Welcome to the ninety-eighth in this daily series that is ‘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 dialogue between a couple in bed, so here is my 185-worder.
The light on the ceiling
“It’s there again.”
“What?”
“The light on the ceiling.”
“What light?”
“There… the ceiling. No, look up.”
“I can’t see anything.”
“’Cause you’ve not got your glasses on, Henry.”
“I’m not that blind.”
“Well, if you can’t see…”
“Oh, alright. I’ll put them on.”
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
“The light.”
“What light.”
“Oh, Henry. In the corner, touching the ceiling, just about the picture rail.”
“Miriam, you’re imagining things. There’s nothing there.”
“Not now, no.”
“Have you had your eyesight checked recently?”
“You know I have. We went together.”
“They clearly missed something. Maybe they should have checked for you seeing things.”
“Henry! Look, it’s there again!”
“Oh, woman.”
“Please, just look.”
“OK. I’m looking, squinting in fact, but can’t see anything.”
“It moved!”
“… yes, I see it now!”
“See!”
“Yes, Miriam. I said I see.”
“Well, what is it?”
“I don’t know but it’s tiny. You making all that fuss over a tiny speck of… Oh!”
“Oh, no!”
“What’s it doing that for?”
“I don’t know, Henry, but I’m scared.”
“It’s only a light, nothing to be scared of…”
“But it’s… it’s… Henry!”
“Miriam!”
***
Photography courtesy of morguefile.com.
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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 fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, 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.
Susan Moffat
September 6, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Don’t go into the light….!
morgenbailey
September 6, 2012 at 5:37 pm