Today’s Picture Prompt
Today’s Word Prompt!
The following may be used as a sentence in your story OR provide a basis for it:-
creeping through the window
Read on for the rules!
Rules!
- You may enter as soon as this post appears.
- Post entries in the comments – you may simultaneously display them on your personal blog etc but please show a link back to this competition post.
- Stories must be 150 words – margin of 5 words either side – AND based on the picture and written prompts.
- Entry titles do not count towards the word count.
- Only one entry per entrant.
- 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 usual 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 judge/s – 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.
The Judge
This week’s judge is…
That’s right. This week it’s me.
Sorry to disappoint, but if you are interested in being a judge like Doctor Mike Reddy or Nicole Wolverton (especially if you’re releasing a new book or having a giveaway and need blog tour stops) have been then please send me an email on the address supplied on my contact page.
How You Can Help
Give a +1 or a tumblr reblog or click the ‘tweet this’ link up on the right hand side or share from the facebook fan page or retweet from my twitter page to spread the word.
Or, even better, go on the #SatSunTails twitter search results and retweet other entrants.
The more people that hear about #SatSunTails, the more entries there are and the better the competition becomes!
So What Are You Waiting For?
Go on. Have a go!
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I clench my drink tighter. She's everywhere, creeping through the window of my soul. She rises from the depths of the ocean, forming in the waves. When my eyes close, she's there in the colored dots and fading images.
Draining my glass, I look through the dim bar. A couple arrives, married, in love. I envy them. She trails kisses down his cheek and he smiles. Maybe I could find something like that again.
When I turn back, a fresh vodka and tonic greets me. Bartender knows me well. Drink up. The bitter treat slides down my throat like a snake. I hate myself more.
Why can't I stay away.
Why didn't I die instead of her.
I go home, dozing on the couch with a cigarette in my mouth and awaken to flames. I see her in the smoke. I should run.
I don't.
Instead, I embrace her in the flames.
@Leo_Godin – 152 words
Night Fears
“Please don’t switch the light off.” I pleaded. “I don’t… I don’t like sleeping in the dark.”
“You manage perfectly well at home Melissa,” Dad’s words were extra sharp. “Now go to sleep the pair of you.”
My father had grown up with this rickety old house creaking and complaining; he was deaf to my feeble protestations.
Once the door closed my brother added his own ghostly noises. He started telling tales of spirits creeping through the window, spectres made of smoke in human form that danced around the room.
I lay awake long after he’d drifted off, listening to him breathing and the wind rattling the loose window panes.
It wasn’t the ghost stories or even the wind that scared me most.
I didn’t know what had happened to make us leave home in such a hurry but I knew we were never going back. And I knew I’d never see my mum again.
@reravelling
155 words (not including title)
Old Flames
By Lisa McCourt Hollar
Emma read the text message again. It hadn’t changed. Things were still over between her and Steve. She squeezed her phone, stopping short of cracking the screen. Who the hell did he think he was? It’s not you, it’s me. Damn straight it was him. She was awesome, he was dirt. She’d even let him stick his pathetic prick in her and now he was dumping her… for Jessica Kidwell. Well to hell with him. He wanted to burn bridges, she’d help him out.
Steve flung his arm over Jessica’s sleeping body. God, she was hot. And sane. He really dodged a bullet with Emma, all that talk about marriage. Then he’d heard what she’d done to her last boyfriend. Time to say adios… but from a distance. Slowly he became aware that something was burning. He sat up and looked around. Was that smoke slipping in through the window?
Word Count: 150
@jezri1
In The Wake
Ellie stepped out of the shower and wiped a patch of fog off the mirror with her only towel.
“Even I can’t see myself clearly,” she thought. “I…like it.”
A light mist had formed, filling the closet-like-sized bathroom.
Ellie wrapped the towel around her head, while she brushed her teeth. A few strokes in, she began to fantasize a boy, creeping through the window, observing her without her knowledge.
She smiled and kept brushing; her eyes forward, entertained by the possibility.
“Derek; no, Jason; Mr. Beau!” She thought. “Yes, Mr. Beau!”
Mr. Beau, Ellie’s chemistry teacher, was one of her favorite teachers. She had a crush on him; she was the only one who did. Friends teased her for having such an odd crush; they all had eyes for the gym teacher; Mr. Tock, instead.
Ellie walked to the window and slid it open. The breeze hit, leaving a misty silhouette in her wake.
-Peter
Words: 154
@NadaNightStar
The Smoke
AJ sat silently rolling several joints. Mike and Patrick were coming over.
His work was complete, he lit a cigarette. It was cold but life has been far colder than Mother Nature. His sister, Diana, had passed away a few years back. She was the jasmine in his life. His brother, Mark, had left too.
His friends arrived.
‘He’s grimmer than usual,’ Mike noted.
As they sat down, the lights went out. They sat smoking in darkness.
Strange shadows had been creeping through the window lately. The smoke and cold mixed, taking the shape of a woman: Diana.
‘Come with me,’ she whispered.
AJ smiled as beckoned him to follow.
Mike and Patrick sat silently watching their friend get up and walk towards the window.
He opened it and freezing air bellowed in. Mike tried to stop him but couldn’t.
AJ felt a cool breeze ruffle his long-uncut hair.
‘I’m coming,’ he said and followed.
155 words (after cutting it from the original of 490 – that was hard work)
Competition is closed