Tag: fiction challenge

#1MinFiction: Conversations While Jogging

~ Nortina S. ~ 2 Comments

“It’s that time of year again!”

“What, to be lonley and broke?”

“No, thankful.”

“I’ll be thankful when the city comes to blow these.” She kicks the leaves covering the sidewalk. “Hard to jog when you’re worried about faceplanting.”

I grunt.

“I wonder what a blower feels like…”

“God.” If it means peace from her constant complaints of sexual frustration, I welcome the faceplant.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

Submitted for #1MinFiction. Thank you so much to Cyranny’s Cove for continuing this challenge during my very long and unplanned hiatus. It was a pleasant surprise to see it still going strong. 🙂

If you’d like to participate, you can find this week’s prompt on Cyranny’s page here.

#1MinFiction: Moving Out

~ Nortina S. ~ 3 Comments

I haven’t eaten in two days. Made a home for myself in this alley— newspaper for blankets, my shoulder bag as a pillow against the stoop to our apartment.

When he sees me like this, he’ll let me back in, I lie to keep myself warm at night.

The light at the end of my “tunnel,” the sounds of traffic, the voices of strangers frighten me.

But I must prove to myself that I can live…

…without him.

© Nortina Simmons

Written for Monday’s One-Minute Fiction, a challenge that asks you to write a story in one minute, no more, no less, based on the prompt provided.

#1MinFicton: Just Coffee

~ Nortina S. ~ 7 Comments

Jack places a paw on her hand. Her heart pounds through her chest, pulse reverberating up her neck. The sweat on her fingers smear the phone screen as she types the message.

She glances at Jack, whose puppy-dog eyes encourage her.

He called for a reason, not just to say hi.

She’ll ask him out for coffee. Just coffee. So they can talk. Only talk. And she won’t take no for an answer.

—Nortina

Killing two birds with one stone, and it only took me a minute. Here’s my response to the last two #1MinFiction prompts: This cute photo, and the phrase, “won’t take no for an answer…”

#1MinFiction: Vertigo

~ Nortina S. ~ 2 Comments

“Please, sit down.”

Another spell of vertigo sends me into a whirlwind, and the ground underneath suddenly feels 20 feet away.

I fall into the chair behind me. “I don’t want to remember.”

I still see his face, still feel his clammy hands around my throat. The darkness closes in, as when I went unconscious and woke wearing no pants.

“When will you catch him, officer?”

—Nortina

Spending time catching up on some prompts that I missed while on a brief hiatus. Here’s my contribution to a previous #1MinFiction prompt: whirlwind

#1MinFiction: Sweet Dream

~ Nortina S. ~ 8 Comments

I blast off at the touch of his lips against mine, and wake up just as quickly, forgetting that none of it is real.

With a sigh, I reach for the pill bottle on the edge of my nightstand. It feels light in my hand. Empty.

How will I justify a refill on a 90-day prescription after just two weeks? I must go back to sleep.

—Nortina

Monday’s One-Minute Fiction challenges you to write a story in one minute, no more, no less, based on the prompt provided. Monday’s prompt blasted you off into a new year, or in the case of this story, a sweet dream! 😉

#1MinFiction: Where are you, Christmas?

~ Nortina S. ~ 3 Comments

They thought they heard Santa Claus, never left their rooms as I packed all the presents into bins for the shelter and put them in the trunk of my car.

Now my husband glares at me like I’m the Grinch that stole Christmas, but even the Grinch learned that the joy of this holiday doesn’t originate from a store.

“Come on kids, get your coats. We’re going caroling.” I will show them the true meaning.

—Nortina

Monday’s One-Minute Fiction challenges you to write a story in one minute, no more, no less, based on the prompt provided, but it looks like Grinch-mom stole all the presents from Monday’s Christmas-themed photo prompt! Guess she wants us to know it’s not all about the gifts too. 😉

 

#1MinFiction: Christmases Past

~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

Lisa’s “Baby’s First Christmas” in my hand. Trinkets Josiah and I bought on our many travels by my feet. On the treetop, the angel, whose skin Tessa and I hand-painted brown, its only decoration.

The night before Christmas, and I stand before a naked tree, drying, surrounded by boxes of ornaments, and a lifetime of memories.

—Nortina

Monday’s One-Minute Fiction challenges you to write a story in one minute, no more, no less, based on the prompt provided. Last Monday’s Christmas-themed prompt was one word: ornament.

#1MinFiction: Fireweed

~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

When I saw the seeds in the tramway gift shop, I had to buy them. They said no food, plants, or natural products off the ship, but nothing about what we could bring back on.

Safely tucked away in a hidden pocket of my purse through customs, when I get home I plant them in the red clay and sparse grass of my backyard.

I never knew how fast this stuff could grow.

—Nortina

Monday’s One-Minute Fiction challenges you to write a story in one minute, no more, no less, based on the prompt provided. For the next several weeks our prompts will be Alaska themed. Check out this week’s one-word prompt is fireweed, which is EVERYWHERE in Alaska!

#1MinFiction: Ice River

~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe that glaciers are massive rivers of ice, that you can trace the current in how they curve around the mountainside.

“About 300 feet melted off last year, so it’s a rapidly retreating glacier,” the tour guide is saying.

I nudge Jon with the end of my paddle, “Still think global warming is a hoax?”

He only rolls his eyes. “We’re on vacation.”

—Nortina

Monday’s One-Minute Fiction challenges you to write a story in one minute, no more, no less, based on the prompt provided. For the next serval weeks our prompts will be Alaska themed. Check out this week’s photo prompt of the Davidson Glacier in Haines, Alaska (not too far from Skagway)!

#1MinFiction: A Bride At Last

~ Nortina S. ~ Leave a comment

That I wasn’t his first choice humbled me.

But when he kissed me, delicate lips caressing mine, after we exchanged vows, and planted the lotus blossom in my hair, and that night, fitted his hips between my legs and filled me till I overflowed, soaking my bangs with the sweat of his brow…

I prayed my sister, three months dead, would not be jealous.

—Nortina

For a new flash fiction challenge: Monday’s One-Minute Fiction—write a story in one minute, no more, no less, based on the prompt provided. This week’s prompt is a photo. Click the link to join in!