24th #SatSunTails

Welcome to the twenty-fourth #SatSunTails microfiction 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)
  • Monday 11am GMT is the expected closing time for entries BUT the competition will be open until I put a ‘competition closed’ comment so you may be able to slip something in (because I’m extra kind like that). Got 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:-

“electrical tinder”

And here is your picture prompt:

& good luck!

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7 thoughts on “24th #SatSunTails”

  1. Title: Origin

    "You're electrical tinder, dear.", my grandmother spoke from her deathbed.

    I didn't understand what she meant. The mirror, inherited from her, awakened something deep within me and would bring change into my life.

    I remember the first time looking into it; heat began to radiate deep within my gut, flowing up and through my arms erupting into a bolt of electricity.

    Bolts of white-hot current shot from my fingers to the mirror, sending me clambering backwards. In that moment, I realized my granny knew about my power but never told me.

    Adapting to the new me was hell. I Stopped my boyfriend's heart during a heated sex session; at the peak of my pleasure, it erupted, and he expired.

    I'm more experienced and in control now, but my life is boring; uneventful.

    "I should put my power to good use; to serve and protect."

    Words: 145
    twitter: @horror_nerd

  2. She stared at the mirror standing in the center of the room. I took her hand. Walked her to her room. ”This is your room.” She looked back down the hall, toward the mirror. ”The mirror will call you, promise your beauty will never fade. Your dreams are electrical tinder to it.” She looked at me, curious. “I’ve tried to destroy that mirror. It grew vines that reached out toward me. It defends itself.”

    I asked her to stay in her room that night. I shut and locked the door to the mirror’s room. I fell asleep just one hour before dawn, watching that door.

    When I woke, the door was open, the lock broken. She was inside. Vines from the mirror wrapping around her dead body. Her reflection still there. In the mirror. The mirror had kept it’s promise to her. Her beauty would never fade.

    150 Words.
    @LurchMunster

  3. Unmaker

    She’d prayed against all hope that the ability would pass her by. Yet, every woman for over twenty generations in her line had been given The Blessing and so she should bear it as the honor it was.

    She’d first felt it pulling at her with the same sharp jolt as discharging electrical tinder and she knew the change had taken her. From that day forward, she was and would always be an Unmaker.

    Within a week, she nearly went crazy from her total inability to control her power. Dishes continued to dissolve into silica sand, her clothes to tufts of cotton and her poor bicycle was now an untidy pile of assorted elements.

    Reaching toward her reflection in the mirror, she wondered how she could appear so normal and yet be such an unmitigated freak. The vines twining from the frame as it reverted to its natural wooded form mocked her as they swayed.

    155 Words @klingorengi

  4. She stared at the mirror for what could have been hours but had only been minutes. It was hypnotic and called out to her in a sweet voice. All she had to do was touch it and her worries would be over. Tonya reached out to touch the smooth surface.

    Vines erupted around the frame and cracked at her fingers like electrical tinder. ”No!”

    She jerked back her hand, glancing down at the welts swelling up on her skin. Perhaps she was imagining her grandmother’s voice. The vines swelled around the mirror and attempted to obscure the mirror, tightening around the frame.

    Glass cracked as Tonya backed up. The image in the mirror snarled, it’s face contorted into an animalistic mask or rage.

    “Get back here, girl!” Solid black eyes stared at her.

    “Run, Tonya!”

    The girl turned and raced down the steps, towards the outside. It was safer.

    149 words
    @solimond

  5. I hope I got in on this on time

    She only started speaking to him at all on a whim, answering his quiet plea from behind a computer screen.

    “Adventurer wanted. Needs to be willing to let go and join me on a great journey.”

    It was the vagueness that sparked her curiosity, and with the mystery that came from such fleeting contact as emails and letters, her laptop had become an electrical tinderbox primed for wanderlust.

    Whilst it wasn't quite what she expected, there was still an air of adventure emanating from him as he stood behind her. A mirror with entwining vines stood before her, and although it wasn't the sort of country-crossing journey she had in mind, it was only with great trepidation that she stepped forward.

    “Touch it.” He commanded, from over her shoulder.

    And so she did as she was asked, barely noting the vines uncoil and reach out to her also.

    149 Words

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