Tag Flash Fiction

Essence – Trifecta Week 95

freyathewriter 33 Comments

Below is my offering for Trifecta’s week 95 challenge word, which is ‘rainbow’. As you will see from the Trifecta blog post, the challenge is to write between 33 and 333 words of fiction, non-fiction, poetry or prose, based on the 3rd definition from the Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary. This week the 3rd definition of ‘rainbow’ is:

[from the impossibility of reaching the rainbow, at whose foot a pot of gold is said to be buried] : an illusory goal or hope

I hope you enjoy my offering – please check here for the other entries!

*****

– Essence –

“What do you want from life?”

The man replied, almost before the question had finished reverberating around the empty room.

“I just want to be happy! That’s all!”

Silence settled, coating the walls, the floor and the man himself with an almost palpable disapproval.

“Hello? Did you hear me? I said -”

“I heard.”

“So?”

“Are you absolutely certain?”

“Look, I thought you were omnipotent, omniscient, all that crap. So, just sort it out, won’t you? The rest of my life is waiting!”

The Voice sighed. Every time…

“If that is what you wish – and I repeat that you said ‘I just want to be happy’ – then it can be arranged. But if your only experience is happiness, you will be forever denied the richness of life. Do you understand me?”

The man held up his hand, as if to stop The Voice in its tracks. The man’s ears were deaf to all explanations. His mind had been made up long ago.

“I know what I want. Deliver it.”

The final words sealed his fate. The door opened and the man ran from the room, eager to meet his destiny.

The Voice remained silent. There was nothing to say. Removing all causes of negativity from the man’s life would render him happy, but not for long. Once he arrived home to a house with no wife and children to welcome him, a phone with no parents or friends to receive his call… well, his choice had been made.

The Voice knew. Each thing that brings us happiness also brings us pain. Equally, remove all sources of pain and our happiness soon evaporates.

Such is the way of the world.

Such a shame that once the man had made his decision, there was no turning back. He had embarked on a fool’s errand.

The Voice wondered if he himself would ever stop searching for the wise man, his own personal rainbow.

Perhaps The Heart would know.

*****

Trifecta

Life Lessons – Līgo Haibun Challenge

freyathewriter 21 Comments

This week, I have decided to dip another toe in the world of the haibun – a piece of prose followed by a haiku poem. The Līgo Haibun Challenge is hosted by Penny, Ye Pirate and Nightlake – why not take a trip to their blogs to find out more?

This week’s two alternative prompts are the following words:

Paradise

Apathy

I have chosen ‘apathy’ – because I really couldn’t be bothered wih paradise… 🙂

Please do go and check out the other entries by visiting any of the co-hosts’ blogs and finding the InLinkz linky thing! There are some very talented writers out there…

*****

– Life Lessons –

Recently, there have been days when I have fought hard to just drag myself out of bed. There have been moments when I have wondered (sometimes out loud) ‘What’s the point?’

Life is never what we plan. Lucky is the old man who can look back on the decades and think ‘Yes, this is what I imagined it to be’. Did he achieve everything that he wanted, when all was said and done?

Probably not.

The trick is to pull yourself through the dark parts so that they don’t drag you down. Learn from them, don’t let them consume you, nor let them take control of your life. Don’t let your darkest predictions become your reality. Do not, do not become apathetic in the face of life’s tough stuff.

Life can be terrible and wonderful. It usually has elements of both for all of us. And yet, we can spend so much time focusing on the disaster, wallowing in it, letting it define us and allowing it to stop us in our tracks that the autumn and winter of our lives arrive like an express train, whilst we barely notice the joy of the spring and summer.

Not bothering, not experiencing, not being in the world – terrible choices, all. Take time to breathe when life knocks you sideways, because it surely will. Don’t take the choice of opting out. Regrets lie there, aplenty.

life lessons are tough

the trick is to learn them well

winter comes quickly

ligo-challenge_logo

Possessed – Five Sentence Fiction

freyathewriter 13 Comments

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  – FLOWERS.

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…

*****

– Possessed –

I stride down the corridors looking neither left nor right; in a lucid moment she has asked for me and I glory in this, holding the knowledge close like a treasured possession.

I suppress a secret smile as I gaze at her, my fingers pressed against the window to her room; my plan has worked, although to render her this helpless I must have overestimated her weight.

The thought pleases me – I like them… delicate.

She is sleeping; her dark lashes heighten the pallor of her cheeks and this thrills me beyond all imagination – I am undone.

Entering her room, I place the two blood red blooms, intertwined like lovers, on the empty chair; she will see them on waking, and understand.

Lillie McFerrin Writes