Friday, 19 July 2024

Panic, rescue, overslept

 Wednesday lunchtime, an aggressive American woman inserted herself between my desktop screen and me and harangued me about some virus, exhorting  me not to turn off my computer but phone a toll-free number to have it all put right. I didn’t, of course and, long story short took my laptop to Currys where an efficient and friendly woman  put it all right, while telling me that phoning that number would’ve resulted in my bank account being emptied. I did ask Terrie to be prepared to post prompt words, but that having been unnecessary, and then me having woken later than usual so not posting this as soon as intended, I think the above could stand instead as words for next week.

 As ever, much thanks to those stalwarts who contributed last week, and I look forward to seeing what you make of the above.

Entries by midnight Thursday 25th July, new words scheduled Friday 26th 

 Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all of the three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and uses of the words and stems are fine.

8 comments:

  1. Thresholds new [29]

    At my brief summary, the twins - Acker and Gulch - fractionally closed ranks, and Raven clearly had no intention of rescuing me, nor asking them for further enlightenment. Then Gulch – his grey-eyed smile a one-off lover’s pillow-slow apology for having overslept (along with the regrettably all-too familiar, momentary panic of ‘who the hell are you?’ said, ‘Your eyes match mine, as they do your name, but the fieriness of your hair is that of Egesa’s temper, which I do not have –‘
    ‘But,’ Acker interrupted, detaching himself from Gulch, ‘I certainly do. Along with a dislike of feisty women.’

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thresholds is getting exciting .
      Way back in April Acker and Gulch were introduced as 'cousins' of Raven and he didn't seem too impressed at bumping into them.
      Not only have we now found out the lady's name, it also turns out these 'cousins' are related to her. Does this mean our pair of intrepid travellers have more in common than they thought ?

      Delete
    2. Sorry Terrie, it more means I have literally lost the plot along with any ability to maintain continuation. That said, the relative in common is Egesa, so perhaps I can magic up some wriggle room!

      Delete
  2. Oh What a Knight!

    'You've overslept,' said the wizard. 'There's a dragon to be slain.'
    The knight rubbed his eyes. 'What time is it?'
    'Almost midday.' The wizard glanced nervously at the sundial. 'By now you should have rescued the sleeping Princess.'
    'Remind me how long she's been under that spell?' said the knight.
    'One hundred years,' said the wizard. ‘Some bad fairy hoodoo.’
    The knight yawned. 'I may give it a miss. I have a dreadful headache from all those magic mushrooms I quaffed. But don’t panic, another day won't make much difference to the situation.'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Truly loved this, David - such sweet telling of the situation

      Delete
    2. I have a feeling this is much more the type of scenario most fairy stories actually start with. Cleverly done, David.

      Delete
  3. The Secret Armadillo Soldier (SAS) Diaries - entry 279

    The earthy scent of the unseen soldier ahead filtered towards Sarg as she jogged quietly through the dim-dark of the tunnel.

    She stopped.

    The steady draw and blow of his breathing whispered after his scent. She heard it change as he detected her.

    ‘No need t’ panic soldier, it’s me; Sarg. Im just checking all’s ok.’

    The soldier’s head appeared from his shallow scrape of concealment. He looked exhausted. ‘Dang Sarg, I wuz ‘oping it wuz me replacement. The beggar musta overslept cos they shudda bin here ages ago.’

    Sarg heard the echo of panic in his bravado.

    ReplyDelete
  4. As ever, your words tingle all the senses while pushing the tale along.

    ReplyDelete