The Fountain of Youth

Hehehe! I don't plan on doing more than one or two flash per week, but this week is apparently an exception. I loved one of the pictures for the 55 word challenge over at Jezri's Nightmares, so I gave it a go. I hope you like it! :)  Here's the pic:

“Hurry! It’s close. We don’t have much time left!”

“What does it look like?”

“No one knows. Each incarnation is different, usually associated with life or water.”

“So it could be anything? Like these trees?”

“Yes and no. Let’s just say it has a flare for the dramatic. Hauntingly beautiful-type-stuff, but tricky.”

“Like this?”

“Yes!”

Nudge

Project: REBIRTH

Wild grass and weeds had grown up; reclaiming what was once evidence of thousands of years of technological advances. I checked the image against the vision I had earlier this week and this was definitely where I was supposed to be. My gaze swept back and forth across the ruins, but it didn’t look like anything was left. What was I supposed to find here?

I came to the edge of what was left of the structures. How many people had died in the initial wave? It was something no one bothered to find out because it eventually claimed all of them. Within weeks the human population was gone. We didn’t realize it would affect the entire earth. If we only knew…

I felt a nudge to move deeper into the ruins, so I did. I certainly knew the stories of those who disobeyed a revelation. I wasn’t going to be one of them. I wish they made a little more sense though. Exploring a human ruin? Why?

At seemingly random moments I would get a nudge to move to the right or left, and I always followed those as they led me further into the ruins. I finally stopped in front of a large, cement building that looked somewhat like a falling weighted fishing net; domed with columns spread in a circle at an angle. The first floor had been walled completely in glass, which was all gone now. I climbed up the steps and picked my way through the open frames.

Down. I was supposed to go down. I looked around and found the elevator. I could see the glowing eyes all around. If I had been anything else, the wolves would have pounced. This was their den. I ripped open the doors to the shaft. I looked down and sighed, I could be climbing forever.

I was most of the way down when I felt the nudge to stop. I came out into a large room that was still humming. Even after all this time? How was that possible? I phased my forearm with the rock at my feet and could feel the geothermal power the room was harnessing. But what was it doing with that power?

To the right. I moved to a wall of small doors. They were each labeled – Project: REBIRTH, Specimen: 14F – with different numbers and letters. As I surveyed the doors, wondering what I was supposed to do, a red light started blinking on specimen: 7M. I moved toward the door when the airlock depressurized followed by a gurgling noise. The door was really a drawer. I peered over the edge. A baby. A human baby.

Then the wailing began. I cringed. Make it stop! I felt a nudge. “I can’t! I’ll hurt it!” I cried aloud and the wailing stopped. I reached my talons in and rested a toe against its body. The baby curled around it and started sucking on my scales. Another nudge.

More red lights.

I needed help.

500 words exactly! (phew, cutting it close this week!)

My entry for Motivation Monday was slow in coming to me as well. The first sentence is the prompt and it just didn't spark much of anything at first. However, since I knew my friend Rebekah @postupak was the judge, I wanted to give her a dragon. (psst, she likes dragons). It didn't really come together until I thought about the dragons in my current WIP and what would happen if the humans eventually failed in their fight against the Shadows. Well, this isn't really in my world (I suppose it could be in the furture of my world...) because my humans don't have this technology, but the dragon is definitely one of my dragons (although not one in particular...). There...have I confused anyone yet??? Haha! I just realized that I didn't write the beginning giving away that it was a dragon, so now I've gone and spoiled the surprise... Oh well. OR...I can post this AFTER the story. Hmmm. I shall do that and see what you all think! :)  I hope you enjoyed it!

Nosy Neighbor

Hey all! Menage Monday ended up super fun this week. It's usually fun, but I think it's more awesome because I didn't think I had ANYTHING for this weeks prompt. I read it first thing in the morning - I was a little disappointed nothing jumped out at me - and just let it simmer all day. I didn't start writing until 5pm. I really thought nothing was going to come out. THE PROMPTS: The phrase: "get this [ ] started" The Scenario: Your nosy neighbor across the street is always watching. What are you doing, or what have you done that has this person so stirred up? and The Picture:



And here's what came of it (all 200 words - right up to the limit!):

“Conlin! I need to get this roast started. Can you peel these potatoes, please?” I placed the groceries on the counter and peered into the living room to see if he’d moved.

I heard a big sigh, “If I said no, would you let me finish my show?”

I smiled, knowing he couldn’t see me, “Nope. Pause it. I promise the potatoes are the only job I need you to do…well, and take the soda to the shed once Ms. Fernick goes back inside.

That got him up. He peeked out the window, “What? Still?” He started peeling into the sink as he gazed.

“Unfortunately. She caught that *one* glimpse two months ago, and hasn’t stopped looking to see if she’s crazy.”

“Well, I can answer that. She is.” He wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing. “Can you believe she’s gotten binoculars?!?!” His thrusts were too angry. He sliced his thumb. “Crap!” I jumped for the paper towels, frantic to catch the blood before it dripped.

“Are you *trying* to end up like your father?” I was exasperated. “You need to be careful. If just one drop…”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry, be careful.”

Update

Hi friends! I decided to do a review of the goals I posted for the year, just to see how I'm doing with them...and beg for accountability!

First up: My Writing Goals! I have both positive and negative things to report on how this is going. First, I'm loving my novel. I'm having fun writing it - even after all these months. I said that I was hoping to finish by May. While I got really close to the word count I was expecting during the first five months of the year, the book turned out to me MUCH longer than I was anticipating. I've had to do some major plot adjustments (hear, CUTTING several large chunks out of what I had planned - yes, I planned SOME) and I'm now over 120K words. However, (the good news) I am finally reaching the 'endgame' portion of the novel. I'm hoping it will go faster because this is the only portion of the book I have thought through at all. That said, I want to finish the first draft (hear, write THE END) by the end of October. My monitoring has gotten worse and better, or worse then better. I stopped keeping up with the Wrimodemon app and keeping track in Word was cumbersome. Anyway, while I dropped those accountability options, I signed up for WriteTrack, which I REALLY love! It keeps all your information, it lets you post goals, and it tells you how much you need to write each day. And it's free! Yay! That said, I'm still on track to finishing the novel this year (I want it done by November so I can take that month off and work on a new one for NaNo!).

Next: My Family Goals! This has been up and down as well. We've done really well with family night, the kids love it and look forward to our time. We've done parks together, swimming, board games (cooperative ones for small children), pizza and a movie, etc. We've had a lot of fun and we've done it almost every Saturday this year! Yay! Date night has been more hit and miss, but we usually get a couple in a month, so that's good, but needs to be better. Discipline has been really hard for me. I'm struggling. I'm thinking of doing something different because this system doesn't work for me. I've thought of going to a 'green, yellow, red' thing like they do in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade at Anna's school. It's visual and simple. I need simple. If anyone has any ideas that work for them PLEASE let me know! And I haven't done the mommy-child half hour time with my kids. I still want to, but it has yet to be implemented. :(

Finally: My Personal Goals! These have been more down that up, I'm afraid. :(  First, the positive: I have exercised regularly at the YMCA for most of the year. And I've gotten my make-up put on most of the time too. The gratitude thing has been up and down - the month of June went really well. However, I need to put this back up on my priority list. My specified prayer time and my stretching time was never implemented (I did find the papers for my stretches two days ago though!). And that's just sad. Oh, and I talked with my friend about knitting once. :)

Bonus: I started a garden this year! It wasn't in my goals for the year, but I loved it and although it wasn't extraordinarily successful, I had a lot of fun and am excited to continue it again. (I planted a fall garden...we'll see! :)

MOVING ON! Okay, so that's where I've gotten so far and where I wanted to be...But where do I want to be now? (We don't have to wait for January 1st to do this, right?)

My writing goal stays the same: Finish my current Work In Progress (WIP as we writers like to say) by the end of the year. I've added one: Complete one to two flash fiction pieces per week and post to my blog. These keep me excited and get my creative juices flowing - and help me to know that I CAN finish something!

Exercise: Continue workouts at the Y and add in some home workouts to supplement on other days. I'm thinking about a Couch to 5K thing. I'm nervous about that though (I've always hated running!). It would be early in the morning... DO THE STRETCHES! Can I yell at myself? I just did, so I guess the question is moot. :) Yeah. I'm going to put that in. :)

Family: Continue family night and date night (with more regularity) and try the new discipline thing. We'll see. I do still want to implement the mommy play time, so I will try to get that going. I'm going to ADD organizing the kid's toys and purging some of them before Christmas! It's a mess and I'm tired of my house being one! :)

Gratitude and Prayer: I want to make these a priority. I think I will have to write in my gratitude journal at least before bed every night and try the dedicated, specific prayer time during stretches in the morning. I know I've said that before, but... :)

Well, I guess that's it! I've got four months (less, but that's okay) to finish this year off right! It's going to be great! How about you?

Golem

Menage Monday was a special Labor Day version - which means we got extra time and extra words - how awesome was that? Yay, Cara Michaels! I personally loved the 500 word limit and the extra time! It helped a lot! The prompts this week were that the story had to include a spell, the phrase "a blue moon" and this picture:



Fun, huh? Here's my 498 word entry (that didn't win anything, but I still love it!):

“Are you sure you got the spell right?” Hayden whispered as he crouched behind a hedge, adjusting his backpack.

“Once in a blue moon I get somethin’ wrong and you can’t ever let me forget it, can you?” Micah hissed back as he opened his pouch and pulled out a water balloon.

“Don’t tempt fate, Mic, it was just a blue moon two days ago.” Micah glared at him. Hayden eyed the small, green, bulging balloon with suspicion, “And you’re sure it’ll work even diluted in water?”

“It’s not diluted, it’s suspended, there’s a difference. And yes, it will still work. Just make sure your aim is better than last time.” Micah handed it to Hayden and reached in for another.

“What if they don’t break?”

“You’re a ray of sunshine tonight, aren’t you? They’re water balloons. They’re made to break. Just hit the stupid dog, okay?”

“You do know that I’ve seen them just bounce off people before, right?” Hayden held his up to the streetlight trying to see the spell inside the thin membrane.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake! Do you want to chicken out now? The only way into the headquarters is past those golems. The only way past those golems is to freeze them. I’ve made the spell, but we can’t put our feet on the grass without wakin’ them up. If you have a better idea you should’ve mentioned it before… Or is this somethin’ else? You scared of what we’ll find in there?” Micah jerked his chin toward the seemingly normal business complex nestled quietly in the suburban sprawl. “Think we should back out?”

“No. No, I’m just trying to think things through, is all. What if I miss?”

“Then the dog wakes up and comes after you. You plannin’ on missin’?”

“No. Just checking.” Hayden bit his lip then asked, “Do you have any more in there…just in case?”

Micah chuckled and placed the pouch on the ground in between them, there were more. “Perhaps we should both have one in each hand to start with?”

They each grabbed another and stood facing the metal dogs. Hayden took a deep breath, “On the count of three: One, two, three!” They both tossed their balloons at the same time at the same dog.

“You were supposed to hit the other one!” Micah yelled as both balloons hit the floppy eared dog square on. One broke, the other ricocheted off to the left straight at the other dog who shook his head and growled. The pointy eared dog crouched to attack, but the balloon landed right in front of it and rolled to a stop at its front paw. The dog leaned down to sniff at it when it miraculously exploded, spreading the spell in a wave across its body. “Oh. Well, that works too.”

“That was some piece of luck!” Hayden smiled from ear to ear.

“Yeah,” Micah heaved a sigh of relief, “Let’s just hope that luck sticks. We’re gonna need it.”

The cat and the crow

I came across a Visual Dare over at Angela Goff's website Anonymous Legacy. I have no idea if there are hard and fast rules or not, but since there's no judging, I'm going to ignore the 100 word suggestion and post my 229 word story. I tried to keep it short, but I'm not really worried about the length. It was fun. Here's the pretty picture (ahem, I mean Visual Dare):

“You mean to tell me you can’t fly?!?!” I was incredulous.

“I didn’t know it wouldn’t come naturally once I changed form!” Marietta exclaimed. “Just let me ride on you.”

“No way! Here.” I took a swipe at her hoping to scare the instinct into her, but my claws caught on the wall behind her and she gave an indignant caw and did some sort of ungainly flapping hop away from me. No flying. Bummer.

“Are you quite finished trying to kill me?” She waddled back.

“Why don’t you just pick a different animal?”

“I can’t change now. I have to wait for this one to wear off first. Just crouch and I’ll hop on.”

That was easier said than done, “This is not going to be as fun as you promised!”

After much buffeting, she declared, “Your spine is much too skinny, lower your head for me.”

“You have got to be kidding me!”

“Just do it!”

I growled in response, which was actually a pretty awesome feeling as a cat. That vibration just echoes through your whole body. Very satisfying.

I sat up, trying to balance the absurdly heavy dead weight on top of my head. “This is not going to work. I can barely hold you up!”

“Oh stop complaining! Let’s go! To your right.”

I sighed. This was going to be a long 24 hours.

Ghost story

My flash fiction pal, Jessa Russo, is having a bloghop and flash fiction contest celebrating the publication of her novel, Ever. I have joined in on the fun! My job was to write a flash fiction ghost story in 1000 words or less (paranormal romance preferred...). You know me! My first draft was WAY long! :) But I managed to get it down to 998 words! Yay me! Also, I couldn't just make it predictable, I had to do something unexpected with it - I hope it worked! I had a lot of fun with this story. I hope you enjoy it.

Now, since this is part of a bloghop/contest I need all the votes I can get to win...there are some amazingly talented writers participating! To vote you must leave a comment (it can't be from Anonymous, so you have to leave a name) with the single word "VOTE" in it. Pretty simple, right? So, if you like the story (and want me to win TONS of cool stuff) vote for me in the comments! I really appreciate it! :) Oh, and if you follow the link above, you can read all the other awesome stories too!




"...if you dream a thing more than once, it's sure to come true..." ~Aurora


The Imaginary Kiss (That Changed Everything)

Marcus poked his head into the room, “You about ready, Leah? Breakfast is ready!”

“Yeah, I’m coming.” I grabbed my backpack and followed Marcus down the hall.

“Phillip with you?” Marcus glanced around as we started on the steps. He was the nicest about my imaginary friend.

“He always is.” I smiled at Marcus, then back at Phillip who was right behind us.

“Should we set a plate for him too?” He waggled his eyebrows at me.

“You know Phillip never eats, but if you want me to pretend – just this once – so that you can have two platefuls, then I’m game.”

He sighed dramatically, “It would probably freak Mom out. Why can’t you have a normal imaginary friend, you know, one who pretends to eat and talks to you and does whatever you want? I could at least get food out of it.” He sighed dramatically as we entered the kitchen. “So, is Phillip excited about school today?” He asked just to see Mom spit out her coffee. We usually didn’t mention him in front of Mom. She thought I was too old for an imaginary friend – It was cute during my toddler Sleeping Beauty phase, but now she had me see a shrink for it.

“Yeah, he seems so.” I glanced at Phillip, who shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes. I laughed, “Okay, maybe not. I’m excited though! The first day of High School is like a blank slate, right?”

“It can be whatever you make of it, little sis. C’mon, we’re going to miss the bus.”

We ran for the bus as it was pulling to a stop at the corner. There was only one completely empty seat. Marcus turned around and winked at me as he passed it, leaving room for me and Phillip in the same seat. As the bus filled, I never noticed that no one tried to sit with me until someone did.

He was tall and skinny with curly black hair, a lopsided smile, and eyelashes I would kill for that framed eyes that were an indeterminate grey. I quickly glanced up and down the bus - there were no more seats left. I swallowed and scooted as close to the window as I possibly could to make room for one more.

“Hi. I’m Jasper.” His voice was melodic and raspy at the same time.

I realized my mouth was hanging open only when Phillip glared at me and tapped his hand on his chin. I snapped my mouth shut, “Leah. Hi.” I tried to smile, but it may have come out otherwise.

I looked down and noticed that Phillip and I were touching. In the past twelve years I couldn’t remember it happening before. I liked to avoid reminders that he wasn’t really there. This time, however, I thought I could almost feel him.

“We moved in last week. What grade are you?” I looked back up at his question. It was odd looking through Phillip, my eyes kept focusing on Jasper then Phillip and back again.

“Freshman.” I whispered. Phillip crossed his arms and glared. “What!?” I noticed Jasper pinch his eyebrows together. I cleared my throat, “…um…are you?” I tried to smile again.

Jasper blinked several times before answering, “Freshman. Are you okay?”

“Um, yeah. I’m good. I’m fine.” I was shaking my head up and down too fast.

“I don’t bite, you know.” He looked down at…I don’t know. My hands? My hips? Just down. At me. I felt goosebumps on my arms. He waved his hand in my general direction, which just happened to be inside of Phillip – that looked strange. “You don’t have to squish yourself up against the window like that.”

Oh. I felt the heat rise in my cheeks. Phillip was trying to talk. It was distracting because I couldn’t read his lips when he was talking so quickly. I tried to look at Jasper to respond to him, but I kept looking at Phillip who was waving his hands in front of my face.

Jasper turned to look over his shoulder and back, “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.” I said quickly and bit my lip. That got a reaction. Phillip froze.

I could read his lips now, “Nothing?” He put his hands against his chest, “I’m nothing?”

“I didn’t mean that.” My heartbeat quickened.

“What did you mean then?” Jasper still thought I was talking to him. Phillip started yelling at me and for the first time in my life I was kind of glad I couldn’t hear him. He sped up and I couldn’t follow it anymore, but it had to be bad because he stood up.

“Don’t go.” He’d never tried to leave before, but it seemed like he might be threatening it.

He threw his hands up and moved into the aisle. “Phillip, wait!” I scooted past Jasper – who had one of the best shocked faces I had ever seen, it would’ve been funny at another time – and held my hand out to Phillip.

He reached out and placed his palm against mine. I felt a shock of electricity pass through me. That had never happened before. What was going on?

Phillip then moved so close to me that my entire body tingled. I closed my eyes to appreciate the new sensation and my lips exploded with warmth that ran down my entire body and turned me into a puddle of bubbly sparkles. I think I just got my first kiss…Do imaginary kisses count?

The bus stopped. My eyes flew open. Everyone was looking. Marcus walked slowly down the aisle, “Leah?”

No one had gotten up. They were still looking. My hand went to my mouth, my toes remembering the warmth from that kiss. Tears started to fall. I hung my head. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. High school was officially ruined.

“No. I am. I never believed you.” I looked back up at Marcus, confused, “I saw him, Leah. Phillip. Just now, I saw him too.”

Well, that was unexpected.

This is my entry for Motivation Monday over at Wakefield Mahon's blog. This is the contest that gives you the beginning line. I had a lot of fun with this one. I decided to try humor (which I don't think I'm very good at) and an accent again. The prompt just made me feel slapstick a bit... Enjoy!

“Well, that was unexpected.”

“That’s all you have to say for yourself?”

“What else can I say? Who would’a thunk that tossin’ my banana peel on t’that there pile would’a caused that avalanche of sorts?”

“Anyone with half a brain, that’s who!”

“Aw, Come on! I got more’n half! Just a’cause I don’t talk so smooth, doesn’t mean I’m dumb or nuthin’.”

“What about the rest of it?”

“Well, how’s I t’know Billy’d be comin’ outta the kitchen right then? I ain’t a magician!”

“You mean a fortune teller?”

“Whatever. Either way I can’t see through that there door, so how can you blame me for’is fall?”

“It was your mess he stepped in!”

“Yeah, but he didn’t have t’go and toss all that coffee in t’the air, now did’ee? Dropped that coffee right in t’Susan’s lap, he did. I never heard such a shriek – was ev’n louder’n the crash of the crockery.”

“But it didn’t stop there.”

“It certainly wasn’t my fault that Susan chucked her fork across the room! How you gonna blame that on me too!”

“You started it.”

“But it was pure, dumb luck that it hit that lightbulb that shattered on poor Burt and shorted the ‘lectricity out!”

“Luck?!?!”

“Well, t’opposite of luck then, but how could anyone predict Burt catchin’ the edge o’his plate when he went to shield hisself and sending the thing flippin’ across t’table and clockin’ Doris in the head?”

“No one.”

“’Zactly! That’s a one in a’hundred shot that he catch’er right on the temple and knock’er out cold. He couldn’t’a tried t’do that! Not that he was tryin’ a’course.”

“Of course.”

“Well, what was Doris doin’ tuckin’ that table cloth in t’er pants like that? When she fell backwards it pulled the whole thing off! It would’a ended dere if Martin hadn’t’a tried to help.”

“At least he was trying!”

“Yeah, well, we see where that got’im! All tied up in that tablecloth and stumblin’ hisself halfway across t’room! Not so helpful, that.”

“That’s an understatement!”

“I know! Maybe he got some sense knocked in t’him when the front door opened right on t’his head!”

“I just hope he’s not unconscious too!”

“Well, then the suit managed to slip on a piece a’that there crockery when he backed up to get a’look a’what he done and in the process a’fallin’ on his butt he done chucked his briefcase across the bar and on t’the stove! Nobody even know’d he’ad a cigarette in’is hand until the grease fire started.”

“Thank God Pops was there!”

“Sure ‘nough, Pops was thinkin’ on’is feet when he pulled that fire ‘stinguisher down! That could’a been bad.”

“Could’ve been? Did you not hear everything you just said? How could it have been worse?”

“Oh, Maddie, you don’ wanna go sayin’ things like that!”

“Why ever not?”

“I think the suit’ad somethin’ in’is bag… It’s movin’…”

By the way, I'm gonna get excited and tell you all that I won an Honorable Mention with this one! Yay! I'd suggest you go here and read the winner - I really enjoyed it!

Did You Ever Wonder...?

I've been a bit behind on posting my flash lately. I haven't been writing as much of it because I find it's taking more time from my novel writing than I would like. I'm only doing a couple a week now. This was my entry for Menage Monday over at Cara Michael's blog. The prompts were "do/does/did [ ] ever wonder" and a birth - either literal or figurative. The picture was of this beautiful graveyard:



I started several different stories. I wasn't really sure where to go with them. They all ended up way longer than the 200 word limit. Once I realized the idea wasn't going to shorten, I would leave it and try another. It's kind of like brainstorming. I just thought you'd like to see some of the places my mind went with this. I'm going to post all three story ideas. The first is the one I submitted because I was able to make the idea short enough. The second will be my first idea. And the third my second, just to make it difficult. :)

“Momma, I’m scared.” Isadora fell to her knees on the crunchy leaves, then laid down on her side with her hand stretched across the ground in front of her. “I don’t know how to do this alone.”

She listened for a moment to the wind blowing the willow leaves. They hung low enough one brushed her shoulder. She liked to think it was her mother’s comforting hand once again.

“Did you ever wonder what life would be like without me? It never occurred to me to imagine life without you. I guess I took you for granted. Not only the cooking and cleaning and such, but also the little things: a smile on a hard day, that crinkle in your eye when I was being silly, your strong hands that could do anything, the way you would turn up the music and dance with abandon to celebrate anything, a shoulder to cry on.”

She sniffed and wiped her eyes. “‘Don’t let life get you down’ you always said, but it’s hard, Momma.” She sighed, “I’m gonna get up and take it ‘one step at a time,’ and I promise to remember everything you taught me. I’m gonna make you proud.”

Next:

Do you ever wonder if she knows how things turned out?” The crunch of the leaves underfoot and the shade from the willows made this an extremely pleasant walk.

Lillian glanced at me sideways for a moment before answering, “Not really. Sorry. I know you think about her all the time, but either she was right and she’s in heaven or I’m right and she’s nothing, or you’re right and she’s on her way back around. I figure, what’s done is done.”

“Why do you even come with me?”

“Because you need it. I don’t pretend to understand it, but I’ll come with you every week for the rest of your life if you want me to. At some point, you’ll look around and see the peace in this graveyard and realize that her body is at least at rest and you don’t need that tie to the past and you’ll be able to move forward.”

“But remembering our past helps us to move forward.”

“You’re not remembering, you’re living there still. Mom will always be a part of you, but you need to start living your life now.

Yeah, I just stopped this idea... I kind of liked it, but it just needed too much backstory for me to move forward with it. Comparing different ideas on death would have been interesting, but I didn't want to do it too quickly and offend everyone by not giving a good picture of their postitions. Anyway, next:

“Why are we coming here now?”

“Because I want to do it before he’s born.”

“You don’t have to come to the graveyard to do it.”

“Yes, I do. Do you ever wonder if he was sorry?”

“He shot himself didn’t he?”

“Yeah, but was it because he felt some sort of remorse, or because he didn’t want to go to jail?”

“Your guess is as good as mine…probably better. Besides, you don’t want me to answer that question you just want to wonder about it.”

“It’s so peaceful here. Do you think he’s at peace?”

“No. I don’t think he gets to be at peace. But if it makes you feel better, then yes, he asked God’s forgiveness before he blew his brains out.”

“You’re not helping…Ohhh!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I think…Ow…that maybe I should sit.”

“Where? We’re in a graveyard!”

“Here’s fine.”

“That’s someone’s tombstone.”

“I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“We should go to the hospital. Or at least your doctor.”

“I’m fine. I’m not due for a few more weeks.”

“Kids are born early every day. That looked like a contraction.”

“Labors are long ordeals. I’ve got time to finish this first. Help me.”

I liked this one a lot, but I just couldn't figure out how to shorten it. I wish the word count was longer, but, alas, it's not. I really wanted to add description and movement, but I knew I didn't have the words to waste, so I skipped it all. I think it would add a lot to it if I was able to put it in. Ah well, sometimes things aren't the way we want them! Anyway, I moved on to the first one I posted and sent that one in. Hope you enjoyed my brainstorming process! :)