Don’t Say a Word

Jeremy stepped inside. In his ear he heard, “Stay near the door. Don’t respond to anything they say.”

“Look. That guy’s back.”

“OK, let’s finish this. You’re going to get what’s coming to you. You hear me?  No one will care how loud you scream in this place.”

The five men stepped out of the safety of the shadows moving toward Jeremy.  When they were visible in the middle of the room, shots shattered the windows.

Jeremy heard a gunfight outside.  His earphone went silent.  He wondered what happened. Was it safe to leave?

He left the room anyway.

Linked to Carrot Ranch July 16 Flash Fiction Challenge to write a 99-word story with the theme “scream inside your heart”.

Milkweed

Bird

I knew it was a common bird
That helped me build a nice display.
I took the photo anyway.
I wanted truth to match the word
In fullness that was not absurd.
It made no sound. It didn't sing.
It might have sung of anything,
But flew away. The sun will set.
Before it does I want to get
Prepared to be the gift I bring.

Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the challenge word is “bird”.

Ronovan's Decima Poetry Challenge Image
Ronovan’s Decima Poetry Challenge Image
Seagull in the Sun
Seagull in the Sun

Zany – A Six Sentence Story

It was a mistake telling George about those aliens who wanted me to hop on board their flying saucer for some zany experiments.

George explained to me that my aliens either were delusions or they were demons monkeying with me and he didn’t care which I picked as long as I didn’t believe there were actual aliens out there since any rational person knows they couldn’t exist and they wouldn’t exist if they wanted to.

He’s usually right, and so I picked the demonic monkeys.

That’s when a flying saucer popped in front of us and a squeaky voiced alien asked George if he would like to hop in for some nice experiments.

I gave them both an all-knowing smile.

As George hopped in he told me I would have to gaslight myself until he got back.

Linked to GirlieOnTheEdge’s Six Sentence Stories with the prompt word “zany”.

GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley's six-sentence-stories icon
GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley’s six-sentence-stories icon

Our Feathered Friends

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “our feathered friends”. The birds above are evident, and noisy. You might miss the ones below. They are nearly in the center, wading, who knows why, across the lagoon.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. It has been a beautiful week in Northbrook, Illinois. I was able to walk about Somme Woods and Skokie Lagoons Forest Preserves, enough to put a smile on my face.

Ducks Wading Across the Lagoon

True

The cloudy image on the lake
Comes from the gracious morning light
We left the darkness of the night,
Became aware of what’s at stake.
We now renew, rejoice, remake,
Reflect on what we know as true.
Our part seems small, like morning dew,
But later when the victory’s won
We may find out it was well done
And fully know and be known too.

Linked to Ronovan Writes Decima Poetry Challenge with the word “true” appearing as one of the rhyme words in the c stanza. The full pattern is abbaaccddc.

Ronovan's Decima Poetry Challenge Image
Ronovan’s Decima Poetry Challenge Image