#TellTaleThursday – The Wrath of Gods

Today’s prompt is this powerful image –

Image : Unsplash.com

His eyes opened to the majestic blue sky. A clear sky would be delightful to many, but not to him. It meant his woes would not come to an end today.

Shaking his melancholy aside, he got up from the charpoy and went to the nearby jungle to complete his morning ablutions. If it didn’t rain by the end of this week, he would have nothing to give back to his creditors who hounded him mercilessly.

He went to the hut. His wife, who all of 25-years but looked like 50 with years of poverty and hard work, looked at him with hope. He shook his head. His two kids were still sleeping, their faces gaunt and their skin thin due to hunger.

She handed him some food. He had neither gone to the market, nor had given her money to buy food. He knew what she had served her. Any rodent or tabby she could get her hands on in the field became their meals these days.

Before going to sleep that night, he put his hands together. Calloused hands with dirt beneath the fingers joined together in a prayer. He prayed to the Rain God to send some over to his field. And slept.

In the night, he woke up to unusual sounds. What was it? He felt hot, burning hot. Within seconds he was up. A fierce inhuman cry came out of his mouth as he ran towards his field. Or what was left of it.

The Gods don’t answer all prayers.

Note:

We are taking a break from #TellTaleThursday in the month of July. See you in August with a renewed vigor. 

We request you to kindly share our links in your posts. <#TellTalethursday with @anshu and @priya so that others can reach us.

Till then, write bold write unique. 

#TellTaleThursday – Innocent Wish

Prompt – You make a wish at midnight and it comes true..

Innocent Wish

Jenny came home from school. She threw her bag on the floor, flung her shoes in the air and sat on the kitchen stool with a surly face.

Her mother asked, “What’s wrong Jenny? Why are you sulking?”

“All my friends got new gifts for Christmas, except me,” she complained. “Sonia got a new pair of rollerblades, Ron got a football, Amy got a cool pair of gloves and Tina got a new prosthetic leg.”

“But you did get a Christmas gift, remember?”

“A black cardigan from the Salvation Army does not count as a gift,” Jenny retorted. Her mother didn’t like the tone of the little girl, but she was not wrong either. She wasn’t able to gift Jenny anything new for the last couple of years.

“OK, do one thing. Tonight at midnight, make a wish and I promise it will get fulfilled,” her mother promised. She could spare some savings for a new doll.

Jenny was ecstatic and couldn’t wait for the midnight. At the stroke of midnight, she made a wish. A simple wish.

The next morning, her mother came to Jenny’s room to wake her up for school. She saw her daughter was surrounded by strange things around her. She could see Rollerblades, a football, a golden ring, a parrot and what was that! Was it an artificial leg? She gasped.

What did her daughter wish for?

Can you guess what was Little Jenny’s wish??

Note:

We have discontinued with the weekly linky party. However, we will be sharing the prompts with our stories. Feel free to write on the prompts every Thursday. You can share the links in the comment section. We promise to read it. There is no word limit anymore. 

We request you to kindly share our links in your posts. <#TellTalethursday with @anshu and @priya so that others can reach us.

As always, write bold write unique. 

#TellTaleThursday – The Hand

Credit: Unsplash

“Aren’t you afraid of ghosts?” Sia asked Rohan upon leaving the theatre after watching a late-night ghost movie. “The whole theatre was screaming in fear, only you were sitting unperturbed through it all.”

“There are no ghosts in the real world,” Rohan replied.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I haven’t come across one in 33 years of my life,” he replied nonchalantly, already bored with the subject. As if it wasn’t enough that he had to watch a silly movie, now he had to talk about it too.

As luck would have it, there were ghosts in his dream too. A white sunken face bobbing on a wasted body was chasing Rohan in the woods. Though he was running to the best of his ability, it wasn’t enough. The ghost was quickly moving upon him. Rohan came upon a cottage, he went inside and locked the door. The ghost knocked at the door, but he couldn’t get inside. Rohan saw a lone emaciated hand with long nails making a screeching sound on the window pane.

Rohan woke up with a start. He shook his head to ward off the unpleasant dream. Strange, he had never dreamed of ghosts before. Maybe the movie had a part to play in this.

He was thirsty, so he went to the kitchen. He filled up a glass of ice-cold water and started sipping. He heard a screeching sound outside the window and turned around. It couldn’t be true! It was the same white hand.

Note:

We have discontinued with the weekly linky party. However, we will be sharing the prompts with our stories. Feel free to write on the prompts every Thursday. You can share the links in the comment section. We promise to read it. There is no word limit anymore. 

We request you to kindly share our links in your posts. <#TellTalethursday with @anshu and @priya so that others can reach us.

As always, write bold write unique. 

A dining table being set for a party - a prompt for fiction story

#TellTaleThursday – 7th March 2019

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:

An uninvited guest to a party


Word count – 249 Words

A ruined evening

On entering her bedroom suite, Mrs. Wadia noticed the maid had forgotten to shut the window. Mrs. Wadia cursed unladylike and proceeded to shut it.

As soon as she emerged, the maid came running. “Madam! The cook accidentally dropped the soup tureen.”

“Oh! I will order some soup from the restaurant down the lane.” She was shaken but it would do her no good to be upset at tiny things.

The guests arrived except Mr. and Mrs. Irani. The doorbell rang and the latecomers entered.

Now, who was this girl with them? Mrs. Wadia wondered.

“Hello Delnaz, my niece missed her flight. She said she would stay at home alone but I would not hear of it. I told her we are visiting friends and she will be welcome at Delnaz’s.”

Mrs. Wadia was not amused. Little was she to know that this girl was not the only unexpected visitor of the evening. The  dining table was set, not only she would now need to make an extra place for the young girl but also fetch a chair from the study. And that chair would not match the dining chairs.

The guests seated themselves around the table and appreciated the flavourful aromas that filled the room. Mrs. Wadia smiled.

The maid brought the soup tureen and as she began to serve, a fat gecko fell in it. The guests started laughing. Mrs. Wadia on the other hand gasped, she was mortified with shame and rage. And then she fainted.

#TellTaleThursday – 31st January 2019

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:

Weekly fiction writing challenge - #TellTaleThursday
Image – Pexels


Word count – 243 Words

Missing Mom

“You are 18 today, I think you are old enough to take care of what is rightfully yours?” Said grandmother placing a shoe-size cardboard box on Joe’s bed.

“What is this, mammy?” Joe asked all curious.

“Some old pictures,” she replied with a flick of her hand as if it was unimportant.

“Does it have mom in it?” There was excitement in his voice.

“Sure. That gold digger who left your father and abandoned her 4-year old when the going became tough,” she gave a snort of disgust.

Joe opened the box. He had never seen his mother before, didn’t remember what she looked like.

He picked up some sepia tinted photos of a couple much in love. He recognized his father immediately, though he was lean and had a fuller head of hair. The woman was in her early twenties, love and happiness shining from her face. He looked closely at his mother. Thick shapely brows, doe eyes, full lips and a pert little nose, she was a timeless beauty. Then he looked at the crescent shaped scar on the side of her cheek.

“That was impossible. How could it be?” Joe shook his head in denial.

This was the same woman he had seen every day outside his school. He thought she waited for her child. Now, he knew why she always stood under the sycamore tree at the other side of the road.

It was time he confronted his mammy.

#TellTaleThursday – 24th January 2019

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:

“Mama, there’s someone under my bed!”

Imagine and write what you will do if you ever hear these words.


 

Word count – 233 Words

Nighttime Friend

Horror story based on prompt for #TellTaleThursday
Image: pexels

“Mama, there’s someone under my bed!” Kiara told me as I was going to shut her bedroom door.

“Kiara, enough. Go to sleep, remember we have school tomorrow,” I admonished her.

“Mama, I am not lying. You can see for yourself,” she was adamant. Her voice was shaky too.

“OK, let’s do it.” Switching on the light, I crouched on the floor to look under the bed.

“See. I told you there was nothing. Now just go to sleep, will you?” I was exhausted after a long working day.

“Mama, mama,” she kept on repeating but I turned a deaf ear and went out.

I woke up in the middle of the night. Something was bothering me. I went to Kiara’s bedroom to check up on her.

I turned on the light. The bed was empty.

Where’s Kiara?

I quickly bent and checked under her bed. Kiara was awake and playing. But she was not alone. A little boy of 5-6 years with a ghostly white pallor, unusually red lips and dead blue eyes was sitting beside her.

“Kiara, what are you doing?” I screamed and pulled her towards me. But my hand touched empty air.

I could see her, but not touch her.

“Mama, see I told you there was someone under my bed!” Kiara told me chirpily. Her face was the same pale colour as the boy sitting next to her.

Old Broken Things

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Written for Friday Fictioneer

 

“I bought it with my first salary.” The old man reminisced.

“Papa, I know, but we should sell the car!”

“It got my new bride, your mother home and carried you from the hospital.”

“I know!”

“I have had such good times driving it.”

“Papa, we must sell the car.” This time the steel in the voice was unmistakable.

 

#TellTaleThursday – 17th January 2019

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:

#TellTaleThursday - fiction writing and prompt based weekly writing
Image : Pexels


Word count – 198 Words

The Woman

I saw her when I was collecting milk at the door. She had recently moved in. Wearing a black djellaba and a headscarf in the same color, her whole body was covered except her eyes.

Those eyes. They were the color of the sky on a clear day and the deepest blue lake on this earth. I had never seen such striking blue in my life.

I said, ‘Hello!’

She smiled. We met just like that every morning, I while collecting milk, and her while taking the dog out for a walk. A few weeks of smiling and greeting later, I asked her out. She agreed. And started our love story.

She invited me to her place. It was cozy, clean and empty.

“Where is your stuff?”

“I am a minimalist. I like it this way.” I was impressed.

One morning, I opened the door to collect the milk. She was not there. Her dog was sitting on the doormat looking at me, pleading with her eyes. I pushed open the door to her apartment, it was as if no one had ever lived.

I looked for her everywhere. But those azure eyes were one of a kind.

Honest Lad

W

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

Written for Friday Fictioneers

HONEST LAD

“Don’t play cricket in the driveway. Something’s bound to break,” shouted Mrs. K at the bunch of kids before leaving for the market.

Who pays heed to an eccentric old woman?

Two hours later, Mrs. K returned to find her screen door covered in duct tape and a note stuck to the door.

Mrs. K,

Sorry for the door. But my mom says duct tape can fix it all. 🙂

S (who was not playing cricket. Honestly)

#TellTaleThursday – 10th January 2019

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:

You hear a rasping knock at the door at 1 am.

Write a story following this sentence – it can be funny, scary, dramatic! Anything that showcases your writing skills.


Word count – 245 Words

Surprise

Image: Pexels

She heard a rasping knock at the door at 1 am.

It must be the wind. She thought.

She was unable to sleep. She cursed herself for the copious amount of wine she had drunk the whole evening, all by herself.

She went to the living room and decided to switch on the idiot box.

This time there was another knock. Loud, angry and unmistakable.

A shiver ran down her spine.

Who could be knocking at this hour?

Ghost? She gulped in fright.

But a ghost wouldn’t need to knock, would he now? Her mind reasoned.

A killer on the loose. She had heard of a serial killer who had escaped from the prison the previous evening.

Grabbing the meat carver from the kitchen top, she gingerly opened the door inch by inch.

There was no one. Only the unfathomable darkness of the night.

Strange. She thought.

And then she heard the sound.

It was a tiny frightened mew, but her ears got it nonetheless.

She looked down and saw a wicker basket lined with a fleece cloth. On it lying was a tiny kitten in the whitest fur she had ever seen.

She picked up the kitten with utmost care and saw the card attached to a ribbon around her neck.

“And you thought we forgot your birthday!” xoxo Your prank loving Friends

Closing the door, as she was walking back with the kitten, there was a loud rasping sound on the door. Again.