flash fiction – Elodie Nowodazkij

You´ve heard about the YA Buccaneers, right? No? Go check them out here. And you can totally follow those wonderful ladies on Twitter.

Follow @YABuccaneers

One of their awesome features is “Walk The Plank”: Walk The Plank is all about writing Flash Fiction – in other words, short snippets that make the biggest impact. And the goal: Write a flash fiction story in 200 words or fewer, excluding the title, around the monthly theme.

This month´s theme is Adventure.
For an extra challenge, begin your story with the words, “I set sail” (these three words will be included in the word count).
And for an even bigger challenge, use the same beginning words and end with the words: “my adventure continues!” (also included in the word count).
For those who want to prove their Flash Fiction prowess, hit all of the above challenges, PLUS, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!

This is my first flash fiction in months!

I set sail on Wednesday. Or at least I think it was Wednesday. My mind plays tricks on me and the scorching heat doesn’t help. Mom and Dad had warned me about sailing alone.

But I wasn’t alone.

Aidan stood on the boat when I pulled in the marina, his cap low on his forehead and his dimple showing as he waved my way.

My heart stopped beating.

I ran my hand through my wavy hair, checked my make-up one last time in the mirror. It was light. You can’t go sailing and go all out at the same time.

And then I strolled to the boat as if my entire body wasn’t melting at the fact he actually came. He came!

Now he’s gone.

The back of my throat tightens and one more time I glance back to where he drowned. The sun glistens on the water. Peaceful.

My fingers slip and each of my muscles hurt, the salt on my lips tastes bitter. Aidan kissed those lips, not too long ago, before he slipped away.

And I have no idea how I´ll keep my promise to him. His words as his body disappeared. “Make sure my adventure continues.”

The first Campaigner Challenge is on 🙂 My mission which I accepted with opened arms and a wide grin is the following:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “Shadows crept across the wall”. These five words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:

end the story with the words: “everything faded.” (also included in the word count)

include the word “orange” in the story

write in the same genre you normally write

make your story 200 words exactly!

And I´ve done all of this: you will see an orange tank top, everything will indeed fade, I wrote the story in my Young Adult contemporary romance voice (or tried to at least) and the story is exactly 200 words 🙂 I am proud to present:

Look, don´t touch

“Shadows crept across the wall”

As the voiceover tries to scare the crap out of the movie theater, I glance to my right. Casually. Of course.

David sits next to me. Maybe if I look scared, he’ll put his arm around me. Protectively. I can be a damsel in distress. It does not matter that I’m 5’10. For crying out loud, I was Juliet in the last play put on by the wonderful school drama club.

Suddenly, everybody screams. I turn my attention back to the screen. Some girl with an orange tank top is running up the stairs, bleeding. Doesn’t she know that she should try to get out of the house? Unless she has wings and knows how to fly away, she’s not going to make it.

David laughs, “Look at you, toughie.” I jump. The movie doesn’t terrify me but the little butterflies running through my entire body when David, my best friend’s boyfriend, whispers in my ear freak me out. I look pass him and notice her smiling happily at me. My stomach hurts. I concentrate on the stupid movie. The voiceover starts again.

“Before she turned into a monster, she closed her eyes. Everything faded.”

Hope you enjoyed it! You should definitely check out the other entries there. I already read some amazing writing and it´s really funny to see how we all come up with something different!