The rules are simple:

• Write a story, complete in itself.
• Check spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
• Copy and paste your Story URL to the inLinkz list.
• The story should be up to 250 words.
• Add this line < #TellTaleThursday with Anshu & Priya > at the end of the post.
• Read, comment and share – spread the love.

Here’s the prompt:

Word count – 222 Words

Mango Tree

Roma could not sleep. Giving up all pretense at sleeping, she got up from the bed. Walking up to the window, she opened it wide. Until she felt the cool breeze, she hadn’t realized how stuffy the room was.

She looked at the mango tree at the corner of her back garden standing tall and majestic in the silver light. The branches were heavy with white blossoms and the air carried the pungent smell, signalling the onset of spring and the fruit. She shook her head in despair and sighed. If only the tree could bear fruit!!

As she was deep in my thoughts, she saw a movement in the garden from the corner of her eye. Startled, she stared. It was nothing but a mouse. It was digging a hole in the earth near the trunk of the mango tree. After a few minutes of struggle, it finally disappeared in the burrow. She made a mental note to call up a pest agent and ask them to check the grounds for rodents. She didn’t want them to enter the house and make mayhem. And then she saw something that made her heart skip a beat. The white blooms on the tree had suddenly turned red. The tree looked sinister and unworldly.

Was the local legend true that the tree was cursed?

(This is an excerpt from a story that I am currently writing)