Tainted – Alastair’s Photo Fiction

I seem to be hungry right now, and not just for food. I’m hungry for external inspiration for short pieces of writing. It’s a good job that Alastair’s Photo Fiction is here to curb the gnawing!

Alastair is both a writer and a photographer, so the image he provides each week as inspiration is also one of his own – visit his photography and writing blog to take a look!

Here is my offering this week, inspired by Alastair’s black and white image below.  Why not take part?

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Tainted

It had been her dream to live here. As a child she had imagined standing at the edge of the cliff, her grown-up self silhouetted by a setting sun, shawl wrapped tightly against the cool breeze. Solitary, not lonely.

Yet, she had been careless as she wove her dreams, crafting her future as she slept. In her innocence, she had forgotten to wish for pristine oceans, perfectly balanced as nature intended. Now, as the waters boiled far below, whipped by the winds of an approaching storm, their sterility broke her. The last whale had beached itself in desperation two nights ago, blanched and blistered by the chemical seas. She would never dip her toe and shriek at the cold, never run ecstatically through the surf, never dive into the white horses crashing on the silvered sand.

She had waited for perfection. Now, everything was tainted.

Copyright - Kattermonran

Copyright – Kattermonran

Third Time’s the Charm – Trifextra Week 73

In some respects, I’m a creature of habit, so I have a feeling that this is the second entry of many into Trifextra, one of the Trifecta writing challenges.

This weekend’s Trifextra challenge is to write exactly 33 words on the idiom ‘third time’s the charm’.  Here in the UK, we use the alternative ‘third time lucky’, but I’ll stick with the original. I hope you enjoy it, and all the other submissions!

*****

He felt a thrill of schadenfreude as he stared at the printout in his hand. Years of work to confirm what he knew:

“THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM – INSUFFICIENT DATA” 

Science 1, Superstition 0.

Copyright Freya Writes

Copyright Freya Writes

Dulce et decorum est – Friday Fictioneers

Here is this week’s entry into the weekly challenge brought to us by the lovely Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Here are the rules: Use the photo as inspiration, write a hundred(ish) words – and share! Here goes my offering for this week – and I welcome your comments again!

Copyright - Managua Gunn

Copyright – Managua Gunn

– Dulce et Decorum est… –

‘Soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me? With your musket, fife and drum…’

Jonathan whistled the tune through his teeth, sighed, and pulled his shoulders back again, shifting his ceremonial rifle slightly on his shoulder. Four more hours to go and he could already feel pins and needles tingling in his weapon-bearing arm.

This wasn’t what he had signed up for – solo ceremonial guard of a deserted palace in the empire’s most inaccessible territory.

He pictured his imaginary alter ego, leading a charge on the enemy – a hero, with a proper, working weapon.

Life could be such a let-down.

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Click the blue froggy to read other writers’ offerings – and enjoy!