[Flash Fiction] The Darkest Part of the Wood

This is a piece for Anna Meade’s flash fiction contest at Yearning for Wonderland. With apologies to Tracy McCusker, who’s heard this idea somewhere before.

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They’d brought her to the country to heal. The fresh air will do you good, they’d said. As if the creaking house and smell of rotting October leaves would somehow undo the slow cellular unraveling inside her. As if she’d ever be allowed outside in the cold autumn rain.

Here was her life. A beachhead of pillows above shoals of white sheets, armies of prescription bottles standing sentry, favorite books stacked in a hopeless fortress against boredom. The distant murmurs of her parents, in some parallel universe where people were healthy.

Rest, and get well.

Then one night she saw the goblinoid shadow, rendered by moonlight, flicker across her bed. The skittering of tiny feet on the roof.

She’d hid under the covers, quivering in terror. In the morning, she’d found a tiny doll. Knots of pale yarn, raisins for eyes, a blank idiot smile stitched across its face. A dry topknot of hair. Her hair.

It liked her.

So she waited. When her parents brought her cookies, she saved one for it. When she saw its shadow in the corner, she begged it to speak. But it never did.

Not until one rain-sheeted midnight when she felt bony fingers take her hand, and woke to see pale yellow eyes glimmering in the dark.

Come home.

It held her hand and beckoned her to follow. Down the stairs in her bare feet, out into the cold wet grass and cold rain and the fresh air her parents had wanted her to have. It whispered of adventures.

She was so happy she barely noticed the first rasping cough that shook her as she followed her friend into the thorny darkness of the wood.

Come home with us, it said. Wither, and live forever.

Sicken, and be healed.

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Blog Hop Contest!

What’s up, writers?

I’m teaming up with Lillie McFerrin, Angie Richmond and Daniel Swensen for a blog hop, to celebrate our awesome community of blog followers and fellow writers.

What’s a blog hop, you’re wondering? Well, Anakin…

Photo by Luis Beltran

Write a piece of flash fiction, poem, or song (300 words or less) using the photo above as your inspiration. Post it on your blog anytime between now and when the link closes. Every eligible entry will qualify for a chance to win one of the prizes listed below. Links will close for submissions January 30th. Lillie, Angie, Angela and I will then read, debate, and decide on five winners for the following:

1st: Fifty page critique by Lillie McFerrin
2nd: Twenty-Five page critique edit by Angie Richmond
3rd: Fifteen page critique by Angela Goff
4th: Ten page critique by Daniel Swensen (that’s me!)

5th: A copy of Steven King’s On Writing

Winners will be announced February 7th.

Copy and paste the linky code below with your entry. Spread the word! We look forward to reading your take on this amazing photo!

C’mon, do it!

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document.write(‘<script type=”text/javascript” src=http://www.inlinkz.com/cs.php?id=116954&’ + new Date().getTime() + ‘”><\/script>’);</script>
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Sign up here: