5PM Fiction 106: Daddy’s girl

Welcome to the one hundred and sixth 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 second person viewpoint story fom the prompt of ‘serious’, so here is my 200-worder.

Daddy’s girl

You take it all too seriously. Emma tells you often enough but you can’t help but worry. Like a treadmill, she says, it won’t get you anywhere and she’s right but you do it all the same. Worry for two… or three in this case.

It’s usually mothers who worry about their offspring but Suzi’s your first-born and you’ve held her close ever since. Daddy’s girl.

You know she’s played up to you, hoped you’d take her side when her mother had said “no” and you’ve given in more often than not and had grief for it later.

As you pace the hospital corridor, Emma asks you to sit, pats the chair beside her but you need something to do.

“There’ll be news soon,” she soothes and you know she’s right, but time goes slower in situations like this.

You hear crying and you both look at the door watching for it to open. You want to go over to it, open it, see for yourself and the wait’s almost unbearable but you see the handle moving. You step closer and feel Emma beside you as Nick appears, grin on his face, child in his arms and announces a girl.

***

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.

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