[x]

On the outside, people couldn't see how much she wanted to make herself bleed across her carpet. They couldn't see the stains of her tears on her sleeves or the mascara streaks down her cheeks when she was alone. She carved lines into her skin, marking all the times she's felt alone, depressed, anguished, wronged, or helpless and cried into the blood until they ran purple.

She was pathetic, weak, and foolish; that's why she did this to herself - she was a coward, afraid of the real world. She locked herself within her own mind from the outside and refused to slide the only key inside through the small sliver underneath the door so someone, a

The SecretKristen has a secret. She holds it in place with fine slivers of metal that clasp her hair tightly to her head, as if a wisp out of place would be it's undoing. She hides it under a gentle brush of blush across her cheek bones, as if the coral tone granted her the ability to create a new face for herself, a new body. She stuffs it up her sleeve with a freshly laundered hankerchief, knowing that every corner must be finely pressed until any flaw is smoothed away, undetectable.

At the end of each day Kristen takes off her shoes. She places them side by side, as a pair, and tucks them slightly underneath her bed so she does not trip over them i

Story Fragment with Dark and Zaen"Zaen. Zaen."
Someone was shaking Zaen's shoulder. He stirred.
"Wake up, kid. Seriously. I come home and I find you layin' on the floor like a murder victim."
"It's lying, not laying. The verb lay requires a direct object, whereas the verb lie does not..." Zaen mumbled, rubbing his eyes and squinting. Why had Dark turned on such bright lights?
"Lay, lie, whatever." Dark tugged at Zaen's hands. "Get up. It's way past your bedtime."
Zaen moaned, rolled over, and covered his eyes. The room was far too bright. Why was he on the floor again? Oh, right, he had been reading.
"Fine, lazy kid." Dark knelt and put his arms around Zaen. He was giving him a hug? Zaen didn't think Dark liked to give people hugs. Wait... his feet had just left the ground... Oh, Dark had picked him up.
"The floor," Dark continued as he walked, "is a very bad place to sleep. It's dirty, and you ain't gonna be able to sleep well there. And however long

ForesightDebra Mae was an astonishingly good programmer.

Her code always worked correctly the first time, and she never missed a deadline. Her workspace was immaculate, but curiously devoid of personal effects. No framed pictures, no toys, just her small collection of pens lined up according to color and an inbox for the occasional old-school paper input.

Her computer was equally immaculate. Nothing extra on her desktop, no stray icons. If one peeked at her browser history there’d be nothing there but work-related google searches and company stuff.

She dressed neatly but very plainly. I suspected she had four dresses in her wardrobe an

In your heartIn your heart- A letter to say goodbye

When the stars flicker and the moon shine, you know I’m looking down at you, over your shoulder protecting you forever. When the sun shines and the flower blossoms, you know I’m smiling at you, dumbfounded by your beauty and your soul.
Trust me when I say “I won’t go” but still trust me when I’m dead and gone, because you know in your heart I can never leave. I won’t break promises I swear I won’t lie, if you’re losing faith just look up at the sky.
Remember the good in me and forget all my scars. Make a wish to bring me from the dust and from the ash. Sorr

Six Word Story: Hope"There's hope, you know."

"Really?"

"Really."

Bedtime StoryIt was a quaint young world in which a troupe of like-minded fellows did subsist. They found joy together in simple things, feline endeavors. Within their minds did great plumes spring, fine tufted ears and coils for caudals. They birthed their world and sat as gods upon a throne of osseous matter, led by one with a visage bright as flame.

And there they did indulge in fancy follies, games of crack which offered many an occasion in which they might giggle to themselves. But all was not well. For they did discover there the path all mortals are bound to take. For in the end are we not all but food for worms? They set to path their words in tr

*Paranormal*Aberrant red infusion colours sky, inexplicable!

InfinityDespite of being the middle of summer, it was a cold night. They always were back there. The fresh beach air provided the campsite with cool nights and hot days. We were sitting outside our tents, watching the dying embers of our campfire fade out. It was late, and the sounds of the surrounding campers were slowly dying out. The minutes went by, and less laughter was heard. The guitars and other instruments stopped and stayed silent. The sound of tent zippers opening and closing again. A hushed whisper now and then, the sound of a distant snore. Finally, when the only thing we could hear were the crickets and the sound of the nearby waves, we stood up. In complete silence we walked between tents and pine trees, avoiding the holes were the campfires had earlier stood.
We reached the beach and sat down on the sand. I looked up and saw the immensity of space spread out before my eyes. The stars, so clear now as they had never been in the city, filled me with wonder. The same wonder I

Not So AloneNot So Alone

Alone.

That was the best way to describe this hellish place. He was alone here. It was a lonely forsaken place. Nothing sane lived here. Monsters, beasts, mind-numbing impossibilities, oh this place crawled with them.

Wilson stared into his meager campfire, listening to the sounds around him. Within the inky blackness distances didn't seem to matter. The snoring beefalo he knew to be only a stone's throw away sounded farther than the croaking frogs several clicks distant. That darkness was oppressive, dangerous, and Wilson had the very real sense that if he stepped out into it, the darkness itself would be the thing to take hi

A sudden blast of windI sat in the long shadow of a broken down castle wall, seeking refuge from the burning heat of summer. However, even though I couldn’t feel the Sun on my skin, the air was even warmer there, thicker and heavier. It made me feel as if I was drowning as I took my breaths. So, I got up, shaking off the broken branches and leaves that got stuck into my hair and clothes, and stepped out into the world of the supposedly blazing Sun on the other side.

The wind was strong, and cold, a reminiscence of winter within the heat of summer. It felt good on my skin as I laughed, much better than the still air of the shadow which was supposed to protec

AbsentEven the rainbows
Are absent
Today.

100 Themes- 001Well, This Sucks.
Lu Yuen tried to move his arm, but that caused the ropes to tighten more, and slip farther down towards the raging river below. He let out a huff of frustration. "Can't you just pull me up?"
"If you wanna send both of us falling into the river, sure." He didn't have time to deal with Emi's sarcasm. His legs were numb after an hour of hanging. "I have to find another way to get you up."
The boy let out a whine, shaking a bit. "You better hurry up then. I might end up dying here of starvation before you can get me out."
The female samurai scoffed. "You won't. Don't worry."
Lu Yuen tried to look up at the girl. "I haven't eaten since last night!"
Emi frowned. "Your fault."

"I had no food!" he protested, trying to untangle himself from the rope. It ended sliding down some more, towards the sharp rocks. He made a face. He didn't want to get cut up into piec

How to disappear completelyFriday 5.30pm, and my face was pressed to the armpit of another man, with the leather strap almost cutting off the blood supply to my hand. The groin of a stranger was touching my back every time the carriage cornered. A girl breathed hot chocolate into my ear. It sounds erotic, now I think about it, but it wasn’t. The only way I can cope with that squeeze of people, the second-hand air of three hundred diseased strangers on the Jubilee Line, is by going into myself. I become utterly absorbed in the music on my ipod. Ray Davies is singing only to me. Sometimes I accidentally mouth the words and attract the disinterested but opprobrious glances of bystanders.
There was a wasp in the carriage, battling frantic against the window to escape to the blurring black brick beyond. I watched it for five minutes by sidelong glances before it crossed into the radar of a fellow commuter. She screamed, dropped her briefcase and stood on som

my vertebrae crawl in timeI watch shadows dance along your piano, and I wish that the vertebrae of my spine were keys for every time you touch me my skin sings. My eyes watch the room shift to black and white. My ears listen to the lullabies that echo of the walls of my heart, and I wonder where you've gone.

Did I mention that I'm afraid of my own human nature? You could read my soul page by page, but I misread the colors in your eyes. And your lips caused an overload of ecstasy on mime, but only mine were smiling. The only time you smiled was when those damn keys whined under their master's touch. I prayed for glue and tape, so I could plaster that grin there. Becau

Browse More Like This

Download File
HTML, 904 bytes more ▶

More from *bonusparts

Brier-Rose (Fearless, Chapter 11)Fearless
11 (Brier-Rose)

That first night, Ross didn't sleep.

He couldn't do, not when Amber might wake again at any moment and need him. Of course, he had no clue what all he could do if she did need something. If she'd fallen out of a boat or off of a board, he was ace. But, here, at hospital, he could do little but just sit and wait. He couldn't leave, though, to spite the tubes and pumps and beeping monitors, and that horrid antiseptic smell that assaulted his nostrils with every breath and made him feel fifteen years old again, and helpless.

So he stayed, awake and by her side, for as long as he could do, until the duty nurse politel

Stowaways    The ship was quiet. Save for the skeleton shift on the bridge, there was no movement, no talk, no breath.

    Or, there shouldn't have been.

    In the hold below decks, close to the engine, one cargo container creaked, shifted, and then burst open, its door clattering to the metal floor.

    "Quiet!" Lelia hissed as she crept from the container, pressing a finger to her lips.

    Short, compact Tyc was first behind her. "Doesn't matter," he muttered. "We've already shifted into Darkspace."

    Lelia looked at him.

100-Word Challenge: That Unexpected SparkShe didn't know when it happened, only that it wouldn't let her go.

Perhaps, it had begun in the old DVD store, when she'd first seen his lopsided smile. Or in the library, when he'd sat beside her, listening to a history of angels. Or in that moment of desperate terror, when she'd thought everything hopeless…and then felt his arms surround her.

Or, perhaps, it happened the first time she kissed him: an unexpected spark of feeling for a friend who could be something more.

The flame flickered before, but that kiss had made it flare.

Sally wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

100-Word story: Fearless: Her Motherly ReasonMaggie stared at the clock. Six sixteen, three hours since the shot had sounded, calling Jim away. She knew it was selfish (the crew needed their coxswain), but today was Mother's Day!

She sighed. Mother's Day without her husband. Rubbish.

The door creaked; she sat up. "Jimmy?"

"...Mummy?"

Maggie blinked. "Ross? What are you doing up?"

Carrying the tea tray, he padded in, his grin showing off a gap of lost baby teeth. "I made you breakfatht!"

Cold cereal and water wasn't quite the scrumptious breakfast she'd imagined for today. But she smiled anyway, and hugged him, her motherly reason.

100-Word Challenge: Liberty and DeathFin shoved her ahead, and Cora slipped, across mossy stones slick as rotted apple pulp. But still she ran, the clangor of metal and voices chasing after:

"Retrieve the princess! Death to the Empire!"

Until, suddenly, there was no passageway left.

She spun, but her warning died in her throat. For spilling at her feet was Fin, broken and bloodied, his spear clattering beside.

Cora's body shuddered.

Her pursuers were ready for a girl, a monarch's delicate daughter. They weren't ready for the angry, yellow-eyed monster that rose, enormous, before them.

"Here is your liberty!" it bellowed, spewing liquid fire.

100-Word Challenge: One Last Leap

Tomorrow, the cloud prince would come. To take her away from the sea, the only life she'd ever known. And the only love.

With naked toes grasping the bluff's edge, Cora shook her head. Tomorrow, she'd be dead.

A better fate than any mountain palace was the wave-tossed tomb below. There, in that watery hollow of forgotten bones, she'd first felt Fin's forbidden kiss, and known she'd never love another. She wished him here, if only to feel him one last time.

But she couldn't wait. Tomorrow was coming.

Closing her eyes, she stepped free...and heard him call her name.

View Gallery · View Prints

Featured in Groups:

Not currently featured in any groups.

Details

Submitted: June 20, 2012
File Size: 904 bytes

Link

Thumb

Statistics

Comments: 3
Favourites: 0
Views: 41 (0 today)
Downloads: 3 (0 today)

License

Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

[x]

100-Word Challenge: A Wild Ride

by *bonusparts, Jun 20, 2012, 7:42:40 AM
Literature / Prose / Fiction / General Fiction / Flash Fiction & Vignettes

"…Are you scared?"

"No. Now, shut up. You're shaking the plane."

"Calm down. There's a greater chance of you being struck by lightning, than anything happening during this flight."

"Look, logically, historically, empirically, I know we're perfectly safe. But, in the dark recess of my mind, I also know this is impossible! Man simply was not meant to scream through the air in a giant sardine tin!"

"The only one screaming, here, is you."

"Your compassion is overwhelming."

"Listen. If you feel nervous, just squeeze my hand. There. Better?"

"…Yeah. Thanks."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Oh, you're going to love meeting my parents- ow!"

100-Word Challenge: A Wild Rideby *bonusparts

Literature / Prose / Fiction / General Fiction / Flash Fiction & Vignettes

Welcome to another submission for the 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups (week 46)!

I didn’t submit to last week’s article prompt (though I did use it as inspiration for another vignette). But this week, we’re back to my bread and butter of flash fiction writing. Prompt as follows, per Julia:
… in the dark recess of my mind …
As usual you have 100 words to add to these 7 making 107 altogether. Make sure you keep the prompt as it is….

I’ve been up and down on planes so many times in the last week-and-a-half, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take that somewhat cryptic, almost foreboding prompt of words and make it into something light-hearted…and close to my own experiences.

I don’t usually do straight dialogue-only pieces, but I don’t think any description is really needed, here. Plus, my Songbirds stories are built around simplicity.

Sally Sparrow and Larry Nightingale are owned by BBC and used here without permission.

~Shade-the-Raven Jun 20, 2012

And all was safe until Larry tried a barrel roll XD.
The emotion to the piece is certainly prevalent, as is the jostling about. And, with such simplicity, there's not much more to it than that. The ending thud was a great touch too!

*bonusparts Jun 21, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Thank you! Sally's actually the calm one, here, which I wasn't certain would work. But, the more I thought about it, I liked that the one who dreams about space flight is the one freaked out by being on a plane!

I felt the need to add that little thud at the end; it wouldn't quite be the same without it, and it (hopefully) makes the reader pay attention a bit more than they might ordinarily do.

~Shade-the-Raven Jun 21, 2012

It worked. I did the classic 3-sec pause ... "Wait, what?" Re-read! XD
And a little Cessna is a far cry from space flight. Not to mention a lot cozier for most. Unless you're Wedge and company, then it's home.

More from *bonusparts

Featured in Groups:

Details

Statistics

License

100-Word Challenge: A Wild Ride

100-Word Challenge: A Wild Rideby *bonusparts

The Journal Portal

Polls

What is your preferred drawing software?

deviantART [dee·vee·un'nt·ART]

Keep in Touch!

Deviousness

Add Media

Style