he die?
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Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Original Short Story, Charon, Flash Fiction, Styx
May 28, 2014 Original Short Stories
PHOTO PROMPT
Copyright –Jennifer Pendergast
I must confess I was inspired to write another one. This prompt by Jennifer Pendergast is to blame. (Thanks, Jennifer! And thanks, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for hosting your wonderful 100-word, Fiction-Writing challenge for the Friday Fictioneers community every Wednesday! I hope I haven’t overstepped my bounds in attempting another story. If I have, I’m so sorry! If not, please let me know if you liked this one!
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Cogito, Err-go Sum, OR: De-Programming Perfection
©May 28th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
I remember that arch.
I’d seen it from a distance, knew the sacrifice it entailed.
I came from a world where only bleakness and machines existed. I had been one of them, perfect. I never made mistakes. I was programmed not to.
Someone had worked on me and given me form, flesh, a soul, a past and a passport.
“Now you may go. You can learn about our world,” she said.
I tried on gratitude. My voice was hoarse. “Thank you,” I said.
And I entered that other world through that arch.
I was human.
I erred.
Then, I cried.
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Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Original Short Story, #Perfection, cogito ergo sum, errors, From machine to man, programming and de-programming, to err is human
May 28, 2014 Original Short Stories, Teaching and Learning
PHOTO PROMPT
Copyright –Jennifer Pendergast
Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for creating Friday Fictioneers and posting a photo-prompt every Wednesday! I LOVE these prompts, and have only recently been contributing to this site. I love this site, because the Friday Fictioneers community is so supportive! I look forward to Wednesdays with an eagerness these days that I didn’t used to have — Wednesday used to be the doldrums of my week in general. Now, it’s the high point. Thanks, also to this week photographer, Jennier Pendergast for this lovely picture!
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I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
(From Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
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My story begins below:
The Arch Beckons
©May 28th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
I gave it the old college try. Pored over tomes. Huddled in dark corners of libraries. Studied for days in artificial light, while outside, the world darkened, and then glowed bright again.
One day, it dawned on me. I had to leave.
Leaving is hard.
Armed with an F in Literature, Latin and in Comparative Linguistics, I packed my bags, called home, left my stepfather a terse message, “Am leaving. Am done. Don’t look for me. Thanks for nothing.”
The scars from him were nothing to what I’d acquired in the Sanctum of Learning.
The Sirens called. I heeded them.
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Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Original Short Story, Alfred, Arches, Dropout, Flash Fiction, Lord Tennyson, Sirens, The Old College Try, Ulysses
May 21, 2014 Original Short Stories
Welcome to my 100-word story contribution to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Friday Fictioneers! This is an online community of writers who post 100-word stories based on a photo prompt provided on Rochelle’s blog. This week’s photo is courtesy of Erin Leary
PHOTO PROMPT Copyright – Erin Leary
Defenseless
©May 21st, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
It was a fence. I didn’t like it.
We had moved to the country. I didn’t worry about school and the monsters anymore.
I had a huge field of my own, a puppy, and fresh air.
But here was also a fence. I started moaning and butting my head against it.
The fog lifted. I continued butting.
Some sheep wandered over to watch.
Awakening in a white room, I saw a white-coated man.
“Is the fence gone?” I asked my mother, who held my hand.
She nodded. Her eyes were wet. I wondered why.
I closed mine. I felt happy.
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P.S. Question for my Friday Fictioneers colleagues: How do I get the InLinkz icon to show up below my story, like some of you have done? Do I need to subscribe to InLinkz?
I put the url here, in any case:
http://new.inlinkz.com/luwpview.php?id=401321
Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Original Short Story, autistic child, Fences
May 14, 2014 Original Short Stories
Sheep and Nipples
©May 14, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
Welcome to my 100-word story contribution to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Friday Fictioneers! This is an online community of writers who post 100-word stories based on a photo prompt provided on Rochelle’s blog. This week’s photo is courtesy of Sandra Crook. 
I lay in bed, counting sheep.
A car appeared amidst the sheep. Its rear bumpers were visible. I tried to hail it. Nothing happened. The sheep pressed forward, urgent and militant, in my direction.
I reminded myself that I was trying to get to sleep.
The sheep came closer, backing me into a corner of the image.
I tapped at the edges of my mental image, but it remained resolutely two-dimensional.
Sleep never came. Sheep poured in, though.
Beside me, the baby stirred and made sucking noises. I awoke. Sigh.
I shall never use lanolin on sore nipples again, ever.
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Tags: #Friday Fictioneers, #Original Short Story, #Sheep, 100-word short story based on photo prompt, lanolin, nursing story, sore nipples