We Are Family – Alastair’s Photo Fiction

Here is my offering for Alastair’s Photo Fiction this week, inspired by the photo below.  Why not take part? And why not visit his photography and writing blog to take a look at his other photos…?

Copyright - A Mixed Bag

Copyright – A Mixed Bag

– We Are Family –

“There’s a pike in there you know. It’s got really sharp teeth!”

I rolled my eyes over my little sister’s head as she giggled, grasping Dad tightly around the waist. He winked at me, as I knew he would.

“How big is it, Daddy?”

“Ooooh!” He gripped his pipe between his teeth, screwing up his eyes against the tendrils of smoke curling around his head.  He stretched his arms wide. “It must be this big by now – it’s very, very old!”

“And very, very hungry!” I chimed in, unable to resist joining him on the joke.

Sadie peeked at me from underneath her heavy fringe, eyes sparkling and a grin forming like sun winking from behind the clouds. She poked Dad in the stomach. “Da-ad! You’re teasing me again!”

He picked her up, swinging her high above his head. He let go, and she squealed, excited, yet knowing she was safe. He caught her mid-air, pulling her close to his chest with one arm, enveloping me with the other.

“That’s because I love you. Both of you.”

One – Five Sentence Fiction

It’s time for my latest offering to Lillie McFerrin’s Five Sentence Fiction, a weekly prompt where there is no word limit, just a limit on the number of sentences. Plus, although she provides a word prompt, it is just for direction only – you don’t have to include the word itself in your contribution.

This week, the prompt is  – WILD.

Do let me know what you think of my offering below – and whilst you’re at it, why not take a look at everyone else’s offerings (I’m sure they’ll be fabulous), and even give it a go yourself…

*****

– One –

They describe me as ‘feral’, talking above my head as if I’m incapable of understanding.

They treat me as if I am an imbecile, just because I don’t talk.

I’m not feral, I’m just terrified; I’ve been staring death in the face every day since… then.

I may look like a wilderchild, but I’m just a girl who got lost in the Midbar – that’s all.

I want my mum.

Lillie McFerrin Writes


The Fight – VisDare 38

Here’s my latest offering for Anonymous Legacy‘s photo-inspired prompt, VisDare. This week’s prompt word is ‘Chase’. The rules are simple:

150 words – or less.

Post entry to your blog and “link in”.

(Please – no erotica or graphic violence.)

DON’T FORGET to read and comment on others’ entries!!

The photo is below, and my piece follows.  Let me know what you think, and give it a go yourself, why not?

 

– The Fight – 

They’re too fast. There’s no way I can escape their clutches. My stomach clenches with fear, I gasp, swallow sea-water and go under, once, twice, flailing, kicking, eyes stinging against the salt.

My chest is on fire. I’m desperate to breathe, to oxygenate my lungs. Where’s the surface? What will be worse, drowning or….?

Instinct – the primeval urge to survive – pushes me to the surface and I pop up, released like a champagne cork. I drag in ragged breaths. I don’t care if they get me, I just need to breathe…

The sun shines. A lone seagull casts its shadow on the gently swelling surface. The storm has passed and they are gone. I see the lighthouse, a candy-striped speck in the distance and begin to power through the water towards it.

For the next few minutes, I can pretend that all is as it used to be.

*****

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