Thank you @mariannewest for another fabulous #freewrite challenge. And its the weekend! Hurrah for the weekend freewrite challenge! This challenge involves three prompts. So each part of the story is informed by the next prompt.
To learn more and take part visit @mariannewest/weekend-freewrite-2-10-2018-part-1-the-first-sentence
If you don't know what a freewrite is visit @mariannewest, here is a link to the introduction post: @mariannewest/writers-or-wanna-be-writers-wanted-be-free-freewrite
My mother was doing that thing she did. That thing with the rag in the sink.
Which was odd. Because my mother had been dead for thirty years.
"Mother," I said, holding the flickering candle up, letting it's light caress the walls of the cottage. "What are you doing up at this time of night?"
She looked at me, with eyes that had no pupils. Just whites of her eyes looking back at me.
"I have come to warn you, boy!" she said. And laughed. She threw the rag at me and it turned into a rat as it flew across the air, and I woke up screaming and clawing at the pillow on my face.
Christ.
I hadn't had that dream in a while. I sat still for a while, letting my heart beat fast and fumbled for the switch on the bedside table.
What had made me dream of her?
And why now?
I took a sip of water from the glass, I always keep beside me, and then decided I would have to get up. I couldn't risk falling back to sleep and drifting back inside that dream. I knew where it would lead.
If I let it...
...
The plane was two hours late.
Which was a pain in the arse, because I was tired after my sleepless night, and now I was stuck at the airport waiting for my sister to land.
And I would also be stuck with a huge parking ticket.
My sister. Perhaps that's why I dreamed of my mother.
Obvious when I thought of it.
Gloria was younger than me, and had escaped much of the torture and abuse my mother had dished out to me, mostly because I killed her before Gloria was old enough for my mother to really enjoy it.
I walked to the bar in the waiting area and ordered a coffee. It was huge. Why are coffees so bloody big now. I drunk half of it.
I wondered what Gloria could possibly want from me. We hadn't seen each other in almost twelve years. Not since the argument.
Not since I told her about the true nature of the "accident".
"Poor mother," Gloria had said.
Poor mother my arse, I said and showed her some of my scars...
...
My mother never let me write with my left hand. As a child she would beat me every time she saw me pick up a pencil with my left. I learned to write with my right, and after my mothers "accident" I let myself write with my left hand.
That had impressed Samantha, my ex wife, when I first met her.
"The way he writes with both his left and right hand," she said. "I find it really cute."
Unfortunately, in the end, it wasn't enough. All my other faults outweighed the one cute thing I did. We divorced after three fairly unhappy years of marriage.
I think I only married her because my mother would have hated her.
Even now, I realise suddenly, I live my life just to spite her.
What a waste.
There is an announcement. My sisters flight has landed. Finally. I make my way to where the arrivals come out, and wait for her.
When she comes through, we both smile, and hug. I find myself crying.
With both joy and regret.
...
Opps, seemed to have changed to present tense at the end of the last part. I think it works though... anyway that is how I wrote it.
...
Very short stories (stories told in exactly 50 words)
“Raining Love" an original fictional romance told in just #fiftywords]
@felt.buzz/raining-love-an-original-fictional-romance-told-in-just-fiftywords
“Blood Bath”
She likes a bath. Horror.
@felt.buzz/blood-bath-an-original-fictional-horror-story-in-just-fiftywords
“London”
Raining? Surely not.
@felt.buzz/london-an-original-fictional-story-for-365daysofwriting-challenge-told-in-fiftywords
“Dodgy Dave”
A con artist. He also drives a Dodge.
@felt.buzz/dodgy-dave-an-original-short-story-in-exactly-fiftywords-for-365daysofwriting
“Believe in Yourself”
A man in a homemade spacecraft in search of a mythical bridge
@felt.buzz/believe-in-yourself-an-original-science-fiction-story-told-in-fiftywords-for-365daysofwriting-and-fiftywords-challenge
“Love Will Defeat Hate”
Forbidden love.
@felt.buzz/love-will-defeat-hate-an-original-fictional-love-story-in-fiftywords-for-the-365daysofwriting-challenge
Some more of my short stories
“Camping”
She didn’t mean to kill him. Did she?
@felt.buzz/camping-an-original-work-of-fiction-for-365daysofwritingchallenge
“The Hunt”
Sci-fi: Sam is off to bag some Uglies. Horrible pests they are…
@felt.buzz/the-hunt-an-original-work-of-fiction-for-the-365daysofwriting-challenge
“The Secret”
He has a secret. It runs in the family
@felt.buzz/the-secret-an-original-work-of-fiction-for-the-weekendfreewrite-challenge
“Trouble”
He loves his wife. But he might have forgotten something…
@felt.buzz/trouble-an-original-work-of-fiction-for-the-365daysofwriting
Some big news for me! One of my steemit stories (Reunion - told in 8 parts last month) has been selected to appear in the Isle of Write Anthology (see this post @isleofwrite/isle-of-write-fiction-publication-week-1-roundup). I am so excited to be a part of this. Please pay them a visit and check out the other stories that have been selected too. You too can be curated: so read the post and find out how!
