FF: Plastic Doll Pageant

Flash Fiction Challenge: Five Titles Make a Challenge Another Flash Fiction for Terribleminds.com Plastic Doll Pageant     We are just about to win the 12th annual National Miss Plastic Doll Pageant, and no one suspected my doll wasn't a true artificial intelligent robot.  Since her first pageant, in 2029, my sister couldn't get enough of the stage light.  She and others like her began mutilating their bodies to find perfection.  The Humane Society, finally stepped in and put a ban on all human pageants.  However, she did not want to give up the spotlight, so we worked together for years to put everything on the line for this very moment.     At last years pageant we came very close to winning, but we had played it too safe.  Our points in the talent and artificial logic competition were not enough to get us placed in the top twenty.  This year, Suzzi and I, replaced her eyes, chin, left foot, and made adjustments to her ligaments for mobility.   We also decided that we would not use a script in the logic competition and that Suzzi would attempt it on her own.  Of course, this could have backfired and destroyed us both, but after last years scores we risked it.  Seeing her now standing among the five remaining finalists, it became worth the chance of being incarcerated for life.     The announcers voice created silence across the auditorium when he opened the first of four envelopes with his frail hands.     "Fifth place goes to..." the dramatic pause had the desired effect as everyone inhaled, "... Lily, by the Microsift company."     A brief amount of applause broke out as everyone was anxious to hear the next placement.     "Fourth place goes to..." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the announcers repeating flare.     "... Samantha, by the AVX group."     My excitement is building and stirring my legs into constant motion, we have never made it to the top five, let alone the top three.  Pacing became my comforting friend as I tried to contain myself from an outburst in these last few moments. I was envious of Suzzi's calm right now.  I peaked through the curtain towards her in hopes that she could lend me some of her confidence.  She was standing straight and tall with a hypnotic smile that showcased her perfect teeth.  She wore a full length baby blue gown with sequins flowing in rivers from top to bottom.  Her blonde wig was perfect and her blue eyes seemed distant like she was day dreaming, but it was hard to tell with her new X12P model eyes.     "Meet your second runner up, Delannie, of the Pakard family."     Focus. My rational kicked in and told me to find a mirror.  The winning team was invited on the stage with their Plastic Doll to accept the crown and place it on their dolls head.  I found a reflective surface on the back side of the fourth runner ups mechanic booth and used my fingers to comb through my hair.     "First runner up will take the place of National Miss if any complications should arise..." The announcer's voice faded during his speech on what it means to be National Miss and the honor it brings to the support team.  I've heard it all a thousand times before while watching the winning videos with my sister.  The key words captured my attention.     "Your first runner up is... National Miss contestant Veronica, of the Harvart University.  This means Suzzi, of the Peraton family is your new 12th Annual National Miss Plastic Doll."     Overwhelming sounds of cheer rolled throughout the auditorium, causing further words from the announcer and the background music to be lost within the waves. I had to take big slow steps to keep myself from tripping with excitement as I moved across the stage to join my sister.  She looked back at me as I approached and gave me an utterly human smile that lit her face with complete bliss.  I watched her step towards the announcer and took his microphone. I reached her side as she culled the audience into silence with the fanning of her hand.     "What are you doing?" I whispered in her ear.     She glanced at me and then spoke into the microphone. "I love my brother with all of my heart."     The shock in my eyes flared as I looked at everyone's face for signs that our hoax was up.  There where none, they are all in awe with my sisters apparently scripted speech and humored by what they thought was my acting ability.     Suzzi continued, "When I was just 8 years old my brother told me that I will grow to be the most beautiful woman of all."      The audience began to think and the building pressure of their silence felt like someone was sticking figures in my ear.  They understood exactly what she was trying to tell them.     "When I was 10 I had my teeth replaced and my brother still told me I was the most beautiful woman in the world.  When I was 14 and had my face reconstructed, he told me I was radiant.  When I was 18 with new hips and shoulder joints, he said I was gorgeous.  Now that I'm 38, and the most beautiful creature alive, what do you think of me now, brother?"     She handed me the microphone.  She lifted her evening gown up to her knee to reveal a holster with an ERx gun.  She pulled it out, held it to her chest, and pulled the trigger faster than anyone could react.     I caught her as she fell and heard the sound of the microphone drop on the stage floor.  I saw the light quickly fading in her eyes and found my last words to her "You are exquisite, my dear sister."   She smiled one last time.     The blood pooling on the stage confirmed our fabrication. Authorities will be here soon.  I held my sister tighter, kissed her forehead, and told her departed soul "I love you. Thank you." -------------- Feedback is desired.  I'm still learning the craft, so please let me know how bad this short piece is.

FF: 1WEEK5WORDS #1

This is our new Flash Fiction challenge, inspired by Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge.  I encourage everyone to join me in creating flash fictions.  In one week, Monday Noon EST to Monday Noon EST, we will write five 200 word (or less) short fictional story based on each of the five random words below.  These words are created using a random word generator Creative Random Word Generator – 5 Random Words.  This should only take about 10-15 minutes out of your day, but it will help kick start your creativity.  I’m asking everyone to join in, even if you are very young or not interested in being a writer, you can still be creative.  Try not to go over 200 words and keep the random word prominent in your story. 5 Random Words: scaffold necklace briefcase cactus guide My 200 word stories will be included in the body of this post throughout the week.  Please add yours to the comments of this post.  If you have a Twitter account then use the hash tag of #1Week5Words to signal that you’ve completed one short.  Unfortunately, there will be no prizes or winners for this challenge.  Everyone who contributes the five stories is an automatic winner!  Those who try, by creating one or two stories, are winners too.  However, they are just not as cool as those who complete the challenge.  No judgments here, just creativity and motivation to write. Scaffold Little Eleanor clung tightly to the scaffold outside their small China Town apartment in hopes that the consuming fires within the building wouldn’t force her to move.  Her knuckles turned from yellow to white while holding onto her pole.  Boom! Eleanor screeched and tried to move away from the window that had just exploded three feet away.  The debris flew out across the scaffolding and onto the street below.  A fiery splinter from the windows frame landed on the other end of her plank.  It burned into the wooden beam and the fire started too crept towards her tauntingly.  Eleanor moved as far as she could away from the heat and looked around for any hope of escape. “Hold on to me.” She looked around to see a masked woman dressed in black, floating in the sky, with her hands stretched out. “It’s going to be alright.” Eleanor nodded and released her death grip on the scaffolding.  The stranger carefully picked her up and took her slowly to safety. “My parents are still in there.” The little girl pointed up to the burning building. “Can you help them?”  “I will try.” Briefcase (a little dark) Movies frequently showcase explosive devices within briefcases.  Looking at it I guess it is really about mobility.  The other three bombs were wrapped in brown delivery boxes that I had carefully planted around Central Park.   The park officials had installed several new camera in attempt to catch me.  Just yesterday they announced to the public that the park was officially closed, not that anyone was actually visiting anymore.   I had made sure of that when I killing four people.   They didn’t understand.  I had no choice, the area needed to be cleared out for tonight’s visitors.  The alien aircraft should be entering the atmosphere soon.  I just needed to delay the SWAT team that now surrounded me.   The thumb trigger should keep them from shooting, but to bad I didn’t bring ear plugs to protect myself from their shouting.  It was the typical words. “Get down on the ground.”  “Put your hands behind your head.”   Crack… They’re here. I looked up to see a large cloud cover over our heads.  It was filled with glowing lights of red and yellow.  It’s time for my last explosive.  “Goodbye, you torturous animals!”  Click.

My Introduction to Flash Fiction

Being new to NaNoWriMo means I’m also new to the fans, other writers, and motivational resources. In my social interaction I came across a website titled Terribleminds. This guy tells it like he sees it and doesn’t hold back the profanity. I like him and will most likely check in on his blog for years to come. He recently put out a challenge for a 100 word flash fictions with a focus on the writers choice of using one of these five words; frog, powder, seagull, tower, and scissors. I thought, why not, and gave it a try. I quickly picked a word and went to town. I’ve never written flash fiction before, but doing this challenge enlightened my day, so I did more the next day and then the day after that. I did this until all five words were used; the last entry was Black Friday morning. Mr. Chuck Wendig, author of terribleminds.com, offered up a winning prize for what he believes is the best one. I would be thrilled if one of my five made it, but I wouldn’t be a bit sad if they didn’t. [More]