Flash Fiction Friday

 

 

Wealth Beyond Measure

By Donna L Martin

 

 

 

Cassie ran her fingers cautiously over the yellowed pages.  She held the book in her hands like holding a priceless treasure. The sounds of the other shoppers seemed to fade into the distance as she continued to stare at the book in disbelief. 

 

Cassie wasn't sure why she decided to step into this old book shop today. She came to the sad realization this morning she will never find her grandmother's journal.  Cassie even decided after today she will return to London and give up her dream of recovering the past. Just as she is about to board the bus something catches her attention. A simple sign really. One she can pass a hundred times on any other day and never give it a thought. Her grandmother's spirit must be near, pulling her to this spot and a moment which quite literally can change the course of her life.

 

The sign had seen better days but Cassie can still make out the two stags locked in battle and just beyond stood the home of her youth. Wonderwood Castle. Oh, how she remembered the secret passageway leading down to the hidden beach. Her grandmother told her the tales of the smugglers' cove and wealth beyond measure. The genteel neighbors would have been shocked to know the neighborhood duchess was really a lady pirate. All those secrets lay hidden in the journal but when her grandmother died, it had disappeared.

 

For years Cassie searched every antique shop and old bookstore. Years of knowing her legacy was somewhere in the castle but without the journal it was lost forever. Cassie's legs suddenly felt weak as she slowly made her way to the front of the store. Just a few more steps and the map to her future would be hers...

 

 

***Okay, it's your turn!  What happens next?  Does Cassie make it out of the store with her grandmother's journal? Will she return to Wonderwood Castle in search of buried treasure? Does anyone stand in her way of wealth beyond measure?  Put your creative cap on and add a sentence or add a paragraph.  Continue my story or start one of your own.  Join the fun and see where this picture prompt takes us!***

Flash Fiction Friday

The Crystal Ball

by Donna L Martin

A nervous giggle escaped Mattie's lips as she glanced around the tent once more. Her friends had come with her to the gypsy camp outside of town, had even dared her to seek her future with the fortune teller. Now that she was actually standing in front of the old woman dressed in rich colors and sparkling jewels, Mattie was beginning to think it was a bit foolish to have agreed to her friends' dare.

"Sit down."

The voice was surprisingly strong, even though it was a mere whisper hanging in the air around them.  Mattie sat on low stool in front of a velvet covered table where a lone crystal ball balanced on a small pedestal in the middle of it. She could have sworn there was something flickering in the middle of it but before Mattie could peer closer the old gypsy covered it with her blue-veined hands and began to chant in a low singsong voice. Mattie gazed at the woman, mesmerized as a small band of smoke began to swirl inside the ball, twirling faster and growing larger until it completely filled the inside. The fortune teller's eyes seem to bore into Mattie's as that voice filled the tent once more.

"Why are you here?"

Another nervous giggle escaped as Mattie attempted to make a joke of her reasons for entering the tent in the first place.

"Uh, my friends dared me to come in here and I thought it would be funny to see my future."

The old gypsy stared into the smoke for a long moment before gazing back at the girl sitting opposite the now glowing orb.

"Ahhh, but I bet you would love to find out about the treasure, now wouldn't you?"

***Okay, it's your turn!  What happens next?  Is the old gypsy woman for real? What is the treasure she is talking about? And what does she really see in Mattie's future?  Put your creative cap on and add a sentence or add a paragraph.  Continue my story or start one of your own.  Join the fun and see where this picture prompt takes us!***

Trolling For Treasure

I can remember when I was younger how I used to love to go fishing.  Growing up so close to the Gulf coast, of course fresh fish and other seafood made its way to our table quite often.  There were canals surrounding my hometown, full of everything from channel catfish to snapping turtles and almost every weekend during the summers would find me either fishing off the banks of a levee or pulling traps to uncover treasures from the deep.

It fascinated me how my parents would set the traps and troll for the extra food to feed a hungry family of six.  They would start with what seemed like useless garbage and ended up with tasty treats to tempt the fussiest taste buds. Searching for treasures in the canals surrounding our house was a necessity and the fastest way to produce the best results.

Writing is a lot like trolling.  Writers throw out the nets, hoping to gather juicy ideas and create a delicious dish for their readers to sink their teeth into.  But writing, like fishing, requires tons of patience and the right tools to make the big catch. You can't reel in a marlin with a cane pole and you can't produce a quality story with just a wish and a prayer. You have to cast your net with just the right balance between character and plot.  Sometimes your ideas are too small and you have to throw them back.  Sometimes they just aren't tasty enough to entice an agent or editor to try your story. 

But sometimes the bait and the line are just right and they are hooked...