Candle

 

Time Remains

It's Christmas and all that. Jolly, polly, holly, folly and anything rhyming in 'olly. Also Molly and trolley. Who, you may ask? Nevermind. Look at the candle. It's Christmas. Festive little Christmas time, where a generous portion of smiles is added to a generous portion of mockery. The fake phone calls with promises of meetings in the new year "oh, we must!", the fake pledges of friendship for all eternity "best buddies, right!". Look at the candle. It's simple. It burns. No promises. No lies. It just is. A candle. Simple. Why can't people be as simple as a candle?

100 Word Stories

Correlation

 

Wonderland 2.0

The correlation between death and peace is a difficult one. People say, rest in peace. Peace is a given for the departed. But what about those who stay behind. Ah, they have it easy, they are not dead.

The correlation between friendship and stupidity is a difficult one. How are you doing, they ask, a serious look on their faces. What does one reply? Fine, now that I have peace of mind? Or... oh, terrible, I miss them so much?

The correlation between the truth and a lie is not a difficult one. One small step, a word, and voilá.

100 Word Stories

Cool

 

Tierra de Fuego

It's a plane, the kid exclaimed, rushing to the carousel plane. His mother shook her head. I'll be a pilot when I grow up! The mother shook her head. Yesterday, you wanted to be a doctor. The kid stretched his arms, mimicking the wings of a plane swooshing through the sky. Isn't this plane cool? The mother shook her head. He'd be a carpenter, tops. When the kid from back then, already an adult, showed the mother his pilot's license, she shook her head. Crazy, dangerous job. The adult walked away, the kid cried, the mother never saw either again.

100 Word Stories

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