It happened almost by stealth. Everything looked almost normal, but not quite. And then you realised—the people had gone. The coffee remained, half drunk. The instruments still played without the orchestra. You felt you pushed through crowds, but we never really see the individuals in the crowd, do we? There was only the cipher on the floor and the bright beams as they ascended. Why didn’t they take me too?

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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

Sweat beaded his upper lip. His tongue flicked out to remove the secretion. Like a snake, she thought.

He reached to the clutter on the side table, waving the cocktail napkin tagged and bagged in plastic. Unblinking eyes transfixed hers. “Where were you last night?”

“Without me to look after you, you’d die.”

A wrinkled hand slithered over the bedclothes. The strength of his grip was astounding, crushing her bones. “You’re a serpent in my bosom. Just like all you people.”

She allowed no sign of pain to show. “What did you want for breakfast?”

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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

The wind carries grace notes of pine resin and wild lavender. It fills the valley like a sail, and my legs run me, effortless and lithe. Now I am still and the world turns past me. The sun climbs the dome of the sky, pulling a circling hawk, and me after it. I race down the slope towards battle, crushing soil and ancient bones. Fear is squeezed deep down, to a small stone into my belly which I will pass when I pee. My head rings bell-clear, sounding the war cry. I will defend, I will kill, we will prevail.

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

Some might describe His Lordship’s sense of humour as wicked. But, then again, many called him wicked. He told us it was art. We preferred the word revenge.

The sculpture, at the village entrance, of the donkey with its head in the sand were funny, no mistake. Except, we was the butt of the joke. Bugger had the whole settlement flattened and renamed Gone.

If only Maisie hasn’t refused him.

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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

The natives are more notable for their industriousness than cleanliness. I cannot pass among them unnoticed because their skin has a deathly pallor, but they will talk to strangers. Many worship a man nailed to a tree, whom they consume symbolically on their holy day. They carry his image as a talisman around their necks, believing this will protect them from evil spirits.

Leadership is poorly developed, and they choose chiefs to make their decisions for them, rather than thrashing out problems in community meetings as civilised people do. Wealth is determined by possession and ritual display of little bits of paper, rather than by the real utility of cattle. I miss the heat of the savannah.

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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

The screaming girls and the boys swallowing their terror in feigned insouciance. That was me once. I remember the stolen taste of candy floss on Carol’s lips. And the accidental brush of a soft breast in the chamber of horrors.

Carol was taken a decade ago. These days, I can only sit and watch. There’s always the possibility of a spectacular crash. I’d like that.

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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

I sense it. I can almost grasp it. The future. Sitting just outside my window, like my first shiny new car on a festival. That time is not here yet, but anticipation brings it into the present. One day, soon, this will all be over. We’ll emerge, blinking in the sunshine, laugh and greet old friends. Now it’s clear who we really depend on. We’ll put an end to misery and want. We can build back better.

Can’t we?

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

Everything has changed—the way I fit into the world and how I move through it. In an instant, I have become old. I am invalid. Kind people offer help, and I feel anger. Inquisitive glances glide off me when I look up at them. I am a Teflon pan—nothing sticks to me.

If only I hadn’t climbed that roof. If only I’d left home five minutes later.

“We’ll remove the cast next week,” the doctor says, and I am summoned back to life.

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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

The blankets hide us in warm safety. Your legs part when I put my hand on your thigh, and I feel the moist arousal. You offer me your virginity. Yet, I cannot. Or, I should not.

Three years planning and your five-thousand-mile journey stymied by a single look.

While you were already in the air, just half a day ago, I fell in love. I lack the wisdom to know what to do next.

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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

They called it the magic door. Crowds would gather outside, peering in. When Harvey pushed his way to the front and squinted at the glass, all he saw was a dim hallway beyond, with some tatty overcoats hanging from hooks.

And then. The reflection of mama crossing the street, shopping bag swinging from her hand. Mama, dead these seven years. He whirled. But the street was empty.

Perhaps, he’d find her again if he went in. Throwing his shoulder against the door, he crashed through. Black and white tiles, and a flock of coats nattering like old ravens.

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Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here