7 Sizzling Sundays of Summer Flash Fiction CONTEST, Week 4
Writer Unboxed on Jul 22 2012 | Filed under: Contest
The Sundays keep on sizzling at WU! We are blown away by the FANTASTIC flash fiction stories submitted for our Flash Fiction contest (if you somehow missed the announcement, check out the rules and fabulous prizes HERE).
The entries just keep getting better and better, which is making it tough to pick out three finalists this week. Thanks to all who submitted stories based on last week’s prompt. As always, we have our honorable mentions:
Allison Corser (“There’s a ghost who lives in our second-floor hallway.”)
Zoe (“The Red Room”)
Claire Fuller (“Oskar”)
Andrea Fleming (“Teddy looked up at her with one glass eye”)
Taylor Ross (“When you are a little girl, you’re afraid of simple things.”)
William Lailey (“The monsoon arrives, and it floods.”)
Julie Jay (“Don’t go far,” my daddy said…)
And this week’s three winners, in no particular order are:
Janeen Owens (“Babe, I have a routine call.”)
CB Soulsby (“I find her in full color around the alley.”)
Andrea Ellickson (“A monster lives in my bedroom, and his name is Gary.”)
Congratulations to Janeen, CB, and Andrea! Your stories have made our finalists’ round, and will be part of the big WU vote in early August.
Can winners enter again? Yes, they can. We hope all of you enter again! We look for stories that tell a complete beginning, middle and end, and who let the prompt unboxed their creativity in surprising ways.
And now without further ado, this week’s visual prompt, again provided by the talented Debbie Ohi, is…
Remember the full rules can be found HERE, but if you’re in the mood to flash and run, cliff-notes rules are below:
- The story must be inspired by that week’s visual prompt.
- Each submission must be 250 words or less.
- Each story must contain a beginning, middle, and end.
- All submitted work must be original–not published anywhere else, and written by you, for this contest.
- Post submissions in the comment section of the prompt post. Each week, the deadline will be 72 hours after the prompt is posted on Sunday morning, meaning Wednesday at 7 a.m. EST.
- No more than two entries per person, per week will be eligible for that week.
- The top three stories from each week will be selected by a mix of votes in the form of Likes in the comment section and our own discretion.
This week’s contest closes Wednesday July 25, 7 a.m. EST. Good luck and happy writing!
Drawing courtesy © Debbie Ridpath Ohi, illustrator of the soon-to-be-released book for children, I’m Bored.
Kathleen Bolton
Therese Walsh
Porter Anderson
Dan Blank
Sarah Callender
Lisa Cron
Keith Cronin
Bill Ferris
Dave King
Robin LaFevers
Donald Maass
Jael McHenry
Jan O'Hara
Debbie Ohi
Barbara O'Neal
Ray Rhamey
Chuck Sambuchino
John Vorhaus
Julianna Baggott
Brunonia Barry
Tom Bentley
Sharon Bially
Carleen Brice
Anna Elliott
Anne Greenwood Brown
Tracy Hahn-Burkett
Suzannah Windsor Freeman
Kristan Hoffman
Jeanne Kisacky
Juliet Marillier
Julia Munroe Martin
Sophie Masson
Liz Michalski
Annie Neugebauer
Erika Robuck
M.J. Rose
Meg Rosoff
Allison Winn Scotch
Lydia Sharp
Elisabeth Weed
Heather Webb
Denise Falvo
Therese Walsh
Vaughn Roycroft
Kim Downes Bullock
Valerie P. Chandler
Heather Reid
Emily Colin
Jeannine Walls Thibodeau
Jan O'Hara
Kathleen Bolton
Jessica Brockmole
Erika Liodice
Donald Maass
Victoria Mixon
Therese Walsh
Suzanne Anderson
Keetha DePriest
Dee DeTarsio 
Amy Sue Nathan
Colleen Turner
I can’t believe you’re finally here! We’ve been waiting for so long.
Sandy and I always wanted a little one to raise. When God didn’t give us one the normal way, we started filling out paperwork. Page after page of signatures, followed by interviews and more paperwork. Then, the waiting.
We had to wait so long, I decided to review everything I learned in shop class. Which saw was best for each cut, and which cuts made the strongest connections. I’d just bought the wood when they called us. But, we had so many things going on, we didn’t buy the tickets for a week. By then, that little girl had gotten sick, and we had to cancel our tickets.
I worked slowly, cutting, turning, and smoothing, on top of my other job. Little by little, it took shape. Just as I finished the last coat of paint, the phone rang. We bought our tickets that night; we weren’t going to lose our chance again.
When the nurse placed you in Sandy’s arms, your smile lit up the room and transferred to Sandy’s face. When she passed you to me, that smile burned my eyes, and I started to cry. Just a few more signatures before we bundled you up and got back on the plane.
And now, here you are. God’s perfect gift, lying in the crib I made just for you, my dearest Sun Li.
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It’s really not fair to Sylvia. It feels like her happiness or mine. But if I stay, I think I’m delaying the inevitable. If her father and I don’t actually separate, we’ll just continue to keep to ourselves in the house and surely she would notice that her parents hardly ever speak. Or maybe she is in that self-absorbed stage and has no clue anything is wrong.
Ugh. I remember when she was born. Rex sat over her crib and stared, his face transformed with vulnerability. He had never looked at anyone or anything like that. Certainly not me. I had hope when I saw him like that. Hope that we would be the happy family I had dreamed about.
I sound terribly melodramatic, don’t I? Rex never hit me and he rarely yelled but I’m thirty-two years old and the only man I’ve ever slept with hardly ever sleeps with me. Literally! He’d rather sleep on the floor than next to me.
It’s not all about the sex, okay? Rex has stayed the same over the years and I’ve grown into someone else. But if I’m being completely honest, it’s a little bit about the sex.
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My father was the first person to accept me as I was. Though he would tell anyone who would listen that he was disappointed I wasn’t a boy, he said he knew from the moment he looked down upon my crib that I would be different from my sisters. How he knew this, I’m not sure but he certainly was right.
Ramora and Devora are…prissy to say the least. All they care about is having the newest gown and brushing their hair ‘till it shines. They’ve never rode a horse. Can you believe that? They only ride in carriages. How anyone can go without feeling the wind rush through their hair and the ground thunder underfoot, I’ll never understand. Even my mother rode a horse on occasion. Dad would convince her and they would ride together into the forest, her face glowing with happiness.
It was Dad, of course, who taught me to ride. I remember standing at the fence, longing plain on my face as I watched him on his handsome black stallion. He scooped me up and we rode together, much to the disapproval of my sisters and maid. After that he taught me everything he would have taught a son. That is why it’s up to me to protect the kingdom.
Like?
3
Dr. Howard Burke paced in front of the enormous fireplace, his hands folded behind him. “Emily, come here, please!” he summoned.
His daughter scurried in.“Yes, Father?”
“Have a seat, dear. We need to discuss a matter of urgency.”
Emily glanced toward her mother, who was reading the newspaper on the sofa. “Okay, Father.”
Dr. Burke cleared his throat. “It has come to my attention, from a most reliable source…” he began, eyes shifting toward his wife, “that a boy has expressed an interest in you.”
“A boy?” Emily blushed. “Who?”
“A Mr.Shawn Dempsy. Are familiar with him?”
“Yes. He’s cute.”
“Well, I happen to know that Mr. Dempsy is not a… proper fit.”
Marta Burke looked up at her husband over her reading glasses.
“A proper fit?” their daughter asked.
.
“Exactly. You see, he has but a very limited education. No college, not even a high school diploma. He doesn’t have a vehicle nor the license required to operate one. And I don’t know when he’ll ever get a job!”
Burke’s wife folded her paper and tossed her glasses on a cushion. “Howard! Really, is this necessary?”
“Marta, the day we brought Emily home from the hospital, I kept vigil at her cradle and watched her sleep. Right then, I vowed to protect her from the rouges and ruffians in the world.”
Emily’s eyes darted between her parents. “Does this mean I can never see Shawn again?”
Marta Burke sprang to her feet. “Howard, get a grip! They’re only six years old!”
Michael Molony´s last blog post ..Project Euler Problem 137 Solution
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Very funny
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Jennifer peeked in to make sure she was sleeping. She was, but she wasn’t alone. He looked up with a smile.
“She has your nose.”
“What are you doing here?” She spoke through clenched teeth.
He was seated on the hand-painted stool she had made for Gina’s room. She wanted to slap him for it, for touching anything that belonged to her daughter.
“Why, I came to see you, of course.” He reached down and brushed a thin tuft of hair from Gina’s forehead. “She’s so beautiful.”
“Get out. Now.” She wanted to scream, to slap him across his smug face, but she didn’t want to wake Gina.
“Aww, is that any way to greet your father? After such a long time…”
Three steps from the back door, the gunshot sounded. Brice didn’t bother with the keys. He took the last few steps in a run and kicked in the door.
“Jennifer!” When she answered, it wasn’t loud.
“Up here.”
His service revolver out, he took the staircase in leaps. He grabbed the door jamb and swung into the room. She had Gina in one arm, the glock held firmly in her right hand.
“Are you ok?”
She pointed the gun at the body sprawled across the floor. Brice could barely see the pool of blood that was beginning to stain the purple carpet.
“It’s my father.”
“I thought your father was… dead.” A smile crept into one side of her mouth.
“He is.”
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“You’re my last chance at being a good mother,” Evelyn said to Ady. She had named the baby Ady because it meant noble. What Evelyn had done was wrong, but she also deemed it noble, and that was how she decided on the name. She sat on a stool beside Ady’s crib, watching her sleep.
She thought about the day she had taken Ady. The weather had been magnificent. The sun was warm and soothing. All the mothers had been out with their strollers and baby bags in the park. Evelyn had thought that the signs were there. Fate and opportunity had conspired to bring her to that moment with Ady. Ady’s stroller had not been abandoned, but her birth mother had turned off just long enough.
Evelyn believed in second chances. She would make Ady her little star. She hadn’t done that with her own daughter, Hope. She tried to be a good mother, but back then she cared more about herself. That has stayed with her for her entire life. She smiled at Ady. This time, she would get it right.
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This week’s contest is now closed. Vote for your favorites!
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