5PM Fiction 030: Light

Welcome to the thirtieth in the series: 5pm Fiction.

Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.

I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story from the prompt of ‘light’. I’d actually planned this weekend off but a sci-fi writer friend of mine, Tony Tibbenham, wrote this 163-worder for me… with half an hour’s notice – please do read and comment once you have… thank you.

Light

He stood, the light glinting off the hilt of his knife.   He was sure the knife was his, a part of him, but wasn’t sure why he was there.  The stairwell ahead was dark.  Behind him was light and civilisation.  Why was he going this way?  He shook the dizziness from his mind as he staggered forward.  Ahead was his lover, somewhere above she waited for him.

He climbed, leaning against the wall, pulling himself upwards.  When his legs failed he kept coming, pulling along the landing with his arms.  Ahead the light from her open door beaconed as he dragged himself forward.  She loved him, she would help.

She finally heard his gurgling, laboured breath.  ”How the hell?” was all she said before she pulled his knife out, savagely, swearing again as this time she plunged it accurately into his heart.

The last he heard was her whispering, “Love you? You must be joking.  I guess this joke is on you.”

***

Photography courtesy of morguefile.com. You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.  I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) :) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

About these ads