There was an empty spot on the sparkling, granite countertop where the coffee maker should be.

“Where’s the coffee maker?” I asked.

Alice slipped a saucer in the dish rack. “I tossed it.”

“You did what?”

“It caught fire this morning.”

“It does that from time to time. Unplug it, blow on it twice, and it will be fine.”

“You can’t…[Read more]

Megan sauntered to the immigration officer, a man with ears pointy as a chihuahua, and not much bigger. His name tag, begging for a new laminate said his name was Ralph. Megan slid her form and passport across the table.

Her week in St. Vincent had served its purpose but it was time to head back to Michigan. The humidity and…[Read more]

All were great stories and great prompt @Pinkbelt

I thrust my hand with the violin towards her. “I need to return this.”

“My ad said no returns.”

“You don’t have to refund me, just take it back.”

“No returns.”

This was proving harder than I thought…[Read more]

I strummed my guitar in the basement, Ol’ Man River by Bing Crosby cooed from the gramophone.

My wife heaped a mound of crimson pigment on the palette. “You need to lock the doors and latch the windows before you head to bed.”

If I got stuck locking the doors like at our crummy old place, it would take an hour of locking and re-lo…[Read more]

500 words maximum, by December 31.

@Seagreen thank you for the kind words.

This year, he would experience autumn again. See the leaves change. Feel the air…[Read more]

Killing a man is easy. The hard part is disposing the body. Was disposing the body. Until I tried a wheelbarrow. Yup. Same type of wheelbarrow Mavis used in the garden, but mine was rusty.

Last year, I made the beginner’s mistake of using a garbage bag, but the lower back isn’t at forty-eight what it was at twenty-eight. Thanks to cri…[Read more]

She spread the gorgeous plaid cloth over the table. So many things she could praise the new government for, adding class to the house topped the list. Who knew pigs would be classier than humans? And nicer.

After this, set the table for the pigs and their usual Thursday night guests. Serve dinner, check in every twenty minutes. Life…[Read more]

I enjoyed all the entries and how varied the stories were.

@Sandra, congrats!

I messed up.

In the worst way.

The building site was wrong. How could I have made such an amateur mistake? Because I was an amateur, that’s why. No man who has spent his life in the Alaskan mountains could know how to build in the Caribbean. And not a simple house, but a castle. The mosquito bites on my back provided evidence this was my…[Read more]

I enjoyed all the entries.

My cheeks hurt from smiling.

“I’ve never had a passenger be happy to go to this town,” said the driver.

“And I’ve never had a taxi driver dressed in a top hat and tuxedo.”

Although now he mentioned it, the cars around us were filled with weeping people. I had been preoccupied with the beautiful overcast sky and the…[Read more]

Sandra’s story was very touching.

I enjoyed being inside the head of the MC in Athelstone’s entry.

@Sandra, the MC’s husband was named Ian Pierce with that extra ‘e’ in Pierce dropped.

This was a fun prompt, Kate.

Congrats Seagreen.

The son of a gun had done it. I should have known it was from him, only he would use an unmarked envelope. I held the letter, signed by Nia Price, a discount anagram of his real name. He always told me if I got a letter signed by Nia, he had faked his death. I didn’t think he would do it, even when he said he found a way to make it to…[Read more]

@ Kate, the fairy was a nice surprise. I never saw that coming.

@ Athelstone, I enjoyed that bitter twist at the end

@ Sandra, I liked how I never met the wife but through the character, I feel like I met her through his POV.

Tough decision, but the win goes to @ Kate.

No rules other than no more than 500 words by March 31.

@Seagreen, great prompt. I’m motivated to return to working on the story for that antagonist.

The dead body in front of Santana was the second thing on his mind. Top spot went to conquering his nausea.

“You going to puke, man?” asked Jude.

Santana shook his head.

People plodded along the sidewalk, staring at the ground. A couple months ago, this street would be teeming with vendors selling fruit, but the new government ended…[Read more]

I fiddled with the fuzzy lint in my pockets.

“Out with it, I haven’t got all day.” My boss’ crow-black hair and smooth hands made him look younger than his sixty…[Read more]

@Athelstone, I’m fine with that approach.

It doesn’t have to be the primary emotion; it might make a fleeting appearance as long as it appears at some point.

No more than 500 words by…[Read more]

I enjoyed your story, Seagreen. As a runner, I empathized with the MC.

I will post the prompt for November tomorrow.

I held a snake, ate a worm-like creature out the ocean so fresh it was moving, and listened to a mariachi band. But it was time to iron. Such was life when a business trip spanned a weekend and stretched into the next week.

I tossed my white Oxford shirt across the ironing board.

My tenth-floor hotel room’s bay…[Read more]

The dark room where they stuck us reeked of decaying cardboard and strawberry gum. We called it, The Gathering Room. Employees labelled it a mortuary for CD players. You…[Read more]

Athelstone – the impact of the small changes resonated with me

Sandra – I liked the helplessness the MC feels initially and that internal change at the end

Seagreen – capturing the elation without naming it and the imagery was awesome

Clebs – loved the shift from the mournful…[Read more]

In light of this, in no more than 500 words, write a story centered around change. Feel free to take it any direction you like!

Deadline – midnight August 31

@Ath, really enjoyable story with a subtle air of menace

@Knicks, I liked the idea of a librarian having such a double-life.

I’ll post the prompt for this month now.

Everything is a lie. Even the sky being blue is a lie. It’s violet. I read that on the Internet. The problem with lies is they’re easy to tell. Like yesterday, a man claimed he sneezed with open eyes.

The easiest five hundred dollars I’ll make. That was a lie.

“So, you want me to believe you didn’t know the contents of…[Read more]

@Knicks, I enjoyed this prompt.

Of all the days today could be, it had to choose July 28.

Abbie flung the tiger-orange chunks of squash into the rusty stock pot. Her tangled turmoil of hair, too grey for someone so young, squeezed under the itchy hairnet.

She zapped the lemon-scented spray to wrestle the stench of rotten cabbage.  Thank goodness…[Read more]

I was immediately pulled into Athelstone’s world and kept there. Loved the last sentence too.

“Number two?” I clutched the edge of the cold table.  “Still?”

“That’s nothing to be scoffed at,” the coward behind the newspaper said. “For fourteen straight weeks too.”

“That makes it worse.”

Gold vinyl records pumped life into the drab wooden wall behind him. Reserved for those who kissed the summit of number one.…[Read more]