FLASH FICTION TUESDAY: Second Chances

BALD

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. This week’s story leaves us wondering if we should give LIFE a second chance…

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Ricky absently reached for his hairbrush, fingers snatched back as if burned when it dawned on him how foolish it would have been to pick it up. His hands brushed against his scalp, feeling the stubble just beginning to grow back. It had been a long hard summer and now that school was starting up again, Ricky wasn’t ready for the drama he was sure waited for him there. He was just getting his life back and didn’t want to deal with the looks like he had gotten at the clinic. Besides, how could they possibly understand? With their carefree laughter and simple lives, how could they possible know what it felt like to be him?

It was supposed to rain today and Ricky knew what that meant. His mom would hover over him, asking a million times if he was okay and telling him to make sure he grabbed a jacket so he wouldn’t catch a cold. How could he tell her he just wanted to feel normal again? He hated how his name and cancer always seemed to crowd the same sentences these days. Ricky was beginning to forget where he stopped and his illness began. Pulling a baseball cap low over his forehead, Ricky grabbed his backpack and rushed out the back door before his mom could realize he was gone.

Hours later Ricky sat alone in one corner of the cafeteria. It was as bad as he thought it would be. First was the stares. Some of the guys he used to hang out with last year even started calling him skin head. But it was the constant whispers that bothered him the most. Why didn’t they just come out and say it to his face? He was tired of fighting. Fighting the rage he felt when he first found out he was sick. Fighting to keep food down after the latest chemo treatment. Now he was fighting back tears as he stared at the cold tuna fish on his plate. Softly, almost as if she didn’t want to disturb him, Ricky heard someone clearing their throat near him. Glancing up, he noticed a girl from his Chemistry class standing in front of him. Ricky tried to think of her name. Becky. Betty. Something that started with a B he was pretty sure but he really didn’t give it much thought cuz he really just wanted to be left alone.

“Do you mind if I sit down here?”

Ricky looked around the cafeteria at first to see if someone had set her up to talk to him before staring back at the girl. Last year he might have even flirted with her but now it just seemed to take too much energy to bother with trying. His sickness had almost broken him, but maybe God was showing him he’d been given a second chance? Now the only question swirling around in his head was should he take it?

***Okay, it’s your turn! Put your creative cap on and add a sentence or add a paragraph. Continue my story or start one of your own. Join the fun and see where this picture prompt takes us!

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WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!
WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!

I’m happy to announce the winner of week seven of my TWELVE WEEKS OF LUNADAR free giveaway! Abbie Lu has won the ocean inspired jewelry kit. Thanks for following my blog! Congratulations! Look for my email on how to get your prize…

***DON’T FORGET! It’s week eight of THE TWELVE WEEKS OF LUNADAR giveaway and this week you get a chance to accessorize you car with a Yankee Candle fragrance locket shown above! Just click on the pile of presents to the right of this post and choose how you would like to enter the FREE giveaway. Winners will be announced every Monday in my INDIE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY post!

***Also, the ebook version of LUNADAR: Homeward Bound is on sale through the holidays! You can grab your copy for only $1.99 through Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Nook, Books A Million or dozens of other online retailers!

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?

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), is now available in ebook and print form from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, and other online retailers.

2 thoughts on “FLASH FICTION TUESDAY: Second Chances”

janet lavergne says:

November 13, 2018 at 3:25 pm

This story reminds me of a Supremes song–“You Keep Me Hanging On”. I need to know what happens next.

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Story Catcher Publishing says:

November 13, 2018 at 6:56 pm

Awww, you know what happens next, Janet. They fall in love, get married, have trn kids and win the lottery. At least I hope that’s what happens…😉

Thanks for stopping by and come back any time!

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