Category: Flash Fiction

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

Cassie & Nessie

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Cassie’s brain was spinning as she gazed at the Loch. Liam! An asshole and a coward. Starts this and then takes a powder. That headline also pissed her off. “Woman”! We’re NOT interchangeable. But it was those damn marks around ‘proves’ that really did it. She was not some kind of random wacko going on and about Big Foot or some other nonsense! She was bona fide PhD and an expert on deep water life forms. Her thoughts circled back to Liam. He was such an idiot. The paper was still in its draft stages. Not ready for publication. What possessed him to sell the story to that rag! Twitter was having a field day. She’d never be taken seriously now. Years of work. The data. All for nothing. She’d be another footnote in the line of nutcases obsessed with “Nessie.” All anyone would remember was that stupid photo. She knew it wasn’t real but it had inspired her life’s work. Now it was all over. Fitting she was at the place it all started. The Loch. As she stared, its surface stirred. And her brain spun.

Liam stared at Cassie and wondered. Was being in a coma like dreaming?

underwater photography of woman
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

Visit the greats sites that inspired this piece of Flash Fiction:

Fandango’s FOWC (coma) and Scotts Daily Prompt (powder) and Sunday’s Photo Fictioner’s 200 word photo challenge

Cover Photo Credit: C.E. Ayr

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

Their Home

Tina Stewart Brakebill

She sat at the edge of the stream and stared at the house. Their home.

The tumbling water reminded her of a song. She could hear the melody in her head. But the words just wouldn’t come. It’s not fair. Songs are not her department. TV shows and historical facts. But not songs. That’s his lane.

He’s supposed to be here. He would know.

But he’s no longer here. Or there. In that house that was their home.

For just a moment she was overwhelmed by anger. Then frustration. But that stupid song would have to wait.

It was time.

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Photo Credit to Brian Brakebill (who thankfully is still very much with me and continues to inspire me with his photos) 

Inspired by and written for Friday Fictioners and the PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson with some further inspiration from Reena’s Exploration Challenge (home) and Fandango’s FOWC (melody) and Your Daily Word Prompt (overwhelm)

Flash Fiction, Random Rants, tutto e niente

Old Eyes New Fringe

Tina Stewart Brakebill

She blinked at her reflection. Was she destined to always be cast in the role of “mother”? Hell she thought. Let’s rock-n-roll. Chopping as she stared at her old eyes under the new fringe.

(34 words exactly)

The Battle of the Bang. I know it well! I’ve spent a life time chopping and growing and chopping and growing. (Oh … and coloring) 

One year ago: fullsizeoutput_409

This week: 3H7A7261

Next month: ?????

Thanks to Sammi Scribbles Weekend Writing Prompt

And to Linda and her SoCS writing prompt (roll/role)

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Flash Fiction, Random Rants, tutto e niente

Rejection

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Where the hell was that girl with his whiskey? It was cold in the courtyard. And drafty. But they wouldn’t let him smoke inside. And he really needed one. It was his first in six months so he probably didn’t need it so much as he wanted it. But right now he wasn’t in the mood to dissect the difference. He was too busy trying to pretend he didn’t really care. But his attempts at pretending collapsed almost immediately. He couldn’t lie to himself. He had wanted it. Bad.

As he thought about their rejection, he second-guessed every decision he had made. Where had he gone wrong? All he ever really wanted was to belong. Maybe that was it. Maybe they could smell the overwhelming need seeping out of his pores like a rancid perfume. The kind that claims to be glamorous but really is just cheap. Well screw them. He didn’t need to belong to their stupid group. Probably just a bunch of blowhards and know-it-alls. He took a long drag off his Camel and let his mind drift. He could see the headline now: “Unknown Author Defies Odds with Million Dollar Book Advance.”

But even as that thought formed, a single tear dropped. Stupid writing workshop.

white paper with be yourself everyone else is already taken print
Photo by Matej on Pexels.com

 

I dedicate this to all my past rejections. Without them, I would not/could not be ME!

And thanks to all y’all (below) for your inspiration in word and picture!

Haunted Wordsmith

FOWC from Fandango (belong)

Weekly Prompts (glamorous)

The House of Bailey (need)

 

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

The Year I Was Five

Tina Stewart Brakebill

The year I was five my grandfather left the house every day before dawn. My mom would pack his green cooler with food. He’d put on his boots, grab his yellow bag of tools, and then head out the door with his guide dog Bud and a cheery “Going to guard the castle.”

Every day I’d beg to come along. And every day he’d tell me “maybe when you’re older.”

Then one day, Bud came home but my grandfather didn’t. So I followed Bud back to the castle.

It was just as I always imagined. Except for the flashing lights.

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COVER PHOTO PROMPT © J.S. Brand

And thanks to Friday Fictioners

and to Sammi Scribbles (Castle in exactly 100 words) and FOWC (Guide)

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