Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No. 7.

Hello everyone, and happy Sunday!

I’m afraid I still haven’t got around to grading the stories from two weeks ago on Prejudice, but I do have the winners from this week’s Delay prompt – ironic I know, I’ll get round to it I promise!

So without further furore, here are your esteemed runners-up for stories about Delay:

She hesitated, he closed the box. (The Things I Yell)

‘Honey, I am five days late.’ (Real Momma Ramblings)

Anxiety multiplies as appointments run late. (The Storyteller’s Abode)

And this week’s winner:

Target locked, she deliberated. Huge mistake… (Aloada Bobbins)

Thanks once again to everyone that participated, it really is wonderful to read so many great stories, so keep it up. The theme this week is Betrayal, and as ever, you can find my effort below.

He drew the knife, brotherhood forgotten.

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No.6.

Due to having been away and unexpectedly manically busy over the last few days, I come to my regular readers with the awful admission that I have not had time to read all the entries and pick the winners yet. I’ll redress this later this week, or possibly with next week’s challenge, but for now I thought I’d set this week’s, so that you scribblers have got something with which to be getting on.

The theme is Delay

Being late probably saved her life.

The Fall: A response to Laura Feasey’s Literary Lion

The sound of the wall crumbling was obvious before he saw any sign of his city’s impending doom. The sickening crunch of the wall folding under its own weight, stones tumbling down, crushing man and beast as they fell. It was heard all around the city, seconds before the collective scream of its citizens.

There was no hope for his people now, they were outnumbered by a superior force, with little to no chance of survival for anyone in the region. They had resisted too long, too well, and their conquerors would need to make an example of them.

There would be pockets of resistance, of course, brave men would die protecting their families, their friends, but it was ultimately futile. Men of fighting age would be killed, and the women and children would be taken as slaves. A generation of vitality reduced to ashes in hours.

His fate would be no different. If they didn’t kill him on sight they would take him back to their people, humiliate him, and then he would die a long, protracted, painful death. It was the way of the world. And he couldn’t bear it.

He was determined to fall as he had lived, as a king. He called for his finest purple robe, sat on his throne, and dared Death to come and take him as the flames that consumed his once great city illuminated the night.

In response to Laura Feasey’s Fall prompt

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No.5.

Slightly fewer entries this week, but no diminished quality, which is what really matters. We’ve had some great stories to read through again, and picking the winners has been as difficult as ever, so I guess I may as well dive straight in with my take on the best responses to last week’s PURGATORY prompt.

Runners-up:

Everyone knew her beautiful sister’s name (KM Myrman)

He tried again. She died, again. (AnonymouStalker)

His soul defied purgatory’s infernal absolution. (Live Home And Away)

And the winner, because it made me laugh in a sea of dark responses:

Please hold, your call is important. (Dr Meg Sorick)

And with that, the contest moves onto this week’s round, and the theme I have picked out of my plastic bag filled with notecards is PREJUDICE. You can find my entry below. When you enter don’t forget to both link to this page and add them to the blue frog, at the bottom of this post, that way it’s certain I’ll read them, which I can’t guarantee if they’re not properly linked unfortunately. Looking forward to reading more entries, and in the meantime, have a great week.

Seeking safety, they found only fear.

Six Word Stories: The Challenge, No. 4

It’s that time of the week again, to announce this week’s winners and set a new challenge. Once again, dozens of entries have come to me over the past seven days, all of them brilliant in their own way. The following are just the ones that appealed to me most at the time I read them in the frame of mind in which I found myself at the time, which is I think the only way in which we can ever judge fiction. But, hey, that might just be me…

Anyway, here are the runners up for last week’s prompt of murder:

An “accidental” overdose – my revenge complete. (D.S. McKnight)

With poisoned lips, she kissed him. (Real Momma Ramblings)

Her murder, an accident she planned. (HumaAq)

And this week’s winner:

Everyday, he cradled his wife’s murderer. (Ruminations of an Overthinker)

So there it is, four more great winners among a list of great entries! This week’s theme is PURGATORY and you can find my entry below. When submitting, please do use the blue frog at the bottom of this post as well as the usual ping backs just because it makes it a lot easier for myself and other readers to have everything gathered in one place.

She married his best friend instead.

Snapshots of a Misspent Youth

Yesterday I was born.
And soon I am to die.
It’s happened many times before.
Each birth and death some great man.
An artist, musician, scholar,
A writer?
Personas never realised
As they pass beyond.
Never remembered, never great.

And it’s for no reason other than this.
That in my strange and twisted mind,
‘Tis worse to have tried my best, and failed,
Than never to have tried at all.