Tag: photo prompt

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

Keeping it Real

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Mom always hated grandma’s house.

She complained constantly. “It’s like living in a funeral parlor. Flowers everywhere and all that ridiculously ugly gold crap. Hideous!”

Thankfully. Gran refused to change a thing.

Everything was old and kinda tacky but real. That’s what made it special. Her too. She was my safe place. A counter to mom’s incessant need to keep up with whatever was trending while claiming she was “keeping it real.”

So when I came home and found her cradling gran’s favorite gilded roses to her chest. I knew. I’d be keeping it real now. Like it or not.

gold-tipped-anniversary-rose

Written for Friday Fictioners. Thanks for the photo Rochelle.

Get more info and link to other Friday Fictioner stories here.

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

The Tipi

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Looky there! Do ya think someone’s sleeping in that wigwam thing?

It’s not a wigwam. It’s a tipi.

Tee Pee. Wig Wam. Pig Sty. Whatever.

Don’t whatever me. They’re not the same thing. Wigwams are curved. And they’re hard to move.

Who cares!

I do! People are too casual with facts these days. There’s no excuse for it.

Damn it Luke. It’s getting late. We need someplace to hole up. Not another Trump tirade. Let’s do this!  

Alright! Let’s move…. But I’m right.

Whatever. … Sorry folks. We’re gonna need to commandeer this here wig wam.

Asshole.    

from-renee-heath

PHOTO PROMPT © Renee Heath

Life’s been a bit crazed lately so it’s been awhile since I’ve written any flash fiction or contributed to Friday Fictioneers. So thanks to Rochelle for providing the great photo prompt and Haunted Wordsmith for the word prompt inspirations.

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

Cassie & Nessie (Part II)

Tina Stewart Brakebill

I didn’t plan a Part II but when the muse strikes …. You can find the original Cassie & Nessie here.

And now the story continues …

Not for the first time, Liam stared at Cassie and wondered if being in a coma was like dreaming.

Months had passed since they found her floating face-down in the Loch. And still no indication that she was ever going to surface again. Sad? Yes. But, really, probably for the best.

She had spent the past twenty years researching. Believing. And then the story broke.

spf-11-04-18-ce-ayr-5
 Photo Credit: C.E. Ayr

She had been so angry.

Screaming at him. Accusing him of betraying her for money. Screeching really. It had NOT been attractive. Ugly really.

Earsplitting shrieking. “Nellie’s not a commodity. She’s not for sale!” So obsessed with that damn fish. So worried that the publicity would endanger Nessie.

And now. This.

sunset-wreck-1

It would break her heart.

Plus he couldn’t be sure she hadn’t seen him at the Loch that day.

She looked so lovely now. It really would be best if she never surfaced.  

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

Thanks to Crimson’s Creative Challenge for providing the photo by Crispina Kemp. I’m not sure what the photo actually depicts but to me it was poor Nessie’s bones. (And it comes in at a tight 147 words.)

And thanks for additional push to One Daily Prompt (believe)

And of course a big thanks to the original inspiration, a Friday Fictioners challenge from last month and the photo by C.E. Ayr.

Flash Fiction, History, tutto e niente

Dearest John

Tina Stewart Brakebill

May 30, 1893

Dearest John.

It finally arrived. I was scared that it wouldn’t get here in time for your birthday but it came on the train yesterday. Daddy will be angry but there’s nothing he can do about it now. When I saw our names together I fell to my knees. I love you so much. We talked so much about leaving this place. Being together. Going someplace where daddy couldn’t stop us. Then you left me. Alone. But daddy can’t stop us now. In death, we can be connected forever.

Till tomorrow my love.  

Always Your Cora

46640310_280819612573252_6969305910661349376_n

This 99 words of completely unsubstantiated fiction (based on a real headstone) was written for Carrot Ranch’s FF challenge.

If you haven’t done so, check them out. Twas fun! Especially for this historian who loves to write about long-dead women!