Response – JSW Prompt 8-27-2018 – The Light.

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Michael

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I woke in a sweat, my clothes soaked, my heart pumping, my anxiety levels higher than they should have been.

Ahead of me was the glow of the opening. I couldn’t decide if it was an opening or a closing. How had I got here?

My feet were bare, I could feel them standing in some sort of slime which was circling both of them, the ooze gently engulfing them and as I was not able to move the sensation was quietly comforting.

Behind me, a voice was calling out instructions. “Please move forward. There is nothing to fear. Step into the light, now!”

So forceful was the voice I could feel the words nudging me in the back and all the while my brain was working overtime trying to decide if this was real or not.

In taking a step, I felt the slime grab my foot as if wanting me to stay rigid, stuck to the one spot, but I was feeling the compunction to move towards the light and the doorway.

The light was inviting, anything, my mind said, to be out of the darkness, it couldn’t be any worse than what I was feeling there and then.

That was when the real struggle began. Each step was laboured, excruciatingly slow the doorway came closer and more and more the slime grabbed at my feet, reluctant to let go its hold.

All the while I was receiving the voice behind me which was urging me on, cheering almost as I neared the doorway.

The light was at its most intense as I reached the opening, it was blinding but soothing at the same time.

I felt a hand take mine, and a voice say, “Come, join in the fun.”

Written for: https://athling2001.wordpress.com/2018/09/11/response-jsw-prompt-8-27-2018/

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Pull Up A Seat Photo Challenge

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Michael

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The place to be on a hot day.

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For: https://xingfumama.blog/2018/09/07/pull-up-a-seat-photo-challenge-week-1/

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Photo Challenge #229 – Resilience

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Michael

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Image: – Annija Veldre

She faced everything thrown at her

The abuse of ‘loved ones’

The trauma of suffering

The moments of despair.

Slowly they wore her down

The fight in her whittled away

She succumbed, retreated

Faded from the public eye.

Still, she faced her fears

Learned to stand up for herself

Defended her right to exist

Stuck to her story

In the face of all adversity.

Nothing was going to tear her down

She was not going away

Putting pen to paper

The next chapter of her life

Took shape, through her pain

Her tears awakened so many

Gave hope to others

Her resilience, her strength

Recognized as a model for those following her.

 

 

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/09/11/photo-challenge-229/

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Three Things Challenge, 10 Sept 2018

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Michael

3tc

Today’s things are: doctor, eye shadow, faith

I never thought of Mis Teresa as a woman of faith as she wasn’t one for starting the day with any sort of prayer, and she didn’t encourage us to attend Mass on the weekends even when the Mother Superior made announcements on the assembly encouraging us to go each Sunday, or we’d most likely burn in hell.

Miss Teresa was more your woman of the world, and for whom her idea of spirituality was to do more with the eye shadow she wore which we boys always said accentuated her beautiful eyes and kept us under control.

One day when she was under pressure from Dango who had been his usual mischievous self, she told us that when she left school, she could have studied to be a doctor. She wished at that moment she had for then she’d have been able to put Dango out of his and everyone else’s misery.

 

Written for: https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/three-things-challenge-10-sept-2018/

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Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers – Awaiting Grandparents.

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Michael

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It was cold wet and miserable outside, the windows were fogged up, and I kept having to wipe them to see out.

I was expecting my grandparents, and I looked forward to their visit. Mum had said they would be here by mid-morning.

I was determined to wait and see them drive down the street then announce their arrival.

Mum was in the kitchen getting a cake made as she knew Grandad loved chocolate cake.

I looked forward to listening to Grandad tell me tales of when he was a boy. Grandma always bought me something special, and I had a sense of expectation about that.

The morning wore on, and there was no sign of them. The weather did nothing to improve, in fact, it seemed to get darker and bleaker.

By lunchtime, I could sense mum getting worried about them. She had tried to call, but there was no answer.

Life stopped when a police car pulled up outside.

 

Written for: https://flashfictionforaspiringwriters.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/fffaw-challenge-182nd/

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Wordle #210 – The Lion.

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Michael

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This week’s words: Solitary Pale Leonine ((adj.) resembling or suggestive of a lion: of or relating to the lion) Ripe Sponge Compact Frumpy Broad Coppice ((n) a thicket of small trees Blinkered ((adj.) narrow-minded and subjective: unwilling to see an alternate view) Restrain Formula

The man wasn’t sure how long he’d been in solitary, but it must have been some time, the light changed, the sense of day and night became fused as if he could no longer determine one from the other.

As it was he had his imagination, he had memory, and he had Leo, the lion who sat on the wall opposite him, the leonine figure was a cause of conversation and reflection.

He saw Leo there, it spoke to him, reminded him of his past, his days when victory was a step away, capture the furthest thing from his mind.

He recalled the frumpy girl, ripe for the taking, who winked at him, beaconed him to follow and with whom he showed little restraint as he took from her not just her womanhood but her life. He had bundled her into the coppice, and blinkered in his intention, soaked up her beauty like a sponge, cared little for her but a lot for his own satisfaction.

His freedom was soon taken from him, the community having no sympathy for the pale, pasty boy who did such a heinous crime.

Their formula in dealing with him was to throw him into a cell, lock the door and let him rot.

They moved him eventually to a more compact cell, just to exacerbate his punishment, and broadly speaking, tried to forget about him. His name no longer mentioned, his jailor his only companion in his solitude.

He remained positive, he decided it was up to he and the lion to make the best of what they had. He sat looking at the leonine on the wall and suggested it was time the lion dealt a new hand of cards.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/wordle-209-2/

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Three Things Challenge, 09 Sept 2018

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Michael

3tc

Today’s things are: brother, cafe, hat

Miss Teresa came to class today all excited. She announced her brother, who had been fighting in the war overseas had come home and she was meeting him after school at the café in town.

She had not seen him for some time and then spent the morning telling us brave he was.

She soaked up every word as we figured it wasn’t every day we not only heard about a real-life hero but we knew someone who knew him.

When the go home bell rang she reached into her bag and pulled out a very stylish hat and placed it on her head much to the approval of all us kids.

 

Written for: https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/09/09/three-things-challenge-09-sept-2018/

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Sunday Writing Prompt “Pablo Neruda- If You Forget Me.”

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Michael

Ladybug Texture Forget Me Not Background Flowers

If you forget me I’d ask,
What did I mean to you?

If you forget me, I’d ask you

When did you know you did?

It was all about acceptance

The little things that endeared me to you

Your endless compassion,

You said you cared for me

Wanted me to be there for you

But I feel abandoned.

Maybe in the recesses of your memory

In the place where I sit gently on your mind

You recall the boy who sat with the girl

Sailing over the city

Holding hands, wishing as one

How could you forget that?

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/09/09/sunday-writing-prompt-pablo-neruda-if-you-forget-me/

 

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FOWC with Fandango — Schedule

Posted on September 8, 2018 by Michael

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My neighbour the erstwhile Mr Fango was a man who stuck to a schedule like a spider to a fly.

Yesterday was his day to go to town, and he was up and away by 7.30am. I know all this as I could hear him crashing about in his house, from 6am. Determined as he is, he was not letting anything get in his way, and that included poor Mrs Fango whom I heard receive some of his vitriol when he could find his town tie.

Once he was gone quiet once again settled over the neighbourhood, and I bet Mrs Fango breathed a sigh of relief.

She must have had a schedule of her own for at 9am I saw her dragging her shopping cart wander past our place. A little after ten she returned her cart ladened with her shopping.

Then she came into her back yard to hang out her washing, check her watch and go inside where I heard her TV on as the soaps were about to start.

With no Mr Fango at home, she could get on with her own schedule.

 

Written for: https://fivedotoh.com/2018/09/07/fowc-with-fandango-schedule/

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Three Things Challenge, 07 Sept 2018

Posted on September 8, 2018 by Michael

3tc

Today’s things are: cotton candy, Snakes & Ladders, pinwheel

Today in class Miss Teresa played a game of remember when. For her being the age, she was she had a lot more to ‘remember when’ than did we kids.

She came with an arm full of games, the like we’d never seen before. Snakes and Ladders landed on my desk and Dango, and I set to figuring out how it worked. There was no button to turn it on, no lights to fiddle with, but simply a board with snakes and ladders all over it. Miss Teresa called us to attention and instructed u on how to play. Start at the start and go up the ladder and down the snake. It was a bit of fun but nothing as exciting as Fortnite I had been playing at home.

After a while, she announced she had bought in some food for us to try. Her boyfriend, Mr Jack, had made pinwheels. Most of us had never heard of them, but once we’d tasted them, they were declared a winner.

Then she bought out her cotton candy machine, and after a bit of a start, we realized she was making fairy floss which we had all seen at the last school fete.

Miss Teresa liked to impress us with her worldliness and the fact she had once been on a holiday to the USA.

Overall Dango and I thought it was a fun way to put in an afternoon.

 

Written for: https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/09/07/three-things-challenge-07-sept-2018/

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