Pencil Case

Milk Wood

 She looked at the pencil case. What's in there, a nosy colleague asked. Nothing. She grabbed the pencil case. Pencils, obviously, someone said. She nodded, that too. Let them think that. Why are you carrying around a pencil case, that's for kids. Yes, for kids, she nodded. I'll give you 100 bucks if you let me look inside. She shook her head. Not in a million years would she allow that to happen and money meant nothing to her. Besides, how would she explain the ears and teeth she had collected from the guys she had buried in the marsh?

100 Word Stories

Visual Mood Boards @ Novel Ideas

 

@ Novel Ideas

I’m delighted to have been invited to present my workshop on Visual Mood Boards for the emerging Second Life® writers’ group Novel Ideas at their writing home. The session will take place tomorrow, Sunday, 23 November, at noon SLT (8 p.m. UK/PT). I’m very much looking forward to it!

Thank you to Songbird Swords and Brycie Punkinspicey (brycie.strange).

Poetry

 

Milk Wood

She wrote poetry.

He said it was garbage.

She tried again and again.

He laughed.

She cried.

He mocked her.

She wanted to stay, but couldn't. She wanted to leave, but couldn't.

He torched her poetry.

She wrote some more.

His rage became impossible. He destroyed her clothes and her books.

She grabbed her purse, her poetry notebook and her umbrella. She didn't know why she took the umbrella with her. She just did. It was hers and it reminded her that when you look at an umbrella from underneath, you can see the sky and feel that you're flying.

100 Word Stories

Gift

 

Milk Wood

Look at the bag, you'll see.

I'm looking.

Look closer.

I am!

Do you see it?

I don't see anything. What is it?!

The bag.

Yes, it's the bag. So what?

The bag is not the bag.

OK. What's wrong with the bag? We've been using this bag for years.

No, we haven't. This is not our bag. Open it.

When they opened the bag, three bars of gold blinded them.

Told you. It's a gift from heaven!

No, it's not. We're giving them back.

No!

Yes. This is not ours.

Well...

No. Some of us still have morals.

Pfffft...

100 Word Stories

Workshop @ Milk Wood

Milk Wood

November 8

8am SLT

Join us.

Assistive Technology

 

Nostalgia by Cicca

The little robot rolled around, following him. No, thank you. No need. You can roll back to your corner, he said holding his daughter's photo. The pain was unbearable. The robot tilted its head to look at the photo. He frowned. What do you want? The robot blinked twice. He stared at it in silence. He knew that blink. He looked closer. Is it you in there? The robot blinked twice. He rushed to read the gift card again. And there it was. It's just a robot, he thought, but it wasn't just a robot. That blink saved his life.

100 Word Stories

A Bus Drove By...

Milk Wood

She waited for the bus. A bus drove by and she waited. Another bus drove by and she waited. Is the fare too much for you, dear, asked an old lady, trying to help. She shook her head. And waited. The bus stop had a small bench. She sat down, her legs so heavy. I'm so tired, she thought, so tired. Why are people screaming, their panic seeping through her haziness. Perhaps it was time, yes. But she had already done it. The bus stop was taken by the flames. It burns, it burns!, was the last thing she heard.

100 Word Stories

A Melted Chocolate Bar

Milk Wood

With a melted chocolate bar, he said. The barista turned around. Melted? Yes, his teeth, he mumbled. I don't want to be judgmental, she said, but perhaps chocolate isn't a good option. He shrugged. With milk, please. She grabbed a chocolate bar from the counter and dropped it in the cup with hot milk. Anything else? No, he said. Are you OK? He smiled the saddest smile she had ever seen. Go sit down, now, I'll come over and chat. I'll even make a melted chocolate bar cup of milk for me! And this is why he's still alive today.

100 Word Stories

Listed

 

Goblins Knob

Not listed?! He was furious. They had rejected his book. Years of work had been snubbed by pseudo-intellectuals who had nothing better to do than to scalpel every detail of his story. Yes, he got the color of his main character's eyes wrong once, so? We could argue that it was a matter of perception, a symbolic overview of the character's rage. But no, they had rejected his masterpiece without a second thought. Breathe in and out. Calm down. He stood at the door of the jury room, holding a katana and thinking he'd do much better than his character.

100 Word Stories

Five Stars

 

Ashlar Whispering Wind

Five stars for what, crappy food?

The food was not bad, said the receptionist.

No? What about that horrid thing on the wall?

The receptionist looked up at the bull head skull. It was a sculpture, not the real deal. Besides, continued the receptionist, we are not in the business of eating the decor.

Insolent! The client's always right!

Not here. You see, sir, here we rate the clients, not the other way around, and you are a 0.

What?!

Would you like the bull head skull wrapped to take, so you remember us, since we won't allow you back?

100 Word Stories