#FridayFictioneers – Islander at Heart

May 14, 2020May 14, 2020 ~ Russell ~ 32 Comments

“What’s that thing?” Janie laughed.

Daryl tipped his floral ISLANDER hat. “This is a mere reminder of where my heart resides,” he said.

“Really? You ever been to an island? Ever even seen the ocean? And where’d you get that thing?”

Her questions hit him like punches. He almost reeled back, but he set his feet and his jaw. “Yes, no, no, and the internet if you must know.”

“Well, if you’ve never been to the islands, how do you know you’re an islander?”

“Come here,” Daryl said. “Look out the window at all the snow. That’s how I know.”

WC: 100

Continue reading →

#FridayFictioneers – Hide ‘n Seek

May 8, 2020May 8, 2020 ~ Russell ~ 29 Comments

Billy loved spending his weekend at Gramps place. He would play with the neighborhood kids out back in the wide open field and surrounding woods.

They played a lot of chase and war, but Billy’s favorite was hide ‘n seek. He was, by his 11 year old reckoning, the king of hide ‘n seek, always finding the best hiding spots.

Like the old refrigerator he came upon just a bit off the path. He laughed as the heavy door closed tight, sealing him in darkness.

They would never find him there.

Continue reading →

#FridayFictioneers – Virus

March 12, 2020March 14, 2020 ~ Russell ~ 27 Comments

Margie sat stiffly on the bench, her satchel placed beneath it, under a cloudless summer sky. Sparrows splashed in the fountain directly in front of her, but her glazed eyes never saw them.

A gloved man in a fine black suit came around the fountain to join her. He took note of her eyes and bare hands. It took all of his considerable will not to pull away.

“Do you have it?”

“Yes,” Margie replied standing and swaying as she found her feet.

She had disappeared before he carefully took the satchel in his gloved hand and left the park.

WC: 100

Continue reading →

#FridayFictioneers – Fruitarian?

March 6, 2020 ~ Russell ~ 27 Comments

Liam crunched into the apple. Juice ran from the corners of his mouth and stuck in the bit of stubble he called a goatee. “That is so good.” He sat hard on the curb outside the store, held the apple high, and marveled. “I think I’ve found it.”

Emma shouldered her pack. “Congratulations. It’s an apple. You ready? We’ve got miles to go yet.”

“No listen. I read about this fruitarian diet and…” Crunch. “It could be for me.”

“That’s fine. Will’s grilling burgers tonight though.” Emma began walking.

“Hey wait! That’s tonight.”

Emma laughed. “More for us, I guess.”

Continue reading →

#FridayFictioneers – Behind the Curtain

February 27, 2020March 6, 2020 ~ Russell ~ 30 Comments

The papers would all say that it was their greatest performance. One for the ages.

The cast would never forget it.

Devon locked arms with his fellow performers and bowed low. The applause was deafening. Their smiles wide. The curtain fell as they waved enthusiastically to the adoring crowd.

He was found slumped against a wall in his dressing room the next morning. A spent pill bottle on the floor. Vodka bottle clutched in a fist.

A crumpled paper lay beside the stage make-up. He had scrawled one word.

“Sorry.”

The papers reported that he showed no signs of depression.

WC: 100

Continue reading →

#FridayFictioneers – Left and Right

February 6, 2020 ~ Russell ~ 32 Comments

The down side didn’t work. I wondered why but kept silent.

There were men with guns. Hard looking men. They didn’t seem the talking type.

Surely there would be someone on the upper level to explain. We were citizens and as such, deserved an explanation.

The escalator carried us up to where we slotted into lines. More hard-eyed, gun carrying men lined the walls.

Haz-mat suited figures scanned those at the head of the lines. They parted the subjects left and right.

A man screamed and ran. A dozen rifles appeared before him. He wept and parted to the left.

WC: 100

Continue reading →

#FridayFictioneers – All of the Taste

January 24, 2020 ~ Russell ~ 16 Comments

Sammy knew what he had to do. It wouldn’t be easy, but if he could mange, it would be worth it. He hoped it would anyway.

He pulled in a deep, steadying breath and went for it, peeling the plastic from the tray and attacking the contents. All the nutrition he needed and no taste. It all went down with hardly a chew. Hardly a taste.

“Very good,” his mom said smiling. “Slow down for dessert. You don’t want brain-freeze.”

She needn’t have worried. He would savor this. His favorite with none of the nutrients and all of the taste.

Continue reading →

#FridayFictioneers – New Growth

January 16, 2020 ~ Russell ~ 26 Comments

The airlock clanged jarring Sarey from her thoughts. It was a months long trip of stars and blackness, and she was both happy that it was over and apprehensive at what awaited her. She already missed the color of Earth.

Heavy doors hissed open. The Captain greeted her in the gray tube that ran from docking to Control. They walked gray corridors, wore gray uniforms, and lived on a gray, lifeless world.

She would change that.

Her workstation was gray and barren. She stuck a photo to her monitor.

“Okay Mars, let’s get you growing.”

WC: 100

Continue reading →

#FridayFictioneers – The Plunge

December 20, 2019 ~ Russell ~ 17 Comments

A gazebo sits on the snow covered banks of a large body of water. — *PHOTO PROMPT ©* Dale Rogerson

“No. Please,” Fin begged. Shivering in nothing but his tighty-whities, he wished for his gazebo bound clothes.

Bob laughed. “Please? That all you got?”

Large hands grasped Fin by the shoulders, held tight against his struggles, and pressed him onto the dock stretching over the icy water.

Pressed to the edge, Fin saw everything with perfect clarity. Snow covered beaches, epic mountains filling the horizon, and all that ice cold water.

Then he was flying, swimming, gasping, and being pulled out of the icy depths.

“We do this every year! Welcome to the family!”

Fin wondered what he married into.

WC: 100

Continue reading →

#FridayFictioneers – Carnage

December 13, 2019 ~ Russell ~ 18 Comments

Slim hit the floor with a thud that was concealed by the explosion of what they called a Carnage bomb. The resulting wall of flame sent plaster dust, mortar and masonry shrapnel speeding in every direction.

He crawled, bleeding, ears ringing, and covered in white dust, to where the explosion had hurled Bobbi. She lay in a heap of wrong angles. Tears cut trenches in Slim’s grime covered face as reality set in. She was gone.

They would come for him, just as they had come for everyone else.

Let them come, he thought. I’ll show them some real carnage.

WC: 100

Continue reading →

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: