Today, I’m taking part in a Blog Hop, created by the lovely Angie Richmond, Lillie McFerrin, Angela Goff, and Daniel Swensen.
As soon as I saw the photo, I knew I had to enter! It has also taken pride of place as my current desktop background!
Here are the instructions, taken from Angie’s “Write Me Happy” website:
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 linky closes. Every eligible entry will qualify for a chance to win one
of the prizes listed below. The linky will close January 30th. Lillie, Angela,
Daniel, 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 by Angie Richmond
3rd: Fifteen
page critique by Angela
Goff
4th: Ten page critique by Daniel
Swensen
5th: A copy of Steven King’s On Writing
Pop over to Angie’s website to enter!
And here is my entry…
say it’s better than weed,” said Jack, crumbling the Plympti plant into the dampened
cigarette papers; cemented with saliva, stuffed with tobacco.
of all, it’s free and there’s loads of it!” Simon laughed, looking down from
their tree-house at the sparse carpet of Plympti. It lingered like decaying
snow, wilted in appearance, despite its rich abundance.
Adam
was apprehensive. “The newspapers said three people died from it last week.”
eyes, “they’re scaremongers for the government, raging that we’ve discovered free
drugs.” He stopped packing the joint to look at Adam. “Are you wimping out?”
Why did your little brother have to come?” Simon moaned.
up and roll it,” Adam snarled, defiant, “I want first draw.”
goes first.” Jack smirked, sealing the papers together and lighting up.
the joint sparked to life, the tip seared and crackled, the paper crisping as
it perished. Soon, the tree-house was thick with acrid smoke. It was pungent,
like aniseed.
eyeballs stung.
Jack convulsed, Simon grabbed the joint.
Adam whined “I was next!”
him, Simon took a deep draw and held his breath, closing his eyes.
bloodcurdling scream pierced the air. It was the last sound he made.
eyeballs bulged, splitting his eyelids. Simon’s eyes burst open too, but there was no life behind them; he was already gone.
shrieked in terror. Trying to escape, he lost his footing at the tree-house entrance.
The fumes prickled his eyes, blurring his vision. Grabbing the light cord for
dear life, he swung, like a frenzied monkey through the trees.
the eyeballs popped from his head, he collapsed into the bed of waiting Plympti.
heart stopped long before the swaying light did.
document.write(‘
I see the linky worked for you. I'm so glad!
Seeing what Plympti does to the brain would be an interesting commercial, to be sure. Nice one! 🙂
Wow, nice piece! I never would have expected these themes from your author pic and your blog design, so it rocks that you can surprise people so perfectly. Well done!
@Angie Richmond: Thanks! I got there in the end 🙂
@David: Thank you! Indeed… the Plympti is not to be messed with 😀
@ruanna3: Thanks! I read your comment out to my boyfriend, and he said "Basically you look pleasant on the surface, but you're really a psychopath, deep down." Charming! Haha, I'm glad to have surprised you 🙂
Wow, I didn't expect that…dark but tempting. Well done!
Holy scary! Not so innocent flowers…
Ha, I do theatre as well and one of my favorite parts was playing a killer. That was after years of playing the cutesy comic sidekick. If you offer people a twist, they'll keep coming back 😉
Wow, definitely dark…
I LIKE IT!!
Way to have a different mood in prose that I pick up from the picture. What an awful death. Note to self: don't smoke the white flowers.
Short sharp snap of horror. Very good.
I'm so happy to see you joined the blog hop, Catherine!! Yay!! Your take is inventive and well crafted and super creepy. Not sure saying 'I love it' is quite right, cuz it's a little too scary for such a sweet sentiment – so hows about 'I luv it'?! 🙂
Sweet Mother of Lucifer… look at all these comments! Yay! 🙂
@Donna aka Froggi: Thank you 🙂 what lovely praise!
@J.A. Bennett: Indeed, the flowers are not to be trusted! 🙂
@ruanna3: It must've been fun playing a killer 🙂 I do love a good twist!
@Huntress: Thank you, I'm glad you like it! Love the name, btw!
@Gwen: It's great to see how different all the stories are, coming from the same picture! Take it from me, don't smoke Plympti plants 😉
@Erin: Thank you! It did escalate pretty quickly didn't it? I can't read it without laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it! Thankfully, I like ridiculous.
@Bullish: Yay thanks! "I luv it" is a suitably wonderful compliment! 🙂 I'm chuffed you think it's well crafted; I'm really trying to improve my craft. I'm happy to have joined the blog hop too, it's been fun 😀
This is a great twist – love how the picture made different people focus on different aspects. Well done – new follower.
Thank you, Tasha, likewise! 🙂