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Flash Fiction: Tent

It won’t be possible, darling.

I get it. Will see ya soon. Bye!

Bye!

I sighed. My husband was going to have a hard time explaining it to our son. I felt sad.

Joey is such a nice child. He never makes demands, never throws tantrums. He only ever asks us for something once in a year – on his birthday. This year, he wanted a tent. We agreed. It was his tenth birthday after all.

I drove to the mall. My jaw dropped when I saw the price tags of the tents. There was no way we could afford one. I had called my husband to inform him that our son’s present was out of our reach. Being the optimist that he is, my husband told me not to worry and come back home.

Now, when I get back, I see the mess in front of me. I see my little Joey giggling and rolling around under the mess. Then it struck me. Joey did get his present.

That mess was a tent….

Word Count: 175

Prompt:

FFfAW Challenge – 201st

Flash Fiction: Stay Out

Find the prequels here:

Part 1- Twittering Tale: Campfire

Part 2- Flash Fiction: Boots

Now the story continues…

The kids stared at the woods.

Gary placed an arm on Roger’s shoulder.

“You know we are not supposed to go there right?”

Roger shrugged.

“Yeah, I know. But that’s my favourite football that Kye kicked into the woods. I am going to get it back, and Kye is coming with me.”

Roger looked at the whimpering Kye. The smaller boy was clearly more afraid of Roger than he was of the forest. Gary crossed his arms.

“No! I don’t want to go there and find out what the adults were so scared about.”

Roger snorted.

“Ha! I hope we find what scared them. Any way, move out of the way, Gary.”

Gary was no match for Roger’s strength. He gave in and stepped aside. Roger walked passed triumphantly, dragging Kye along. Gary sighed. He could not go home alone, anyway.

He followed his friends into the woods…

(Read the sequel here- Part 4- Flash Fiction: Into The Woods)

Word Count: 148

Prompt:

FFfAW Challenge – 200th

Flash Fiction: Clouds

It was a regular, bright and sunny day.

The townsfolk of Commonville were going about their daily duties. Nothing out of the ordinary until the clouds appeared. Initially, the townsfolk did not give them a second glance. However, once the clouds turned grey and blocked out the sun, the good people of Commonville started getting concerned. Nothing uncommon ever took place in Commonville, and these dark clouds had just appeared during peak summer season.

Suddenly, the clouds began dispersing, letting a single large beam of sunlight appear. Before the townsfolk could breathe a sigh of relief, they realized this was not sunlight. It was a laser beam.

Commonville learnt that uncommon things can happen in any city, as life is not predictable. Rather, they would have learnt this had they survived the laser death ray…

Word Count: 135

Prompt:

FFfAW Challenge – 199th

Flash Fiction: Dare

I dare you, chicken.

Paula knew me well. She knew what would incite me. She was my older sister after all. And in my opinion, she was someone even the devil would not want to associate with.

Back then, I was just a scrawny thirteen year old kid, who was just entering his rebel phase. I wanted to prove to the world that I was a real badass. Completing my older sister’s dare seemed like an opportunity to snatch that proof.

Snow had covered up the obstacle course. It was much much tougher than I had expected it to be. I never knew that this little dare would set me out on the path to greatness.

This is the incident I think back to most during these days, while I scale all those icy peaks.

Word Count: 135

Prompt:

FFfAW Challenge – 198th

Flash Fiction: Christmas Gift

Little Tia’s eyes lit up like a christmas tree.

She smiled gleefully as she pointed to the open trunk of pattices that lay below the christmas tree. Her mother stared in shock at the trunk full of food. Little Tia’s smile vanished as she witnessed her mother’s face go from white to a shade or red, quite resembling the colour of the hung stockings. Tia did not expect the slap that landed on her face. Mother began screaming at her.

“You fool. If you wanted pattices, I would have made them for you. Why did you wish for them?”

Tia replied in a sobbing broken voice.

“They are not for me. They are for the poor hungry kids that live on the street.”

Her reply was met with another slap on her face.

“You wasted your precious wish on them? What a foolish daughter I have….”

Word Count: 146

Prompt:

FFfAW Challenge – 197th

Flash Fiction: Christmas Toys

You make such cute toys, Santa.

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to receive Christmas gifts from you. I wanted you to deliver gift-wrapped toys to me. I would look at all the other kids rejoice as they opened the wrapping and found that they had received the toys they wanted. However, I never got such gifts. I never got any Christmas toys from you, Santa.

Now, after so many years, I must admit, it does feel good to get such cute toys for Christmas. It makes me feel amazing. All warm and fuzzy. How does it make you feel, Santa?

How does it feel being turned into a toy? You and your favorite reindeer. How does it feel being my Christmas toys?

Word Count: 125

Prompts:

FFfAW Challenge – 196th

Manic Mondays 3 Way Prompt: Rejoice

Flash Fiction: Crash

The car stood motionless in front of me.

The entire frontal area of the car had been smashed by the tree it had crashed into. I could see the driver seated with his bloodied head lying on the steering wheel, or rather the half of it that remained.

It was weird looking at my own self like this. I felt sorry for my shattered body and even more sorry for having wrecked my neighbour’s car. However, the plan went as I had expected.

My theory was correct.

Ghosts do exist…

Now, to test my next theory before the sun rises. Do possessions work?

Ah, here comes my test subject zooming in a sweet, black sedan…

Word Count: 115

Prompt: FFfAW Challenge – 195th

Flash Fiction: Shoot

Keep your eyes on the red saucer, and shoot.

BANG!

A good try. Just a narrow miss. Now, try to predict the course of the disc and then shoot. Here it comes.

BANG!

AlmosFFfAW Challenge – 194tht there. You can do it. Remember your target practice. There is no difference, other than the fact that you are using live ammunition and the target is moving slightly. One more time.

BANG!

Good shot. The red saucer was blown to smithereens. What do you mean by what about the black saucer? Which black saucer? Oh fuck! That’s an actual flying saucer you idiot.

RUN!!

Word Count: 100

Prompt:

FFfAW Challenge – 194th

Flash Fiction: Paddle

You sure there are no alligators here, right?

This question had begun to irritate me now. It was the fifth time in half an hour that I was being asked the same question. I assured my date once again, before she promptly went back to clicking selfies and her social media.

She was as much part of the date as the surrounding water was. She had zero interest in paddling or making conversation. I guess she asked me out only to get someone to paddle, while she clicked pictures. She had even kept aside her life-jacket so that she could continue flaunting her best features on social media.

Hey, my followers on insta are asking me about alligators..you are completely sure, right?

That was the last straw. This girl had driven me nuts. I pulled back the paddle and whacked her on her head with it. Down she went into the lake, phone and all.

The lake had no alligators, but I made no promises about crocodiles…

Word Count: 168

Prompt:

FFfAW Challenge #193

Flash Fiction: The Benches

Psst..if you enjoy flash fiction, do check out The Wacky Weekend Challenge

It’ll be fun! 🙂

Now, on to the story…

Nobody knew who had made the structure, but everyone in town knew the structure.

The Benches had been a part of town since as long as anyone could remember. They had always been there. Who made it? No one could say. However, their legend had been passed on from generation to generation, becoming a part of the town’s traditions. It was said that if two people sat on The Benches, one on each part, the two would remain friends for life. Their bond would last forever.

When the war broke out and town was constantly bombed, The Benches stood intact, still together. They remained as they were, a standing testament to their legend. Fortifying the statement, that

True friendship, was forever…

Word Count: 121

Prompt:

Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers # 192