FLASH FICTION-NON-FICTION-POETRY-PLAYS-PHOTOGRAPHS
IT'S SCARY TIME! ! It's Halloween month! It's an exciting time! Share
the excitement!
Write...Edit...Publish invites you to sign up for
HAUNTING OCTOBER! You can scare us, make us laugh, make us cry...your choice.
PLEASE JOIN US!
WHAT DO YOU DO?
- SIGN UP BELOW -- this is your intention to post on October 30 (a little later is okay)
- WRITE a story, fiction or non-fiction, a poem, find some scary photos -- (you could write your story in pics!) OR any form you like -- your choice!
- SPREAD THE WORD -- the more the scarier!
- POST on October 30th -- a little before or after is okay. MAKE sure you add your Word Count, your copyright and whether you want no/full critique.
- LEAVE A COMMENT IN THE LINKY POST OR IN THE CBOX IN THE RIGHT SIDEBAR. TELL US YOU'VE POSTED!
- READ as many entries as you can. This is a SUPPORTIVE bloghop. POST to Google+, Twitter, FB or any other social media if you like the entry you read. Don't forget to follow each other!!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! There will be a PRIZE of a $10 Amazon Gift Card
for the entry of Denise's choice. She will be looking for the most creative, most
riveting, most eye-popping entry to receive this award. Or
simply the entry that impresses her most.
Open to all genres
- Fiction works can be - Adult, YA, MG. All entries maximum 1,000 words
Here is my entry:
Charlie
Charlie, stop it
please.
The tugging on her skirt became
more urgent. Janna gave in and stopped
what she was doing and gave Charlie her full attention.
The image of a ragamuffin ten
year old child, cheeky grin lighting up his face, a misty aura glowing about
his head and body. Charlie loved it when
she acknowledged him. He was so lonely
without his family. Janna put her hands
on her hips, tilted her head and raised her eyebrows at him.
Be careful driving today, miss.
I’m always
careful, Charlie. You know I take care on the roads.
I have a feeling miss.
OK Charlie, you
win, I’ll be very careful driving.
Janna tried to keep the sarcasm
out of her voice.
She thought back to a year or so
ago, when she first became aware of Charlie.
Her girlfriend had persuaded her to attend a Spiritualist Meeting; she’d
said it would be fun to see people acting stupidly. Sarah came away laughing at everybody; Janna
came away with a strange feeling. The
medium had ‘come’ to her during the clairvoyance part of the service and had
told her that she had a spirit with her.
Yeah right, she thought
cynically. Me. Me, who doesn't even
believe in God, has a spirit with me.
Please, pull the other leg; it’s got bells on it.
They’d gone to the pub for a
drink afterwards, a Saturday evening, only nine o’clock, it was far too early
to go home. Sarah downed her white wine
while deriding everything from the meeting, usually Janna’s cynicism matched
Sarah’s but this evening Janna was troubled.
‘Surely you don't believe in all
that stuff,’ said Sarah. ‘Anyway,’ she
sniffed scornfully, ‘they didn't have a message for me, did they? I’m the one
that has all the stuff happen to me.’
‘What are you on about?’
‘You know, I can't find things
when I know I’ve put them somewhere safe.’
Janna laughed, ‘but that’s just
you Sarah, you’re a scatter brain and always have been. Now finish that wine and let’s call a taxi.’
Driving carefully to the
supermarket Janna kept her eyes peeled and her concentration high. Those lights were on green but should she
slow down just in case they turned red?
Oh Charlie,
sometimes you do play with my mind.
She managed to navigate through
the supermarket aisles with no incidents or mishaps. As she loaded the
groceries in to the boot of the car she noticed one of the bags had a stain on
it.
‘Oh that’s just great,’ she
exclaimed to herself. A dozen eggs had
managed to crack and leak all over everything.
‘Charlie, you little scamp, did you do this?’
She heard a childish giggle. Shaking her head gently Janna drove home just
as cautiously. She didn't know how she
lived with Charlie. He was a lost soul,
a lovable, mischievous child.
Janna finished unpacking the groceries,
cleaned up the mess from the broken eggs, just as her parents arrived for their
weekly visit. She heated milk ready for
the coffee while they waited for the kettle to boil. She turned to speak to her mum and saw
Charlie just about to touch her mum’s head.
‘Charlie!’
she admonished under her breath.
‘What did you say, darling?’
asked her mother.
‘Coffee is nearly ready,’ she
replied quickly, frowning and shaking her head at Charlie.
Her mum brushed her hand on her
hair, smoothed a curl back in to place, picked up the tray and took it through
to the living room. Charlie bounded in
front of her, nearly tripping her up, laughing and giggling all the time.
‘Behave
Charlie,’ Janna thought she whispered.
‘Oh you’re not doing that mumbo
jumbo stuff again, are you Janna? You
know you really are too old to have an imaginary friend.’ Her mum was always critical of everything she
did or believed.
Her dad looked at her strangely,
Janna was sure he gave her a wink behind his wife’s back.
Janna didn't hear or see Charlie
for the rest of the day. There was no
rhyme or reason to his appearances and disappearances and she had to admit she
missed him when he was gone. He was a
little scamp at times, hiding things, moving things for days on ends, even
playing with the lights but knowing it was Charlie she wasn’t frightened any
more.
Her husband, Doug, returned from work.
They talked about their days while they ate supper. Janna told Doug about Charlie messing about
this morning. She was aware of Charlie’s
presence as she spoke about him. Then Charlie
did something he had never done before.
He kissed her on her cheek;
Janna’s hand flew up to her face tracing the gossamer touch. She watched him transfer his attention and
affection to Doug sitting opposite her.
Charlie sat down next to Doug and started rubbing his shoulder.
‘What’s the matter?’ Doug asked her.
‘Charlie’s left me.’
Doug raised his eyebrows, a
forkful of food halfway to his mouth.
His hand jerked and he dropped the fork.
Charlie giggled.
‘He wants to play with you.’ Janna wasn't sure how Doug would take this
news. He was such a straightforward,
pragmatic bloke and although he had believed her when she told him tales of
Charlie he didn't believe in ghosts and spirits or things from the netherworld.
Charlie brushed his hand over Doug’s bald head and passed his hands
across Doug’s face.
Doug brushed his face and
shuddered slightly.
‘Charlie is doing that.’ Janna could still see Charlie. She felt sad, she knew it was probably the
last contact she would have with the lovable little imp.
‘I can't see him.’ Doug shrugged it off.
‘You will, probably when you
least expect it, definitely when you don't want to. Be aware that he will mess with you but he
isn't malicious. He’s just a little lost
boy who needs male company.’
Charlie peeked over Doug’s head,
winked at Janna and disappeared.
Word count: 997