Finish the story begins with: “The A&B Building was made entirely from driftwood.”, the History channel drones on TV.
Sara’s mind drifts to the day she read ‘three little pigs’ to her daughter many moons ago:
“What would you build your house out of ,mama? Straw, wood or bricks?”.
“Brick”.
“I would build it out of straw , mama, but I would make it strong somehow and when the wolf comes huffing and puffing it would release pollen and send the wolf away sneezing”, the child claps in victory over the imaginary wolf.
A door bangs elsewhere in the house. The vibrations rattle the glass of water on the child’s bedside table. The water ripples, as if running away , and finding nowhere to go collides with the glass wall. Each unsteady , approaching, footstep sends a tremor through the floor interrupting the rhythm of their heartbeats.
“Build your house with bricks ,sweetheart”, Sara says firmly ,looking her daughter in the eye.
The child nods silently.
——— end —————
The about 150 word story above was in response to ‘Monday’s finish the story’ flash fiction challenge. This unique flash fiction challenge provides a new photo each week, and the first sentence of a story. The challenge is to finish the story using 100-150 words, not including the sentence provided. Details are available here:
https://mondaysfinishthestory.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/mondays-finish-the-story-sept-22nd-2015/
For other interesting takes on the same prompt click the blue frog below:
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Whatever you do don’t build your house from glass! LOL! Great story.
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Thanks PJ.
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Ooh, great metaphor — the wolf is not always as imaginary as we wish he was. Love the line about the water trying to run away, too. Beautifully done.
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There are many ‘wolfs’ out there whether we like it or not . Thanks for your encouraging comments 🙂
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Great. I loved the imagery. Very interesting take on the photo prompt.
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Thanks Deborah.
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Great story! I especially like the title.
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Thank you.
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What a story Ansumani! I appreciate your entry into theMondays Finish the Story Challenge. Stay tuned for another exciting, post coming to you next Monday! Be well… ^..^
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Thanks Barb! Looking forward to your unique photo prompts.
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What a chuckle! Enjoyed!!
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It wasn’t meant to end as an chuckle ….I was trying to show the arrival of a scary “liquid wolf” . If you missed the “unsteady footsteps” then i can see how it was interpreted as humor. Thanks for your comment.
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A sweet story which took a dark turn there at the end. Nice!
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Thanks Ali.
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Interesting story!
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Thanks!
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Wonderful narrative, dark but inspiring story. The mother told the right thing to her daughter… To be strong through thick and thin:)
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Thank you Shivangi !
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