Dead men tell no lies

Posted on by Fatima Fakier

PHOTO PROMPT © Liz Young

The human body is capable of amazing things. Contortion is one. Bending with extreme flexibility. Just like Jimmy was now, crumpled into a lobster trap. Except that John had to break Jimmy’s legs at the knees to get it to fit. His face was blank and slack. Nothing left  of the shock that twisted his features looking down the barrel of John’s gun. Six bullets fired into his chest.

Now, pushing the trap off the boat into the water, John felt nothing of the cold shock that seeped into him when he found out Jimmy had betrayed him.

98 words

Brought back an old character from one of last year’s flash fiction, John the Baptist. Organised crime boss and ruthless with his enemies.

Written for Friday Fictioneers hosted by author Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.

Click the icon to read more flash fiction by other amazing writers. It is amazing to see the different stories and genre’s that an image can prompt. I’ll be impressed if this image courtesy of Liz Young inspires any romance stories!

Scars Series

Posted on by Fatima Fakier

We want to hide them, tuck them away with our guilty conscience. They are the cracks in our flawlessness, evidence of mistakes we made, impulses overtaking our rational minds. A reminder of a time we’d rather forget, a relationship gone sour, a stranger getting too close or health that deteriorated. It is the past reaching it’s shiny, jagged fleshy fingers into the present.

Or we wear them with a quiet pride that speaks for us before we have uttered a word. “Here is one who is strong, who has borne the cruel twists of life and gained a lifelong token to show for it.”

Scars tell the story of trauma, survival and healing all on their own. They appear skin deep, but their roots go so much deeper, far into the recesses of the soul and the mind.

In appreciation of the will of the human body to heal itself, I present three short stories. Each bears a theme of scars either in physical, psychological or emotional types.

  1. Mikail (physical scars)

 

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They rolled in traffic past an ambulance stuck on the side of the road, steam hissing from under its bonnet. Read full story

2. Louder than a lion (psychological scars)

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“She hurried along, tripping over her own feet. The street noises melted into each other coagulating into one mighty racket.”  Read full story

 

 

 

3. Moulded Hearts (emotional scars)

Lianne

For fifteen years everything was perfect. Perfect and safe. Nothing could go wrong, and nothing ever did. Her life was cast from a flawless mould, with no heartache and few surprises. Until yesterday. Read full story.

 

The end of the line

Posted on by Fatima Fakier

PHOTO PROMPT © C.E. Ayr

“It was a mistake! Please don’t do this.” Sean pleaded with his boss John aka The Baptist, a name earned by the way he drowned his enemies in the river.

Trains screeched to a halt outside the old warehouse where he was bound and tied to a chair.

“You snitch.” A fist pounded his left temple. “Police informant all this time. After all I’ve done for you?” Another punch. The room spun.

“Please… my family, my kids”, he tasted blood.

“I’m afraid it’s the end of the line for you.”

A black hood was thrown over his head.

98 words

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This was written for Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle where we’re challenged to write flash fiction in 100 words or less. I love doing it and it helps hone my writing skills by being concise and leaving out the unnecessary.

 

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