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Five Sentence Fiction – Pirates

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“Kara, tell me where Randy is,” the hoarse voice said in my ear as his arm tightened around my neck. “I need the two of you little science geeks to find a time portal for me—I’m looking for a particular group of pirates who can lead me to mermaids. You may think they don’t exist, but the truth is mermaids went extinct many years ago and I plan to capture one and bring her back.”

“The portals don’t work like that, I can’t choose the destination,” I said as Randy barged in the room and the man tightened his grip on my neck.

To Randy, he said, “You will take me and my partner Eric back in time to find the mermaids, or your girlfriend dies—am I understood?”

 ~

Check out the Five Sentence Fiction weekly challenge created by Lillie McFerrin.

This piece is a crossover sequel from two other flash fiction stories I wrote: Sweet Home Alabama and Reason.

Friday Night Write – Over My Head

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Carlo pulled back on the bolt and heard the bullet click into place. His sniper rifle rested perfectly against his shoulder. A natural extension of his body. Peering through the scope, his target moved right into the crosshairs. It was easy. Well, should have been easy.

Six months ago, Carlo was on a routine assassination. But on the flight home, he was seated next to the most enchanting woman he had ever met. Julia–Jules– as he would soon call her. Despite the little voice in Carlo’s head, telling him his lifestyle was not conducive to romantic relationships, he couldn’t stay away. Jules had a way of bringing out the good in him; good he never knew he was capable of.

After two months he told her what he did for a living. And to his surprise, she did not run away. In the sixth month Carlo was ready to quit and leave with her.

However, even men like him had to answer to someone, and he was not as enthusiastic.

“Is there anything I can do to change your mind?” Carlo asked.

“There is one last target. If you complete this hit, you’re free to go.”

The next day, the all-too-familiar chime on his phone signaled an incoming target. Carlo had been sent the name and picture of the person he was demanded to kill. Carlo’s hands shook for the first time since he took up this occupation. The picture was of his precious Jules. The phone rang shrilly and he answered it with a hoarse voice.

“Hello, Carlo. I trust you received your next target. Don’t get any crazy ideas about running away together. There is nowhere on this earth out of my reach. Her death in that instance would be much more painful than a bullet from your rifle. Am I understood?”

“Yes,” Carlo said.

“You have twenty four hours.”

That brought him here, to this rooftop with his Jules in the crosshairs of his gun.

The bluetooth set in his ear beeped. He pressed the button and the same dreaded voice filled his head.

“Don’t get cold feet, now. I am watching, and if you back out, I’ll finish her… and you.”

Helicopter blades thundered, and a moment later a chopper rose from behind him with a gunman sitting inside the open door.

“You have ten seconds.”

Ten seconds. That was all she had left.

Nine. Could he really kill her?

Eight seconds left. He was in way over his head.

Seven. Maybe he could get to her in time.

There was a storm drain running down the side of the building that he could slide down.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three. He was on the ground and running to her.

Two. “Jules, run!”

She saw him, but a moment too late.

The shot came from above his head, and she dropped to the ground before his eyes.

He had lost her.

Everyone involved in her death would pay.

Carlo now had a new target.

~
This was my entry into the Friday Night Write challenge at SweetBananaInk.com
The song prompt was Over My Head by The Fray

Five Sentence Fiction – Harvest

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Eliza walked along the path in the enchanted garden under the glistening rays of the sun.

The flowers were in their prime, ready to be harvested of their magical dust.

Faeries were supposed to be happy… and who wouldn’t be in a gorgeous place such as this?

But Rowland hardly noticed her anymore, leaving her abandoned in an unfamiliar world.

He had harvested her heart from humanity’s field, and let it shrivel up, alone.

~

Check out the Five Sentence Fiction weekly challenge created by Lillie McFerrin.

This story can stand alone, but it is part of a short story series I’m writing called, The Transformation. You can read the rest of the series here.

Friday Night Write – Sweet Home Alabama

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“Run! We need to leave, now!” Kara said as she and Randy hurried down the street. Her legs burned, but she couldn’t give up, or they’d never make it home.

“Wait!” Randy said, stopping short. “I thought I heard someone yell my name.”

What was he thinking? They didn’t have a second to waste. The portal was closing, and if they didn’t get to it in—Kara looked at her watch—three minutes, they would be stuck ten years in the future forever.

“Where’s Brent?”

Kara did a quick scan of the area. When had they lost him? Typical. Randy’s little brother was always causing trouble.

“I can’t stay,” Kara said, looking at her watch again.

“And I can’t go.”

She paused and sighed. “Know that I always loved you.”

Kara didn’t wait for his response. She continued running until she made it to the portal. There it was, the faint, iridescent swirl. To the untrained eye, it would simply look like a heat wave. Closing her eyes, she leaped, arms first, into the blurry vortex.

Looking back, she never should have talked Randy into working with her. But they were young, over-achieving scientists, looking for unexplored avenues of their craft. A time travel experiment seemed like a good idea at the time.

They left their small town in Alabama to pursue their dreams. They progressed faster than they thought, and within a year, they had successfully predicted the location of the next portal. But Brent jumped through after them.

Their intention was to just observe and return to the present that same evening. But the problem with going only ten years into the future is the threat of running into your future selves. They had no idea if there would be any ramifications, but they didn’t want to take the risk.

Leave it to Brent to purposefully seek themselves out. Randy and Kara spent the entire day chasing after him.

Every day for the last ten years, Kara regretted her decision to leave Randy behind. For years she tried to get back to him. But she soon discovered the portal was always moving. It would never take you to the same time twice.

She should have stayed. It was a mistake she would never make again.

Kara looked at her watch. It was time. She walked out of her house, into the still, dark night, and waited to hear the words she had replayed over and over in her head.

“Run! We need to leave, now!” Kara heard her voice say. A moment later, she saw Randy, just as she always remembered him, and her much younger self run down the street.

“Randy!” Kara yelled.

He stopped. It had worked. Tears spilled over as she watched herself leave. Then she ran to catch up with him.

“I’m so sorry. I never should have left you,” she said, falling into Randy’s arms.

She knew she had a lot of explaining to do, but it didn’t matter. She was home.

~

This was my story for Friday Night Write at Sweet Banana Ink. Each Friday there is a song prompt for a 500 word story. Be sure to check out the next one this Friday!

Five Sentence Fiction – Medicine

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I wasn’t always like this—the stone cold assassin I am today.

I used to smile, used to love, used to live.

She was the one who kept me on track; the one who saw the good in me when no one else could.

But they asked for it when they took her from me.

Because when you cut off the medicine, the deadly force comes back with a vengeance.

~

Check out the Five Sentence Fiction weekly challenge by Lillie McFerrin

Menage Monday – Week 36

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This is my entry for the Menage Monday challenge at caramichaels.com

Rules

Use these three prompts:

The Photo:

The Phrase: “might be fun” (this can appear anywhere in the story)

The Judge’s Prompt: unlikely inspiration

Must be 100-200 words

So here it is!

“Come on, Aurora, give it a try,” Aurora said with a playful smile. “You have to learn to fly sometime.”

“I can’t,” I said.

Her purple, shimmering wings shuffled as she placed her hands on her hips. “I’m the one in charge of training you during your transition. Maybe you just need a little inspiration.”

She blinked, and instantly we were in a parking garage. Not a human in sight.

“See those footprints?” She said, pointing to the concrete ledge above us. “I have a challenge for you. Fly up there and land sideways so that you can leave your footprints too.”

“This is silly.”

“If a human can get prints up there, you can too… Oh come on, it might be fun.”

I sighed. There was no getting out of it. I focused all my mental energy on defying gravity, and with a few flaps of my wings I was up. Landing gently, I placed my small feet next to a pair of larger prints.

“Happy?” I said, looking down at the sideways world.

She nodded, satisfied.

“Those aren’t actually human prints are they?” I said, putting it together.

“Nope. I learned to fly here too.”

Lessons and Outlets

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Ever been so upset about something that you wanted to scream, pull out your hair, throw something against the wall, or do any other activity to funnel that rage out of you?

Of course you have. Everyone has.

Writing is definitely an emotional outlet for many, but I’ve always had unproductive experiences in the past. I would be upset and decide to start writing, scribbling furiously on the page or typing like a mad-woman on the computer. But the product that came from my efforts was always, in a word, CRAP. Whatever characters I had created ended up alone, depressed, heartbroken, or coincidentally, they found themselves in whatever predicament I was in at the time. It always turned into a heap of vented emotion on a page, nothing anyone would ever want to read. In fact, I couldn’t even stand reading it and I ended up throwing it all away. And in the end, I was still just as mad as when I started writing in the first place. Maybe even more so because I had all my anger plus the anger I had invented for my characters.

Needless to say, it never amounted to anything, so I stopped using writing as an outlet.

But recently, I had a very different experience. I decided to enter the Farytaleish flash fiction writing contest on the Yearning for Wonderland blog. I hadn’t purposefully sat down to write as an outlet, but just to write in general. However, the hurt was still fresh in my mind. I had no preconceived ideas on what I would write, or what the message of the story would be, I just let the story take shape on its own. And what came out was something I needed to be reminded of. The story, The Color of Love, which I posted here a while back, was about seeing the good in someone despite the wrongs they have done…and loving them through it. You never know the change it can bring about!

Whether or not it won the contest wasn’t the important part.

I needed to write it.

Do you use writing as an outlet? Have you been taught important lessons by your own writing? Tell me in the comments. I’d love to hear about it!

Happy writing,

~Christina

Reason – Forbidden Love Blog Hop

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Here is my entry for the Forbidden Love Blog Hop contest at Bullishink.com

Reason


“I smell humans,” Elena, our queen, said with a mischievous smile.

I could smell them too—unsuspecting sailors about to fall prey to our charms. My fin itched in anticipation. We waited just below the surface of the water as the oncoming rowboat slowed to a stop above our heads.

One after another we popped out of the water and hung our arms over the edge of the boat. Our task was simple, natural, like swimming. We were to captivate a sailor with our enchanting songs, lure him into the water, and drown him. We’re called mermaids, sirens of the sea. And this was the reason for our existence.

I locked eyes with my prey. But what happened next I never saw coming. I couldn’t look away. I was the one enchanted, not the other way around. In that moment, I knew I couldn’t kill this marvelous human, with his chocolate eyes and wind-tossed hair.

“My name’s Eric,” he said softly. “You’re beautiful.”

As he leaned in to kiss me, Elena’s shrill voice yelled my name. “Ariel!”

I knew what it meant. Who was I fooling?

I grabbed him by his shirt collar and we plunged into the water. And I held him there until almost the breaking point.

But I just couldn’t do it. I loosened my grip and he floated to the surface.

“You know the consequences,” Elena said.

I nodded as I watched the boat and its single occupant row away above my head. With a flick of her fingers, my fin split apart and morphed into legs. A foreign choking sensation gripped my lungs and I haphazardly swam to the surface. As I gasped for air, I frantically searched in all directions.

But the rowboat, and the reason for my human existence, was gone.

~297 words~

15 Habits of Great Writers Challenge-Day 1

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I joined Jeff Goins’ 15 day challenge: 15 Habits of Great Writers.
The first challenge: Declare you’re a writer… to a live person. So, today for the first time i actually said the words to someone, “I am a writer.” I’ve told people before that “I’m working on a novel” but I’ve never said it quite so plainly. And it was great to actually say it out loud.

At what point in your career do you become a quote-unquote writer?

You are when you say you are!

Join the 15 Day Challenge!

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The Transformation – Faerytaleish Entry #2

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This is my second entry into the Faerytaleish contest at 264 words

The Transformation

“So I guess this is goodbye,” Eliza said in as strong of a voice as she could manage. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold back the tears.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Rowland said, inching closer to her. He found her presence intoxicating and the thought of leaving her was so unbearable that it hurt to breathe.

“I can’t just pick up and leave to go with you. Why can’t you be the one to stay?”

“You know how this works. I can only stay in your world for so long. I can’t keep this human form forever. If you came with me, you would be the first human to cross over.”

Rowland looked into her eyes, melting her heart in a way only he could. If she let him leave, would she ever find love again?

“I… I can’t.”

“Please. Come with me.”

Eliza dared a second look into his eyes and lost all the resolve she had left. She knew the answer to her question. If she let him go now, she would regret it for the rest of her life. Smiling, she said, “Yes. I’ll come with you.”

The moment she said yes, sparks stared to swirl around them. With the sparks came the transformation. Rowland was no longer in his human form… And soon her body morphed into one similar to his. Her skin now shimmered and a pair of translucent wings appeared at her back!

The sparks flew more wildly, increasing in speed…

And then the sparks abruptly stopped and the two of them were gone.

~

Rules: write a 300 word story inspired by a picture on the Faerytaleish Pintrest board.

Update: Since entering this contest, I’ve decided to expand on this story. I’m turning it into a series. You can read the rest of it here.