Negative vibes deleted. Love magnet available.

Thanks to the Saturday Six Word Story Prompt (delete) and Linda’s SoCS Challenge (magnet) for today’s inspiration.
Writer. Feminist. Historian. Person.
Negative vibes deleted. Love magnet available.

Thanks to the Saturday Six Word Story Prompt (delete) and Linda’s SoCS Challenge (magnet) for today’s inspiration.
Some days were better than others. He’d leave the house. Buy groceries. Walk in the park. Feed the squirrels. Try to go on without her.
But most days were bad. On those days he’d stay in bed. Thinking only of her. Hurting as badly as he had that first day without her.
And then there was today. The anniversary of that terrible day. 365 days of pain. And planning. Now it was time.
He imagined them. Walking hand-in-hand on the boardwalk. Oblivious to his pain.
Reaching into his bag, he smiled. Today was going to be a better day.

Photo Prompt © Roger Bultot
I swear this started out as a sweet story but at about word 63, it turned … well, I’ll let y’all be the judge and end it for yourselves. What’s he reaching for?
Thanks, as always, to Rochelle’s Friday Fictioners Challenge for providing inspiration.
Am I a dreamer?
Still full of hope as I yearn.
Or am I a clown?
Yes, says the face in the glass
with your destiny foretold.

Image courtesy of Forgottenx at DeviantArt
I’m not sure that this piece fits perfectly into any of the challenges that inspired me today. So apologies if I’ve miscategorized things!
All I can say, is that the combination of Fandango’s FOWC (body, which I loosely subbed in “face in the mirror”), Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge photo, and Sammi’s Challenge (to use the word quixotic, which I took as the entire theme) DID inspire me and, thus, this 26-word call and response story / tanka was born. (Side note: I love to throw in a good THUS or THEREFORE or NEVERTHELESS ….)
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
I had imagined this moment so many times.
Written stories. Blogged my theories. Argued with reddit idiots. Once I even tried to paint a picture.
And almost every night I dreamed about it. Beautiful dreams. Colors swirling. Humming anticipation. And me in the center of it all! Bathed in light. Me!
CHOSEN. Because I believed. Because I never lost the faith.
Instead, I’m watching from the sidelines as this drab gray lump tonelessly utters the most banal phrase possible: “Take me to your leader.”
Ha! Joke’s on it.
2020 really is the worst!

Photo courtesy of https://sarahpotterwrites.com/
This photo instantly reminded me of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Add in the constant disappointments of 2020 and Fandango’s FOWC (TRITE) for which I subbed in banal because I liked the way it sounds 😉 and you get this 100 word story for Rochelle’s Friday Fictioners Challenge.
Please enjoy.
I was only supposed to wrangle until it was time to head off to school. But then I met Evetta. What can I tell ya? You can’t beat love inside the three rings.
Thanks to Sammi’s Challenge to use the word WRANGLE in a 33 word story and to Linda’s SoCS Challenge to use the word RING. They gave me the opportunity to write about my odd love for the Lady Clown (AGAIN!)