Don’t enter the caves

#FromOneLine 265 Friday Challenge

For #FromOneLine ☆  Friday Challenge  ☆ 265 a very short story (vss) inspired by the grottos and limestone caves of Vietnam that I recently visited. They seem to be the perfect settings for tales of fantasy and I am sure they have inspired many writers.

#VisualArt generated using Wombo Dream AI

They navigated by touch, the jagged edges – cold and piercing. Deep inside the moist cave, they grasped hands and took delicate steps, cushioned between the stalactites and stalagmites. Which way to go, they did not know.

The ground was flimsy, or was it their petrified mind concocting fearsome stories? Toxic fumes rose and subsided, with a hiss. The walls closed in and a thought appeared like a streak of lightning – “This is the belly of the dragon.”

Then, the walls moved away and in the brief sliver of moonlight, they saw a lava-spewing throat. The mouth of the cave shut in a loud gasp and a crunch resounded in the depths. The nightmare was coming true. This was no mistake.

Results: LGBTQ Romance/Betrayal Short Story Contest

My short story is on it’s way to becoming part of a published
anthology!



WriteFluence

We are pleased to announce the winners of this contest a couple days early!

Mentioned below are all the winning writers and stories that have qualified to be published in our next publication.

Congratulations!

Top 3:Antoinette Fritckz,Aneesha Shewani, Mutovz Waltzer

NameTitle Of Your Story
Aishiki BandyopadhyayA Different Shade Of Love
Aneesha ShewaniThe Last Song
Antoinette FritckzSummer Showers
Anukriti KotwalConditioned To Love You
Bhavna JagnaniThe Holy Grail
Charu GandhiAn Apposite Story
Dikshita ParasarAm I Not A Human Too?
Ektaa RupaniSerendipity
Emma WellsThe Edge Of Nine
Ishita ChattopadhyayStairs To Heaven: A Love No One Could Destroy
Jahanvi PandyaPrayers And Hopes Of The Royals
Kevin K. McvalleyDear Janelle, Yours Truly Molly
Lakshmi HaridasLost And Found
MaitreyeeBloom As You Are
Manami MandalCherry
Mutovz WaltzerEight Rainbows
Nandana VinodPluto
Napoleon FinnleyThe Fountain
Nilanjana ChakrabortyNikita…

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Memoryscape

Memoryscape

They say sights make lasting memories and a touch imprints forever. However, it was the smells that lie splattered across her memory-scape. This story traces an olfactory journey of a lifetime as she put pieces together, wondering what lies next.

1980 – It is the smell of soap – an expensive luxury bar of white soap. The silhouette of a man with that soapy fragrance is still vivid. She was barely 3-years old. She can recognize that smell anywhere but does not come across it often. She cannot remember who he was, yet the distinct memory captures her. 

She frets that she needs to dig deeper into the recesses and find out why the fragrance of that soap and the man are so alive in her mind even after 40 years. There are no answers; she does not even know whether that time was good or bad; whether that memory points to any event in her life. The lack of an answer makes her uncomfortable as they remind her of an unknown man and his soapy odor from when she was barely a toddler.

Continue reading “Memoryscape”

Edge of the Map

It was a sultry afternoon. The day stretched endlessly, waiting for twilight. The orange popsicles stained his tongue but didn’t quench his thirst. He wasn’t sleepy for lack of physical activity. He read books, heard songs on his laptop, played mobile games but time stood still, fatigued by the heat of the Indian summer.

Bored, he picked up his drawing kit and started sketching a treasure map to reach the fabled pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He drew ardently, painstakingly filling vibrant colours in the verdant landscape, flora, and fauna. The emerging terrain captivated him. He paid attention to every tiny detail. The sound of wax crayons against white paper, echoed the unstoppable rhythm in his delicate fingers.

Beyond the tanned mountains, arched the seven colors of mystic beauty. At the corner of the sheet, a speck glimmered. He added final touches to the elusive gold and rested the point of his crayon, in a finishing move, just as the first star of the night rose in the burnished horizon. In the twinkle of its light, with sweat beads on his brow, he sailed through the azure skies, having fallen from the edge of the map.

The List – A Short Story

It started with the small blue notepad his mother handed over to him. She was busy in the grocery aisle; he was running around, getting in the way. She ripped out her shopping list and gave the notepad to him to entertain himself. His 6-year old fingers doodled and channeled his tiny self out of trouble.

Waiting in the checkout line, she entertained him by dictating all the items in her shopping cart. He was proud of his first list. He felt almost grown-up that day. After all, writing and list-making was the effortless skill of adults. A notebook became his constant companion.

Continue reading “The List – A Short Story”
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