Flash Fiction / writing prompts

Do you believe in faeries? ~ episode one

Chris Hall64 Comments
Illustration from the Rose Fyleman Fairy Book

‘It’s probably too noisy here in London,’ Bryony whispered, straining her eyes in the pre-dawn darkness to see deeper into the shrubbery, ‘it’s not as if this is Bluebell Woods where we used to live.

Bethany shivered slightly, the early spring frost was creeping through her sandals and pricking at her toes, as she crouched beside her elder sister, peering into the flower bed; nevertheless, she was determined not to give up yet.

‘Just because you read about them in your new poetry book, doesn’t mean they exist, especially at the bottom of our garden,’ Bryony hissed, ‘and I really don’t imagine it’s going to be like last summer after we read ‘Alice in Wonderland’ together.’

Undeterred, Bethany crept a little closer trying to avoid trampling the pretty patch of primroses which lay in her path, ‘look,’ she exclaimed delightedly, ‘here’s a perfect little glade for them to skip about in… oh! oh! oh!..’ she cried out, losing her balance and tumbling into the arching foliage of an unruly butterfly bush.

Puzzled by the sudden silence, Bryony rose to her feet and stepped into the shrubbery, parting the waving fronds of the foliage.

There was no sign of her sister.

Next episode

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – FROST, DAWN, SKIP
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – TRAIN

Some of you will remember these two plucky young heroines from my historical fantasy fiction novel, ‘Following the Green Rabbit’, which celebrates its second book birthday today. To celebrate, and in a shameless bit of book promotion, I’m offering the Kindle version at the special price of $2.99 (or your local currency equivalent) until the end of August. You can find it here: mybook.to/GreenRabbit

Read more Six Sentence Stories here

64 thoughts on “Do you believe in faeries? ~ episode one”

  5. the wall ivied green and tall
    a room across the hall
    the manic mad boy screamed
    her brother and there was no other
    other than the aged aunt and mother
    on hand to deflect her curosity!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Very nice foreshadowing, that pumps up the dimensions of this story world:
    ‘and I really don’t imagine it’s going to be like last summer after we read ‘Alice in Wonderland’ together.’
    Brilliant!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. There are so many secret doors, if we but take the time to look.

    Like the style, the magic that waits behind a cupboard door or down a path that has been spared excessive traffic.

    Look forward to the adventures that surely are to follow.

    Fun Six.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. Perfect, Chris. Will enjoy this tale of fairylore; maybe we’ll see sides of the good, bad and the naughty fairies… wonderful subjects in the fantasy genre I think, with boundless imagination, nature and lore to draw upon.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply - I'd love to hear from you.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.