Tag: #threethingschallenge

Gaia’s New Messenger

Chris Hall37 Comments

My uncle warned me of the hallucinatory effect of smouldering henbane, but it is the essence of my initiation. Surrounded by the maze of megaliths, my body floats. I round up the shrill cacophony of chanting voices, which buck around my head like wild horses at a rodeo, and corral them in a corner of my mind.

My head is clear and I am ready; the only sound I hear is the sweet voice of a nightingale singing.

The message is within me and I am the message.

To this modern world
which ransacks Gaia’s riches
I bring her revenge.

Image credit: Joshua Hicks, Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – MODERN, SING, SURROUNDED
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – RODEO

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

The Initiation Begins

Chris Hall45 Comments

We assemble at sunset. Goose-bumps cover the bared skin on my back, still tender from the previous pricking of the needle, which has marked me indelibly and for eternity.

Henbane and yarrow scent the air; charms and enchantments encircle the glittering granite standing stones, in a kaleidoscope of crashing consonants, while my uncle, a comfortable presence in the growing darkness, heralds the start of the ceremony with a single beat of an unseen gong.

Blindfolded, I am led to the centre of the circle. The ceremony begins.

In moonlight’s sphere
runes on ancient stones ignite;
the Mark of Gaia tingles.

Image credit: unsplash.com/@artifactflash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Three Things Challenge – COMFORTABLE, SKIN, TENDER
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – KALEIDOSCOPE

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, (loosely) in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Passing the Baton

Chris Hall57 Comments

My uncle is ebullient this morning, remarkably so. He is a man transformed; overjoyed outpourings spill from his lips as he beams at me across the breakfast table.

I, however, having  ploughed through piles of obscure texts and ancient tenets from the towering oaken shelves of my uncle’s library (previously off-limits to me), am less so. The taste of the delicious food on my plate is spoiled by the knowledge I have swallowed down over the weeks since my discovery.

I am to prepare for my initiation, he declares.

Passing the baton
gladdens the master’s heart; yet
the burden remains.

Image credit: unsplash.com/@romankraft

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Three Things Challenge – DELICIOUS, OVERJOYED, SPOIL
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – PLOUGH (PLOW)

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, (loosely) in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Destiny calls

Chris Hall53 Comments

There is no going back from here, for what I discovered up in that dusty attic on that cold winter afternoon has marked me out.

Now I am one of them.

I should have obeyed my uncle’s directive, but I’d been determined to find out the truth. The secret that was hidden from me, that was buried along with my parents, whose mysterious disappearance has never been discussed.

But now I have the truth, I must face the challenge ahead: the one that all our people must face.

On the lonely road
our kind must travel alone;
destiny calls me.

Image credit: Chris Leipelt on Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Three Things Challenge – CHALLENGE, GOING, ROAD

– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – MARK

Remembering how it used to be…

Chris Hall80 Comments

She stands on the hot, hard pavement, inhaling the ozone-laden breeze. Her eyes feast on the tempting glint of lapping waves breaking gently on the crescent of white sand, which circles the foot of the flat-topped mountain rising from the shining city by the sea.

Here in the city, where two oceans meet at the southern-most tip of the continent, she remembers all the summers when the whole world, it seemed, flocked to the beaches where they bathed and frolicked in the clear blue water.

The beaches are empty now.

An army truck rumbles past.

To keep it that way.

Image credit: Laurette van der Merwe

Written in response to two challenges:

Di of Pensitivity101‘s Three Things Challenge – CRESCENT, WORLD, BATHED

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – OCEAN

The Mask

Chris Hall50 Comments

She’d always wanted to be the perfect lady, all glossy hair and high-heeled shoes, smiling graciously behind flawless make-up, while people marvelled at the poise of her bearing and her chic couture.

But nature was cruel. The golden-haired baby girl grew into a spotty awkward teenager. There was no extraordinary mutation from ugly duckling to elegant swan for her; no amazing transformation in her teens nor late-blossoming in her early twenties.

And so she became a writer, acclaimed for her literary accomplishments while sheltering beneath the camouflage of the well-turned sentence and gorgeous prose.

What lies behind your wordsmith’s mask?

Image credit: Ava Sol on Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

Di of Pensitivity101‘s Three Things Challenge – LADY, PERFECT, HIGH

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – MARVEL

What lies within?

Chris Hall69 Comments
photo of an old trunk

Kneeling before the old chest, watching the winter sunlight filter through the dusty window of the attic, I’d paused in trepidation. I’d never been in this part of the house, as my uncle had forbidden it and his directives were not to be ignored lightly; but I’d been driven to explore the unexplained parts of my past and now I’d discovered that the chest contained the final few pieces of the puzzle.

Finally, I’d unlatched the lid and lifted it.

If only I hadn’t. My uncle had been right.

That day I learned that some things are better left undisturbed.

Image credit: Pinterest

Written in response to two challenges:

Di of Pensitivity101‘s Three Things Challenge – PAST, FEW, CHEST

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – FILTER

Together we are strong

Chris Hall47 Comments

wdys 24 the picture shows a neon sign with the words You Are Here in the background a view of city lights

In that darkest hour
just before dawn
when night-time terrors
clutch my heart

You are here.

In black-dog moments
when tears well up
and despair’s dark hands
wrench me apart

You are here.

When sunbeams stream forth
as storm clouds part
and laughter and song
fill my heart

You are here.

And we will survive
this troubled world
because together, my love
we are strong.

Written as a ‘two for one’ prompt response to:

1) Sadje’s What Do You See #24 photo prompt – photo credit: Pexels.
2) Di of Pensitivity 101‘s Three Things Challenge #198 – phobia, cry, laugh (loosely)

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The Search

Chris Hall25 Comments

what do you see 18 by chris hall lunasonline

Breathlessly I peddled up the hill. Jack loved the woods. We were going there anyway, but as soon as I’d reached for his collar he’d bolted out the back door.

I threw my bike down at the end of the lane. Sandals pounding over the dry earth, I called out, running this way and that.

No Jack.

I ran deeper into the woods.
‘Jack! Jack!’

Where would a little dog go? Suddenly the woods seemed huge.

Calling his name, I ran and ran until I could run no more. I leant against the nearest tree, fighting my rising panic.

Tears ran down my cheeks. I closed my eyes and began to howl.

Then I felt something rub against my leg. I opened my eyes.

It was Jack!

I crouched down and put my arms around my little dog. I’d gone to find him, but it was he who’d found me.

Written as a ‘two for one’ prompt response to:

1) Sadje’s What Do You See #18 photo prompt – photo credit: Hoi An, Unsplash.
2) Di‘s Three Things Challenge #155 – rub, howl, collar

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