Welcome to the fifteenth #SatSunTails micro fiction competition.
Be warned – the prompts aren’t easy, but that’s so you can write to the best of your ability.
If you haven’t had a go before at this writing challenge, then please don’t hesitate to try this weekend.
Rules!
- Post stories in the comments
- Stories must be 150 words (margin of 5 words either side) AND based on the picture and written prompts.
- If you title your entry this is not counted in your word count.
- Only one entry allowed (so make it count)
- End each entry with word count and name/twitter handle (if you forget these REPLY TO YOUR OWN COMMENT with them before judging closes)
- You may enter until Monday 10am GMT (because I’m extra kind like that).
If you do not comply with these rules your story will be disqualified from judging. Good spelling and grammar will also help to make a better impression on judges – the odd typo, however, will be overlooked so please don’t worry about that.
For tips, read through the critiques from last week’s entries.
Winners!
There will be ONE OVERALL WINNER and THREE RUNNERS UP. After that there will be THREE CRITIQUES of three stories that didn’t make it.
It would also be nice to those participating if you could promote your fellow competitors and those who win.
Today’s Prompt!
The following may be used as a sentence in your story OR provide a basis for it:-
“your eager eyes see through me”
And here is your picture prompt:
& good luck!
| [Did you enjoy this post?] |
| [Why not leave a comment or check out my books?] |
“You talk too much.” He tore a piece of white masking tape and put it over her mouth. Her hand were already tied to the chair and her ankles to the legs. She tossed her head, but it didn’t help, just got hair under the tape.
“Stop looking at me like that or I’ll blindfold you, too,” he warned. She blinked away tears of fear and rage. How had this happened? Why did he kidnap her? What was she to anyone? No one was looking for her. No one would be looking for her.
Perhaps that’s why he’d picked her. He knew she was safe to steal.
“Now you just close those eyes and we’ll get along fine, Fanny. Go on.” She whimpered and closed her eyes. “There. Can’t let your eager eyes see through me. You’ll know I’m not going to hurt you. And where’s the fun in that?”
@angelicadawson
150 words
She was 15. I found her in the master bedroom’s walk in closet. In her underclothes. Tied to a chair. Her mouth taped shut. Her eyes were haunted, wounded. I pulled out my phone. Pushed the button. “She’s here. Alive.” She looked terrified. “Don’t be afraid.” My knife severed her bonds. I pulled a shirt off a hanger. Handed it to her, then left. My job was done.
CNN had shown the pictures. A house in Georgetown. Police breaking through the door. Three dead men where I’d left them. They explored the house. Downstairs. Upstairs. The closet. Finding her. She’d been there three weeks. One more and they’d have killed her. Like the previous 9. They asked her what she’d seen. “A man. In black. His eyes. His eyes…”
As I’d left, she spoke. “Your eyes. Your eager eyes… See through me…”
150 Words.
@LurchMunster
Don't Speak
Don’t speak. There’s nothing to say on this most bleary of days, where the sun fades and my heart betrays all. I already know the future, and you do to. Your eager eyes see through me, to the depths of my being. Beyond my soul, to the depravity within.
No, words are… unnecessary. Meaningless. I will leave everything behind for you. It’s already written in the stars. My worth will crumble, my fatherless children begging on the streets for scraps. A stronger man would resist, would save them. But alas, I’m no stronger man.
Let your soliloquy lay dormant for eternity. For your poisonous words garner rapturous glee in my heart, beguiling years of honed defenses. You of antiquity, bred to seduce the temporal and weak. You entice, culling eros from love, glimmer from solid foundations.
Don’t speak. My grief, my shame are sufficient communication. Draw to your unparalleled beauty, they say “Yes. I’ll follow.”
@Leo_Godin 155 words
Wow, that made it worse. No more updating from my phone.
Here is the correct story.
Don't Speak
Don’t speak. There’s nothing to say on this most bleary of days, where the sun fades and my heart betrays all. I already know the future, and you do to. Your eager eyes see through me, to the depths of my being. Beyond my soul, to the depravity within.
No, words are… unnecessary. Meaningless. I will leave everything behind for you. It’s already written in the stars. My worth will crumble, my fatherless children begging on the streets for scraps. A stronger man would resist, would save them. But alas, I’m no stronger man.
Let your soliloquy lay dormant for eternity. For your poisonous words garner rapturous glee in my heart, beguiling years of honed defenses. You of antiquity, bred to seduce the temporal and weak. You entice, culling eros from love, glimmer from solid foundations.
Don’t speak. My grief, my shame are sufficient communication. Drawn to your unparalleled beauty, they say “Yes. I’ll follow.”
@Leo_Godin 155 words
Just Like Daddy
By Lisa McCourt Hollar
Ann always could see through me, her eager eyes watching my every move. She was my conscience. I could do no wrong when she was around. It was when she wasn’t that I tended to stray, doing the things I dreamed about.
Crossing the street in front of my car, the young girl caught my eye. I offered her a ride. She hesitated, but there’s something about my face that makes women trust me. They shouldn’t. The only one I could never hurt was Ann.
She knew when I came home what I had done. I could see the accusation in her eyes, “You’re just like daddy.” She didn’t say a word. Took the bag I offered her and went to work, cutting up the onions to go with the girl’s liver. In a way I think she enjoys it, just a little, though she’d never admit it, even if daddy hadn’t taken her tongue.
Word Count: 155
@jezri1
Power Undesired
Lianasa’s tone was both harsh and concerned. “No witch can teach you what you desire, child. It is men’s magic and is magic most foul. Power it offers, aye, but at a price. It warps the mind, the body, the very soul of those who succumb to it. Do not do this!” The girl left her.
She sat in a submissive pose, hands bound by silken cord and her mouth taped. The mage had demanded such before he would begin.
“The wonders of the Wild Magic shall I show you, sweet one, shall I teach you. Let your eager eyes see through me and witness the origins of true Power.”
As the images and their force flooded into the young witch, she knew she had erred most grievously. Her bulging eyes burst in response and a wail of unending terror ripped the tape asunder. She screamed for a very long time before she, mercifully, died.
155 words @klingorengi
What a great, subtle way to write about a horrific topic.
Great ending.
Competition closed