Feb 11, 2014 Original Short Stories

So, this is the set of instructions and prompt that we were given for the first story.  Scroll down below for my story, based on these assigned limitations:

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(Via Michael Downing)

Here is the scenario:

There is a woman in a room.  There is a door, a window, and a chair in the room.  A man comes to the door.  He says, “We’ll be with you in a few minutes.  Don’t open the window.”  He leaves.  He returns.  The window is open.

The assignment is to write a story that begins after the man returns. Do not assume that readers know anything about the scenario.  That is, you will want to let readers understand that the man previously told the woman not to open the window.  Your story begins as the man returns and sees that the window is open:

The technical requirements are these:

–No more than 250 words.

–Past tense.

–Third person (limited or omniscient—and if that distinction is not meaningful to you, don’t worry about it; the idea of third-person narration is simply to use a narrator who is not a character in the story)

–Use only monosyllabic words. (Really.)

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My Story:

The Thing That Flew Down From The Wall

Vijaya Sundaram

 Anne had been there for a while.  Her hands were clasped, knees pressed close.  She was not used the wait.  Her coat was placed on the back of the chair.  Her heart was loud with real fear. 

From the square of light at Anne’s back blew in drifts of snow, as she grew more and more cold.

She was scared, for she had just seen a thing that could not be real.  Yet, here it was, large as life.  And it had done what she had been told not to do. 

She found her voice. She screamed.

A tall, dark man rushed in.  Scorn curled his thin lips. 

“Why did you do it, Ms. James?  I asked you to sit there, and not let in fresh air!” he snapped.  “Yet you did.  Why?”

She tried to speak, but fright had made her jaw clench.

He walked to the back of her chair, and shut out the snow and cold air.  His eyes mocked her.  “Well?” he asked.

Now, she found her voice.  Fear died away.  A strange calm was in her now.

“But I did not,” she said.  “If you want to find out who let in fresh air, don’t look at me.  There’s a thing you have not seen.  When you see it, you will scream.  I don’t need your job.  Good day.”

As she walked out, a huge, black thing flapped and flew down from the back wall. 

He screamed, as it plucked out his eye.

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Tags: Flash Fiction, Michael Downing, Micro-Fiction, Story-Prompt, Third-Person Limited