When you reach this final bridge
pause a while
Take your time to cross.
From here there is
no way back.
So make your peace and
take the ultimate step.
The Unknown awaits.
Tread softly and walk on
with hope in your heart.
Might the best be
yet to come?
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #19 photo prompt.
Image credit: Unsplash
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
A smile creeps around the corners of your face,
a faraway gaze mists your eyes,
remembering the hugs and tears
you shared
with each of the little ones.
They’ve long grown up
and fled the nest
But you hold on to those memories
Just in case
they need them again.
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #17 photo prompt.
Image credit: Lisa Fotios – Pixabay
My love, how did I come to lose you?
You, the one to whom
I cleaved my heart, my soul
for all time.
Just a trace of you remains:
a hint of your scent in the clothes
you left behind.
Come back my love, so I can hold you again.
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #16 photo prompt.
Photo credit: ‘Reflections’ by Yunus Emre Uzun
Kitty Katz stared intently into Marvin’s special StudioSpyScope. Two men were gazing at a wide screen monitor. On the desk in front of them was her publicity file which her agent had recently distributed to his industry contacts.
‘Pretty little thing,’ said the first man, licking his lips lasciviously.
‘She sure is,’ the second man agreed, stroking the photograph which pictured Kitty posing coyly on a pink chaise-longue.
‘She’s very young; good for a few years before the sparkle wears off.’ The first man leered at the monitor where Kitty’s first screen test was playing. ‘I wouldn’t mind giving her the once over.’
‘Or the twice over,’ said the second man rubbing his thigh.
Kitty cringed and snapped the petals of the StudioSpyScope closed. She looked up at Marvin, with horrified eyes.
‘Well, Kitty,’ said Marvin, scratching his ragged ear with his back leg, ‘that’s the movie industry for you. D’you still want to be a part of that?’
Kitty screwed up her eyes. ‘I do not.’
‘Good call, Kitty!’ Marvin smiled kindly at her. ‘In any case, it’s not as if you don’t have other talents.’
Kitty’s cellphone beeped. Her whiskers twitched with excitement as she listened.
‘The news you were waiting for?’
Before Kitty had the chance to answer her cellphone beeped again. Marvin waited patiently for her to finish.
‘No, thank you, Jed, I don’t want to be a movie star. My publisher’s got me a large advance and a three book deal on my ‘Kitty Tails.’
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #15 photo prompt.
Photo credit: Pinterest
That’s the second client that movie agent, Jed Talent’s lost already this year!
Read what happened in Casting Woes.
– Hey bro’ what’s up with you?
– There’s a loada trouble goin’ down in the faerie ’hood.
– Like what?
– The Myco Boys are musclin’ in on our territory. Bringin’ in a whole bunch of new ’stools and ’shrooms. Stuff that’ll make your head explode.
– So, what we gonna do about it?
– We’re goin’ on the offensive.
– Doin’ what?
– Look here bro’, I got the seeds of a brand new product. Popweed from the Wealdan Woods. This stuff’s goin’ to blow their minds. It’s super-fast growing too. By next month’s Faerie-Fest we’re gonna have the pretty-wing girls’n’boys eatin’ right outta our hands.
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #14 photo prompt.
Photo credit: Flickr
Alys balled her fists, digging her nails into the palms of her hands. She stepped into the stone circle. Moonlight shone on the cromlechs and lit up the faces of the members of the coven who stood in eager silence. This was the final test. Unless she could prove her mastery of the fourth element, she’d be banished from the sisterhood forever.
She raised her head and closed her eyes, centering herself. Palms back to back, she laced her fingers and took a deep breath. Muttering an incantation she opened her hands. A tongue of fire issued forth. She held her open palm aloft for all to see.
She had conjured fire.
Another word, and the fire was extinguished. Alys slowly folded her hands and clasped them gently to her chest before descending from the stone circle. ‘Thanks Sparky,’ she whispered, as the miniature dragon scurried back up her sleeve.
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #13 photo prompt.
Photo credit: Pixabay
‘You’ve got me an audition for what?’ Freya stared at her agent in disbelief. ‘You are joking aren’t you?’ A neat curlicue of steam issued from her purple nostrils.
Jed Talent hurried across the room and flung open the office window. ‘Unikitty is big time, Freya.’
‘I’m a serious actress,’ Freya huffed. ‘I will not work in some Lego toy spin off.’ She raked a purple-painted talon across the arm of the capacious couch on which she was perched.
‘Sometimes we have to take what we can get, sweetie.’ Jed returned to his leather-upholstered armchair. ‘After your disastrous audition for G.O.T…’
Freya pouted. Her spiky tail began to twitch; the glass-topped coffee table in front of her rattled ominously.
‘Okay, okay.’ Jed held up his hands in surrender. ‘Not Unikitty.’
‘Well?’ Freya’s eyes smoldered. ‘What else have you for me?’
‘Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty?’
‘What’s with the unicorns, Jed? I’m a dragon!’ Freya snorted, issuing a shower of sparks from her nostrils.
Jed eyed the resulting scorch mark on his thick shag pile carpet.
‘You want me to dress up in drag?’
‘Unicorns are where the big-time is at, sweetie.’ Jed ran his fingers through his thinning hair.
‘If that’s the best you can do, I’m finding myself a new agent!’ Freya stood up and swept from the room, her tail overturning the coffee table as she went.
Jed sighed as he watched Freya fly off from his office window, her dazzling blue wings framed against the giant Hollywood letters.
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #12 photo prompt.
Photo credit: Flickr
Read more about Freya’s story in The Audition
Sinead had fought and won. Finally, the Sword of Elshain, the second of the four Sacred Artifacts, was hers. The first, the Crystal of Nor, was safely tucked in her unicorn’s saddle bag, and he, Moonsprite, had gone on ahead over the dark mountain, while she followed the sunset path into its heart to find the fabled Blue Orb.
She pressed on into the gathering darkness, a halo of bats swooping and calling her onwards. The Sword began to glow, lighting her way. All she had to do was hold her nerve and follow the words of The Prophesy.
Without warning, Sinead was plunged into darkness. The silence pressed in on her.
No sight, no sound.
* * *
‘Arrrgh!’ Sinead screamed out in frustration. ‘Damn these power cuts. That was the furthest I’ve ever got: Level 9.’ She sighed and groped around for her head torch. Its beam cast a hollow light over the dark and silent computer screen.
She picked up her book and ran her fingers over the embossed lettering on the cover: The Prophesy.
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #11 photo prompt.
Photo credit: Pixabay
It wasn’t his ideal choice of job, but Jim had been desperate. He didn’t really understand why the clown outfit was necessary, or the balloons which sent him off balance.
All he’d been asked to do was stand on the hillside and wave.
But when the shooting started, he realised.
Written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #10 photo prompt.
Photo credit: Alexey Avdeev
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