Tag: #unicornchallenge

Posted in #unicornchallenge, Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Uncategorized

A Trip Back in Time

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicornchallenge- October 10, 2024

Photo Prompt @Ayr/Gray

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Her evening constitutional had been challenging today. It was wet and foggy. She wasn’t sure how far she had come.

The old woman gazed up the hill that bordered her walking path. Two children, wrapped up warmly, were playing on the side of the hill. It reminded her of when she and her siblings had played on the same hill.

Her mind wandered and she was suddenly one of those children and her brothers and sisters were with her once again. They were all running down the hill and ending up in somersaults at the bottom. She laughed as she saw herself come in fourth out of fifth.

Clyde came in first as always and poor little Allis was last. They all ran back up the hill, falling and tumbling as they went. Next, she saw herself in a game of hide and seek. They hid behind the scrub or whatever they could find.

Finally, they tired and flopped down on the side of the hill to rest. She and Bonnie, her older sister, talked of how dusk was coming and their mother would be calling for them soon. She could clearly hear Bonnie’s voice.

The old lady felt a gentle touch to her elbow and looked around. It was her caregiver and she had come to find her. The relief was obvious on the caregiver’s face.

They smiled at each other and she said, “Mother, I’m hungry.”

Thanks to C.E. Ayer and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge!

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

Milk Cow Blues

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicorn challenge – October 4, 2024

Photo Prompt @ Ayr/Gray

She got out of bed and trudged through the living room. The place had been trashed. She supposed it happened last night. She was having a hard time remembering. She was so glad their daughter had been at a sleepover.

As she made her way through the house, it dawned on her that he was gone. His bed hadn’t been slept in. She opened the closet and his clothes were gone. A shelf in the bookcase was cleared out.

It was Monday, she remembered. The milk man delivered milk on Monday. She smiled and thought that they wouldn’t need half the milk they used in the past.

She felt embarrassed. It was 1975. The divorce rate in the U.S. was low. Divorce was still a social stigma. Most couples just stuck it out, supposedly for the sake of the children. Her own opinion was that couples married too young and didn’t wait to find the right person. That surely described her.

He’d asked her for a divorce last night. She agreed, but he raged and blamed her. She laughed when she thought of the milk on the porch and the old song, “Milk Cow Blues,” popped into her mind. She remembered part of the lyrics and it seemed she was living that song. She would not need as much milk delivered in the future. She walked to the door to bring in the milk and try to get back to her life.

NOTE: “Milk Cow Blues” was written back in the 1930s, but my favorite version is by Aerosmith

Thanks to C.E. Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge!

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

Conspiracy

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicornchallenge – September 24, 2024

Photo Prompt @ Ayr/Gray

He heard the growl of the plane and saw the contrails it left visible in the sky. He was in the parking lot of this development and everyone around him was pointing skyward. What was so special about contrails left by a high-flying aircraft?

The people started running toward the buildings, taking cover. He walked into one of the shops where others were gathered. There was a woman there and he asked her what the excitement was about.

“Why don’t you know about them chem-trails,” she asked.

“Chem-trails.” He pondered the term. “Ma’am, those are just vapor trails left by high-flying aircraft.”

“On no,” she said. “Don’t you know about that government program that uses those planes and those helicopters to drop harmful material into the air?”

Puzzled, he asked, “What material?”

“Heavy metals, plastics, and other stuff.”

The lady smiled and said, “They are trying to block out the sun. Trying to cause us to get sick. The current U.S. administration is trying to mess with the weather.”

“Ma’am, I think you’re mistaken,” the man replied.

“Oh no,” she said. “Ask anyone.”

After the man got home, he researched “chem-trails.” He found that it is a popular conspiracy theory and recently has been attributed to the current U.S. government by its opposition.

He shook his head, astounded. He thought to himself that the people who believe this will be a part of the voting population. What is going to happen to us?

Thanks to C.E. Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge.

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

You Are Loved

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

TRIGGER WARNING

#unicornchallenge – September 13, 2024

@Ayr/Gray

The first time she woke up, she was in his parent’s living room. Only partially conscious, she heard his parents tell him to take her home and face the consequences.

The next time she was conscious, she was in her dad’s arms and he was picking her up from the driveway, bloody and broken.

She didn’t remember much of the week that followed. Just the painful injuries and a constant heartache. She started to recover, but even after months passed, she was not the same. Not even after years.

A lifetime passed. The girl went on to be successful professionally and personally. Something was never right. She went to the family cemetery, drawn to it as if she were being pulled. She sat down by her grandparent’s graves to figure out what was plaguing her.

Suddenly, she heard her grandfather’s voice, as clearly as if he were standing there.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said. “He was an abuser and showed his true colors that night. You almost didn’t survive it.”

In her thoughts, the girl replied, “I must have done something terrible. I must have been an awful person or he wouldn’t have done it. I’ve worked so hard since but never felt good enough.”

She heard her grandfather say, “My precious granddaughter, you’ve been successful in all you’ve ever done. You’ve just not been able to let that one night and a crazy man go. Let it go now and remember how much you are loved.”

Thanks to C.E. Ayer and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge!

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

The First European Trip

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicornchallenge – July 24, 2024

@Ayr/Gray

The blonde girl, with the brunette girl, were nervous, standing in the airport waiting to board their plane to Europe. Each was only 19 years old. Their parents were sending them to Europe for two months with an American tour group. Both girls were in college,back in 1971, and scared of the new experience but excited at the same time.

First stop, Paris. They were taken by taxis to the innermost parts of Paris where the streets were narrow and crowded. They pulled up to an old building. Looking at the building, they couldn’t believe it was their hotel. It looked old and rundown. Their rooms were adequate, according to their American standards, although they soon found out they had to share a bathroom with an entire floor. There was no running hot water, It didn’t matter. The hotel had character and Paris was so exciting.

They wound their way through Europe by train. Some hotels in the big cities were more contemporary, some less.

One of their last stops was Oslo, Norway. The leaders of the tour group seemed disturbed when they arrived at their hotel in a very old section of the city. Later, they would find out their hotel was in the red-light district of Oslo.

After the girls arrived home in America, they knew they had been on one of the valuable trips of their lives. Many years later, they spoke of how that trip was the best gift their parents could have given them.

Thank you to C.E. Ayrs and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge!

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

Hunted

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicornchallenge – July 19, 2024

@Ayr/Gray

Alfred sat nervously waiting for a taxi. He had groceries to take home, but his mind was elsewhere. He had called a taxi almost half an hour ago. It should have already arrived.

A horn honked and headlights blazed as the taxi screeched its tires pulling up to him. He didn’t give it a thought as he leaped into the taxi before the driver could get out. He breathed a sigh of relief. Now he wasn’t a sitting duck.

The driver silently sped away. It was quiet in the taxi. The driver didn’t speak and that made Alfred anxious. He was driving too fast. Alfred tried to make small talk with the driver but to no avail.

They reached the edge of the city and Alfred was relieved. Then suddenly, the taxi swerved hard and Alfred was thrown against the window. He was knocked unconscious. Later, he had no idea how long it took him to wake up.

When he awakened, with his head pounding, the driver was nowhere to be found. As Alfred looked around, he realized there was a man in the floorboard of the front seat. He had on a badge and was obviously the real taxi driver. It was quiet and dark. He saw the bushes at the side of the road rustle. He reached for his phone and realized it was gone.

He was being hunted and there was no way to escape.

Thank you to C.E. Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge!

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

The Secret Sauce

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicornchallenge July 11, 2024

@Ayr/Gray

In the heart of the city, an old, weathered man had a bright and shiny food truck that catered to the lunch crowd from businesses in the area. He sold fish and chips. Everyone who ate there raved about how delicious the food was. The lunch lines kept getting longer and longer.

Simon was a chef who had gotten his fish and chips recipes from one of his mother’s cookbooks. She loved fish and chips and was striving to find the very best recipe.

After her death, Simon found a small jar in her kitchen that was labeled “Special Ingredient for Fish and Chips.” He had no idea how to find this special ingredient or what it was. It tasted like nothing he had tasted before.

One day, an ancient, wrinkled lady came to the food truck. She was his mother’s friend and told Simon the seed pods he needed only appeared on the night of the third full moon.

Simon gathered the seed pods on the designated night. He began to make the secret ingredient, but it was never quite right. The crowds at the food truck started to dwindle.

As the Legend of Simon, the fish and chips guy, goes, he could be seen at midnight working on the secret ingredient in his food truck.

Did he ever get it right?

You would have to ask the lunch crowd.

Thank you to C.E. Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge.

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

The Escape

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#unicornchallenge – June 28, 2024

@Ayr/Gray

She’d had enough.

Enough pain. Enough emotional turmoil. Enough violence. Just enough. This wasn’t the way her life was supposed to go.

She was only 24, but she’d been with the old man for four years. Back then, she was searching for a way out of her family situation. Now, she was searching for a solution to her ill-advised solution back then.

She knew he would eventually kill her if she didn’t escape him. He had seemed so kind and gentle at first. As time passed, there were still moments of that, but most of the moments he saved for abuse.

It started with verbal abuse. He would say terrible things to her about her appearance and temperament. He ramped it up with emotional abuse. He would withhold any affection for weeks at a time. He would do horrible things just to make her cry. As he got older, he couldn’t stand that she was still young and jealousy sprung up.

He insisted on a sparkling clean house no matter how she felt. She hated the sight of that mop in the corner. She wanted to chop it up and throw it away. He had started hitting her in the head with it along with his fists. She swore to herself never again.

When he came home that night, and hit her again, she was ready for him.

The mop had one more use. She had to mop up the blood before the police came.

Thanks to C. E. Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge.

Posted in Challenges, Fiction, Flash Fiction

The Ghosts – #unicornchallenge – June 21, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson
@Aye/Gray

In that moment, time stopped.

The elderly lady looked up and the shutters were open. Her heart skipped a beat. She had waited for this moment for 50 years.

She tried to pull open the door of the old, dilapidated building, but it was stuck. She pulled as hard as her old bones would allow and it popped loose.

The memories came flooding back. This corridor used to be light and airy and full of dancing children, including herself. That was so long ago that it left her breathless.

She got to the stairs and began to pull herself up by the railing. With every step, the past flashed before her eyes. Her father and mother waiting for her at the top of the stairs., Her sister racing up the stairs by her side.

The air was musty and the old woman had a hard time breathing. She tiptoed inside the sunny apartment.

Ghosts. She saw them all. Her family. Laughing and talking. She and her sister, so happy, so innocent in those days. She came here because she wanted some of it back, the innocence. Maybe it would bring joy to her life.

She found the boxes in one of the bedrooms. Her dolls. Her puppets. Her childhood books and records. As she looked at each item, she smiled and cried at the same time.

All that was left that was important were the ghosts.

Thank you to C. E. Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting the #unicornchallenge.

Posted in #unicornchallenge, Challenges

Hotel California – #UnicornChallenge – April 4, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

“It looks like a crypt,” he said to himself as he got off the bus. It was the correct address for the hotel his buddy had directed him to when he arrived in town. He had traveled across the country, the whole of America, to play with a band here. 

He had no money, but his buddy said that wouldn’t be a problem at this establishment. He pushed open the heavy door. It was dirty and dark inside. It smelled. There was a hotel counter on his right with a bell and a dim light. He rang the bell.

A Goth-looking girl materialized behind the counter. She remarked they had been expecting him. She directed him to what she called a room, but it was just a space, with a dirty cot and a wash basin. The girl invited him to happy hour. 

He sat down on the cot and thought about leaving, but he had no money. He wandered down the hall to the place the Goth-girl directed him to for happy hour.

He walked in to order a drink but stopped dead in his tracks. The people were all in Goth attire and makeup and they were dancing an odd dance. He had a bad feeling. He’d find somewhere else.

Grabbing his stuff, he went up to the hotel counter to check out. No one was there, but there was a small sign. It said, “You can check out any time you like but you can’t ever leave.”

For your listening pleasure:

”Hotel California,” by The Eagles

Thanks to CE Ayr and Jenne Gray for hosting the Unicorn Challenge!