Tuesday Tales 49

Contest details can be found here.

Normally I would pounce on the Tuesday Tales prompt with something sappy and romantic but that part of my brain was a little bit dead today - over stimulation, perhaps?

Well, I settled for something that borders on it . . . a little.

I hope you enjoy my entry!

Secret Word

Canoodle

Picture

He swallowed the dry ache in his throat as she tossed petals in the air. Her neck lengthened and her bosom heaved against red silk. He cursed how unnecessarily large her dress was, hiding her voluptuous frame like a bed-sheet.
Now if it’d been his bed-sheet, it could’ve been forgivable.
She faced him with a sultry smile and crawled closer. “That’s enough waiting. Can we canoodle now?”
He blinked back his confusion and his gaze dropped to his lap.
She saw his answer and pushed him to the ground, hovering over him before her lips finally descended in exquisite passion.

100 words

@Afsaneh_Dreams

TuesdayTales 48 – Bandersnatch

The contest details are here. 

Update - Thank you to the lovely judge, Cara Michaels, who picked me as the winner! And here I thought my entry was far too different to have a chance. To see the results and the honourable mentions, just go here.

Secret Word

Bandersnatch

Picture

 My Entry

If You Could See
She found the wall and scanned along brick, steadying her step.
A floral scent loomed over air. Soon, a hand was guiding her elbow.
“Had you any problems?”
“None,” she smiled.
“You should’ve-”
“It would’ve been bad luck to see me.”
Silence followed until they halted.
“Are you sure?”
Her fingers traced the creases of his forehead, slowed over the sharp digs and craters of his cheeks, and rested on straight lips. No bandersnatch, just a scarred soul. “Make me your wife.”
He pulled her close with an anguished sound. “I wish you could see how happy you make me.”


100 words

@Afsaneh_Dreams

TuesdayTales 47

Contest details are here.

Update - This post won an Honourable Mention. Thank you to the judge, Charles W Jones (@ChuchWesJ)

The full results are here.

Image Prompt

Secret Word

Dishabille

My Entry

“How long has it been, Maggie?”
“How did you find me, Samuel?” she stammered, backing away.
“It wasn’t easy but the ferryman spoke,” he said cryptically, and he caught her with a steel grip. His jaw clenched and swarthy skin tautened over his chiselled face.
Memories burned her consciousness, of distant trysts. Of mistakes.
“Maggie!” Harry’s voice called from inside.
Samuel yanked and spun her against his chest, cinching her close.
“Don’t move,” he warned, stroking a silver blade along her throat. “I told you. You can’t outrun my love.”
“Love? it was an affair; dishabille and meaningless,” she spat.

100 words

@Afsaneh_Dreams

Tuesday Tales 45

Details of the contest are here.

Image To Be Used

Secret Word

Exoteric

My Entry

Hidden in the valley’s dip, Hinata watched as the men exchanged sharp, strategic blows. She’d been brought up in the academy but was forbidden from participating in what was so exoteric for men.

A polished pole halved her vision and she almost stumbled backwards but a pair of legs kept her upright.

Legs behind and beam ahead, Hinata was imprisoned.

“Isamu?” she asked.

“Stand, Hinata.”

“Please don’t - "

He handed her the pole then stepped down, facing her serenely.

“Before training, it’s customary to bow.”

Hinata stilled, and then an understanding smile touched her face.

“You’ll train me, Isamu?”

“Yes.”

100 words

@Afsaneh_Dreams

Tuesday Tales 43

Details of the contest are here.
Results are here. 

Would you believe I won an Honourable Mention? Many thanks to the talented judge, Miranda (PurpleQueenNL)

Image To Be Used

Secret Word

Concoct

My Entry

A Promise

She looked crazy, shoes and bag in hand as she paced the pavement.

But it was a promise, and she always kept her promises. Even if they were made years ago.

Her heart thudded lower and she squinted to see the approaching figure.

A man, jacket roofing his head.

There was familiarity in the way they looked at each other, a concoction of memories that stole them into the past again.

“You’re early,” she smiled.

“So are you,” he returned.

I couldn’t wait, they thought.

With the canopy over their heads they walked down the street in perfect past continued.

100 words

@Afsaneh_Dreams

Tuesday Tales 41

Details of this contest are here.

Results are here.

Image To Be Used

Word Prompt

Lunacy

My Entry

Memory In Lunacy

She’d kept it pressed in a book, amongst the other leaves.
“Treasure the little things,” her mother had said, plucking it from her favourite tree.
Now she winced, trying to dislodge it from the fence but scraping her hand on a wire-end. The wind sucked it through and she readied herself to climb.
Without delay, her friend launched himself up the metal-lattice and on the other side, caught it in mid-flight.
He returned it with palms criss-crossed red and a watery smile touched her face, “I thought you said it was lunacy.”
“That’s not always a bad thing,” he shrugged.

100 words

@Afsaneh_Dreams

Tuesday Tales 40

Details of this competition are here.

Results are here.

Image To Use

Hidden Word

Hindsight

My Entry

An Angel and A Gargoyle

He adjusted the rear-view mirror and sat behind him, she stared at her hands as they trembled a mocking glitter upon her wedding ring. Her hair fell over her face and hid her eyes but he knew how carefully unblinking they were.
His three thumbs tightened into white on the wheel, strangling his peace of mind. He imagined her hand on his every night; the innocent touch of her silken skin healing his lonely heart.
And, he fell in love every night, in darkly deformed solitude.
In hindsight, he’d blamed his ugliness for not fighting for her, thinking an angel and a gargoyle could never be.
But support he could be, as the angel poured her tears into silent heartache.
They came to a halt and she looked reluctant to move as he pulled open the door. But forced herself out, as she had the last few times, walking back into a gilded lie.
He helped her up, eyes so pained they couldn’t meet hers and knowing on every withering plateau that one more goodbye would tear his soul. He sat her suitcase by her feet and willed himself to let go as she looked down at it.
The briefest, the most fleeting of smiles touched her lips as she stroked his hand like it were a flower petal, soft and delicate. Ridiculous, as that was what she was.
And how, he asked himself, could he leave her to him again?
Startled, her eyes flew up to his. He’d thrown the suitcase to the ground and nearing her with just one step, held her with all his turmoiled self.
“Stay, Susan…” he said, his voice a desperate plea.
Her breath slowed and she relaxed into him, the distance between them dissolving in his finally-worded confession.
“Daniel…” she whispered into him.

300 words
@Afsaneh_Dreams

Yours

Afsaneh

Tuesday Tales 39

Contest held by Glitter Word
Results are here.

Update - I won a runner up Honourable Mention, how sweet of the judge, Daniel Swensen.

I took a little break from my novel work to enter this week's Tuesday Tales challenge, because really, how could I resist?

One of the best things, aside from getting to read lot of interesting snippets of gold from fellow bloggers is being forced to use a word as creatively as possible. It couldn't hurt to do that more often.

This Week's Word - Equivocate

Image To Be Included -

Don't Be This

 

The smoke flitted in the air like butterflies.
She used to be a butterfly; beautiful and alive.
But she’d had to run away from the system even though it’d been self-defence. No one took kindly to murder however young the killer.
And it was painful, because she shouldn’t have had to be this crushed woman clad in tight red selling herself to survive in a darkened world. She should’ve been helping children like the doctor she’d dreamt of becoming.
She uncrossed her legs, leaned forward and the girl’s voice trembled into a whisper, finally free of hardened equivocation.
“You promise?”

100 words