Friday, May 13, 2011

Untethered - Photo Prompt From Bluebell books


Photo prompt courtesy of Bluebell Books short story slam. I can't find the original slam post and linky on Bluebell Books blog, probably due to the recent outage. If it returns, I'll link up. In the meantime, the home page is here .  And the flash I wrote before everything crashed follows.

Untethered


     I know I shouldn't feel like a criminal, but I do. Skulking about the perimeter, aiming my lens, trying to capture your face and hoping that you won't see me. If you do, I know what will happen; your face will light up, and then crumple as I hurry away. Your special day will lie crushed underfoot, and I love you far too much for that to happen. But I could not stay away. I want to see you take to the air, imagine your breathless anticipation, the sinking of your stomach and the awe written in your eyes as the ground falls away. Your hand will reach for his, and he will clasp it, warm and comforting, just as he used to hold mine.
     I used to dream that we would all be able to ride in a hot air balloon. Together. As a family. But today is your day, and his. Not mine. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are mine.
     And today is Saturday.


17 comments:

  1. Love the use of rising and falling for emotional states

    marc nash

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  2. Wasn't sure the direction until you arrived at the end!

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  3. I guess you have to wait for your turn.

    well done entry,

    the linkz is up and you can visit Bluebell to link your entry now.

    thanks for sharing.

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  4. human emotions are just like ocean waves...

    dynamic words.
    appreciate your time in writing this.

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  5. Awesome Li. The title you gave it adds so much to the text as well. Emotions are at their best on page.

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  6. Nice flash, Li. You had me going until the end. That picture reminded me of a concussion I was received while chasing some balloons. :)

    BTW, just got blogger back.
    Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

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  7. I love to see baloon,
    I would like to travel with one of them...
    Greetings from France,

    Pierre

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  8. A nice piece ~ had me guessing right till the end .

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  9. I love it! I have missed reading your stories this past week! so glad to be back visiting you.

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  10. Thanks a lot for your comment !
    Have a great week-end...

    Pierre

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  11. So poignant..the division of time..what we can almost possess till tomorrow..

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  12. Wonderfully done, you pack a lot of WOW into a short story, thanks!

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  13. Loved the last line! Fantastic stuff.

    Hope you're having a good weekend!

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  14. like good flash fiction..a nice twist in the ending...liked it very much

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  15. Hi Li. I see you've joined us at Romantic Friday Writers. So excited to say welcome. I can see you're a great flash fiction writer - it's my favourite style. You've said so much in so few words and kept us guessing right to the end. Well done.

    I hope you can write under 400 words on the theme of Lost for next Friday. If it's a problem due to other scheduled posts (I write for #fridayflash as well, but have dedicated a blog to it) just post earlier or later, but tweet at #romanticfridaywriters or leave a comment on the RFW site so we know to go hunting.

    Welcome,

    Denise<3

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  16. Powerful entry, filled with raw emotions. Brilliant take on the image

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  17. In general, we write a poem, find an image to illustrate or reflect our work, Now, let’s go reverse, we provide you an image,

    Invite you to contribute a poem or a short story based on the image you see,

    Be creative,
    Have fun!

    Hope to see you in...

    Bluebell Books!
    Xoxox


    Thanks for the support on Week 1.

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