FLASH FICTION TUESDAY: A Slippery Slope

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Now on Tuesdays…at least for the foreseeable future…welcome to Flash Fiction Tuesday. In case you don’t know what flash fiction is, it is an extremely short story (sometimes created in 100 words or less) with a beginning, middle, and an ending.

But in my case, I write flash fiction with an open ending. I allow my readers to draw their own conclusion as to what happens next to the characters of each story.  This week, take a dip in the icy waters of this murder mystery…

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Beverly stepped to the edge of the embankment. Icicles loaded the trees, bending them close to the ground. All around her came the sounds of snapping branches, cracking like whips as the weight of the ice tore them from tree trunks. She knew it was not safe here but she had no choice. Tommy told her he threw the gun into the water right before the ice storm hit last night. Beverly couldn’t believe he had been that stupid. That gun was the only thing tying him to the murder. All it took was for one foolish hunter stumbling across it and they would lose everything.

Thirty feet downstream from the old homestead he had said. Thirty feet to freedom if she could just find the darn thing. The river was cluttered with ice chunks and debris. Beverly could only hope the gun hadn’t traveled too far downstream from where he threw it in. She was getting awfully tired of cleaning up his messes.

Placing one boot gingerly on the partial trail leading down to the water’s edge, Beverly strained to see if she could figure out where the gun had gone. She was just about to take another step when there came a thunderous roar of snapping branches immediately behind her. Beverly’s scream echoed into the cold morning air as her foot slipped on the muddy trail and she fell, tumbling faster and faster toward the water’s edge. She would almost certainly land headfirst into the icy river unless a miracle happened.

Now it’s your turn. What happens next? Do the trees stop Beverly from drowning in the river? Or does the water seal her fate? Maybe there is a miracle just around the bend.  Join in the fun and add a comment below…

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International best selling, award winning author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a ‘ninja’ writer of children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books, and the host of WRITERLY WISDOM, a resource series for writers. Donna is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Children’s Book Insider. She is a lover of dark chocolate, going to the beach and adding to her growing book collection. Donna’s latest book, LUNADAR: Homeward Bound (a YA fantasy), ebook edition, is now available from Amazon.

 

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Ruler by day, a reluctant pirate by night, 18-year-old Princess Ariana fights for her subjects in the waterfall city of Lunadar. In a kingdom surrounded by fairies and mermaids, and ravaged by deadly Drundles, only a chosen few are trusted to guard her daughter, Candra, as the secret heir to the throne.

But it only takes one ill-fated meeting for Ariana to suddenly be plunged into an escalating web of secrets found in her father’s journal, a deadly kidnapping, and an ever-weakening resolve to turn her back on the call of the merman’s song.

With Ariana’s world falling apart and the future of Lunadar at stake, how will she bring her father’s murderer to justice and fulfill a deathbed promise to protect Lunadar’s legacy?

Donna L

Hybrid award winning author; aspiring sketch artist; and 4th Degree Senior Certified Taekwondo Instructor. Host of BOOK NOOK REVIEWS. Member of SCBWI. Mom to fabulous son and adventurer delving into the tricky world of indie-publishing.

2 thoughts on “FLASH FICTION TUESDAY: A Slippery Slope

  • July 29, 2018 at 4:41 pm
    Permalink

    If she is wearing gloves, she could grab onto a tree limb.

    Reply

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