Category: #JSWChallenge

Posted in #JSWChallenge, Challenges, Flash Fiction

The Escape – #jswchallenge – June 10, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

“Isn’t this the way you wanted it,” Emil asked Portia as she lamented her small social circle.

“I wanted to escape my previous life. Not my present life,” Portia responded to Emil.

“Portia,” Emil responded, “I’m not sure that you can be certain you have yet escaped your previous life. How can you possibly take the chance of putting yourself out there socially?”

As Portia contemplated Emil’s question, Emil thought about how he met Portia soon after she arrived in the small Portuguese town and they became fast friends.

Portia was a fun-loving, social person who had sought a way to rid herself of baggage in her life in the U.S. A drastic way, yes. Probably not a reasonable way. Portia had been desperate and had simply walked off and left her old life behind.

Emil said, “Portia, it isn’t easy to vanish in today’s world. Even though you have a fake passport and you don’t use your credit cards, he will probably find a way to trace you if he wants to.”

Portia would never go back to him or work for him again.

Ten days passed and Portia stayed in seclusion other than having Emil with her. One night, there was a knock at the door. She opened the door to find several law enforcement officers standing there. They announced that she was under arrest and would be extradited back to the U.S.

She went with the officers, crying and screaming, with Emil following. When they got to the jail, there he stood.

“Portia,” he said, “You can stay in Portugal. I don’t want you back. I do want the million dollars you embezzled from my company back. You almost bankrupted us.”

“I don’t have it now,” she said as she cried and begged for his mercy.

Thanks to A Writer’s Life for hosting the #jswchallenge.

Posted in #JSWChallenge, Challenges, Fiction

Hope -JSW Challenge March 26, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Elena, a victim of recent unimaginable loss, came from her home in the mountains to visit her aunt. The hope was that she would start to heal. On the second day of her visit, she saw a copse of trees nearby. She started up the wide path to explore. The landscape seemed so flat and boring to her.

The trees were very sparse compared to the forest where she lived. She found something compelling about them. She started walking up the wide path thinking that it was curious her mother and father had never brought her here to visit. They didn’t like to be gone from their home for very long. It turned out that was a wise decision. She had just lost them both, at the same time, to a terrible car crash. Tears started streaming down her face at the thought and she could hardly see where she was going.

Elena reached the tree line and immediately felt more at home. There wasn’t far to walk and remain under the trees. Ahead, she could see a grassland. She was crying so hard that she stumbled. As she picked herself up, she noticed something odd. Near her, there was perfect circle made up of mushrooms. Inside the circle, the grass was dying and looked as if it had been trampled. Even in her grief, it dawned on her what this was. It was a fairy circle.

Elena turned to go back to her aunt’s house, and she heard something. She felt a sort of noise and vibration that seemed to come from underground. Then, she heard, very faintly, singing and she realized the vibrations were in time with the singing. 

The fairies were singing and dancing under their circle. The only word she could decipher was, “Hope.”

Thank you to A Writer’s LIfe for hosting the JSW Challenge!

Posted in #JSWChallenge

Hot Commodity – JSW Challenge 3-12-2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

They thought they had concocted the perfect plan. The smaller of the two men, Dave, was a hot air balloon enthusiast and entered the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA almost every year. His partner in crime, Bill, was just along for the ride and had helped Dave transport the stolen gold bars as far as the balloon festival. 

The balloon fiesta was in the fall of the year in warm, dry New Mexico. As Dave and Bill approached the venue, the skies were blue and there was a slight breeze. Dave’s balloon was already secured there, deflated, but ready to be aired up. Dave had made plans to steal the gold bars and then transport them to his secret place in Mexico using his balloon. 

Dave had stolen the gold from his supervisor’s home vault while she was on vacation. He had lucked into finding the combination for the vault by hacking her laptop.

They aired up the balloon and gradually loaded the gold bars into the wicker basket. Then, they were off. Dave thought the balloon was a bit sluggish as it tried to get off the ground, but he blamed the calm wind. The balloon gradually rose, but slowly and not to the height that Dave expected. As the wind further calmed, Dave became alarmed since the balloon started losing altitude. Dave suddenly realized the problem was the weight of the gold. 

Below the balloon, they could see the Rio Grande River. The balloon was falling rapidly no matter how much hot air Dave pumped into it. It slowed and plunked down right in the middle of a shallow in the river. When Dave and Bill looked up, there was the Border Patrol on horseback on the bank, just waiting for them.

Thanks to the JSW Challenge and A Writer’s Life!