Fantasy

JusJoJan26 Day 30: Cinnamon

/ Liz H-H / 3 Comments
face of a black cat

January 30: CINNAMON. Many Thanks to Tessa K. (Itsa me! Nom de Plume) for today’s prompt, as we take a moment or two each day this month to reflect on words that come from the community. And thanks to Linda G Hill for getting us organized!

I don’t know what they put in the new cat food formula the veterinarian gave me, but it sure had an affect on my old Tuxedo cat, Tolstoy. We’ve been together for about 15 years, and he’s gone from fluffy, with wizard locks beside each ear and a sage, but kittenish expression, to a bony-bummed, splay-legged, swinging belly, rheumy-eyed dreamer who seeks the sun’s warm rays in winter, but loves snuggling at night. We have a lot in common, in our respective old ages.

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JusJoJan26 Day 29: Prompt

/ Liz H-H / 2 Comments
juicy tangerine wedges

January 29: PROMPT. Many Thanks to Cheryl for today’s prompt, as we take a moment or two each day this month to reflect on words that come from the community. And thanks to Linda G Hill for getting us organized!

Watcher Doings Extra: Ferah

“Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watchin’ the tide roll away…”

God knows she’d spent plenty of time staring out at the waves, the gulls bobbing like whitecaps let loose when the winds picked up on gray afternoons. When cold rain dimpled those same white-capped waves on stormy days, she’d stand in the treasures she’d found in the shed, the fisherman’s long jacket flapping around her long legs, a sou’wester tied under her chin, her feet bare and near frozen, but turned northward. The scene was different than what her deep-forested homeland offered up, and sometimes she thought she’d grown up in the wrong place, wrong time.  

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FlashNano 2025: Day 2

/ Liz H-H / 2 Comments

It’s the final year of FlashNano, by Nancy Stohlman, where we write a flash a day in response to a prompt, or just because. This is a quick write, but it was kinda fun. And I just happened to have the right image!

Crazed chihuahua

Day 2: “Write a story in which something turns into something else.”

Evie woke up on the edge of the property, a sour taste in her mouth, muscles aching, and her bag of Halloween candy ripped apart, treats smashed and scattered just past where dirt meets curated lawn. Rubbing her face and neck, she came away with blood on her hands and a laceration in her shoulder that stabbed as she twisted to see what had happened to her. There was definitely a mark. Could be a knife slash, or— this thought rustled a shred of memory—a slice from a claw, or maybe even a bite from trying to escape whatever had attacked her.

What had attacked her?

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So Long, Farewell

/ Liz H-H / 15 Comments
© Ayr/Gray

Many thanks to Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr for their photo prompt, THE UNICORN CHALLENGE.  (07/18/2025). No more than 250 words in length.

The room is cool, a soothing respite from the blistering heat outside its door. Her bare feet shuffle across the smooth wood floor. She reviews each object of art: bucolic landscapes, highland towers, night streets, dawning oceans. Paintings stop in interesting places, to continue with other voices, other rooms. Perhaps a novel, or love-lost poem?

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Heart of a Village

/ Liz H-H / 7 Comments

Many thanks to Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr for their photo prompt, THE UNICORN CHALLENGE.  (06/06/2025). No more than 250 words in length.

There is no clear memory of when the red chair first appeared. What was clear is that it’d been there for generations, even before the bustling village of Freiborgen was founded. Too tall for a human to mount without ropes, those who did manage the climb didn’t sit for long. They felt uncomfortable on both a physical and psychological level.

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