The Man Who Would Be Free

It seems to have been a hectic few weeks for everyone recently, so here's hoping everyone got (or is getting) a well deserved break of some sort. Anyway, this week's 100 Word Challenge is MYTH. I didn't use the word in my entry this week but it is based on a myth, actually one of my favorite myths. I'll explain a little bit about it after this week.

For the first time in his life, he felt free. Truly and emphatically free. He was liberated from his fetters and he could finally be himself. His heart soared, and ignoring the cautious directions of his father, he flapped his wings higher, savoring the briny scent of the waters below and the invigorating caress of the gentle breeze. He paused, staring at the sun, and a feather drifted away.

As quickly as he had gained his freedom, he was stripped of it again. He plunged into the icy sea and thrashed violently to bring himself above water to no avail. 

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So, this is very loosely based on the story of Icarus. Basically, he and his father (who just happened to be an inventor) were imprisoned by the king. Icarus's father would stare out at the birds flying through the sky while imprisoned and eventually came up with the idea to build wings of wax and bird feathers. Once they had finished making them Icarus's father said it was extremely important they not fly too close to the sun because it would melt the wax and they would fall to their deaths in the ocean below (I guess swimming lessons weren't very high on the list back in the day). So they strapped on their wings and set out, and Icarus, like any good Greek mythology character, didn't listen and paid the price. 

I think I've now officially used more words explaining the story than I used in the actual entry. Anyway, it's a great story and you should definitely read it for yourself.

Take My Hand

I'm back from my own little sabbatical and coincidentally so is our fearless leader! Welcome back VV, here's hoping your next break is, well, more break-like.

For this week's 100 Word Challenge, our word is FORWARD and here is my entry.

Today is the end of all your suffering. Today is the day all your questions and worries will melt elegantly away. Today is the first day of tomorrow, where every day is as paradisiacal as the last.

A rapturous place that can’t begin to compare to your wildest reveries awaits you.

You have seen everything there is to see and, weary traveler, the time for sleep is fast approaching. Yesterday is but a figment of your imagination now.

So it’s time. It’s time to move on, take a step forward, turn your head to the sky, and transcend this world.

Salacious Escapade

Here is my entry for this week's 100 Word Challenge which comes to us this week from AuroraLee. The word this week is GAME (which doesn't appear anywhere in my post this week). Enjoy!

That crisp November evening, they sat facing each other in a stark cement room. The sounds of silky black waves could be heard crashing against the wooden pier from inside the storage space. His hand felt inconceivably heavy as he raised it before his eyes. She stared breathlessly, her ears throbbing perversely with each click of the spinning cylinder. Their eyes met in the last moments before their act of collusion. His finger quickly slipped through the guard, finally resting sensually on the trigger. He placed the cool, metallic muzzle to his supple temple and was electrified as he squeezed.

As Perfection Crumbles

It is time once again for the100 Word Challenge. Usually this delightful challenge is hosted by the wonderful Velvet Verbosity but, alas, she needs a little break to recover from life so this week, we have a  guest host, Purple Moose, who is fearlessly taking over. The word for this week, as chosen by PM, is PERFECTIONISM which, luckily for me (and probably many of the other 100 Words contributors) can be shortened to any form of the word. So, my offering is below, I hope you all enjoy =)

The only sound for miles was that of the tenuous wind blowing through the overgrown meadow. Condensation trickled down a glass, providing only moments of cold before the sweltering calidity consumed it. The oppressive heat of the summer strangled the life out of everything it touched. Even still, a chill surged down her spine, causing her to shudder. The cold swelled, flooding her body with sinister worries ensnaring her mind, shrouding her in dread. She could feel something primal furiously gnashing its teeth and burrowing through her stomach. She took a breath trying to quiet the tumultuous reticence of sadness.

Knocking Down Sandcastles

Wanting to get a little more creative, I stumbled across indieink.org awhile back and decided I wanted to try to get involved. Of course, I haven’t signed up for a contest yet (the deadline to sign up for next week’s is tomorrow night but I may wait another week) but I’m still giving it a shot, so to speak. I picked a random prompt off the week in review post and will let the creative juices flow.

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Perfection.

Every groove was thoughtfully sculpted, every grain of sand is in its ideal location, everything about the sandcastle is sublime. It took us forever to make it this way, seemed like years to craft something so excellent.

I settled back onto my beach towel, feeling the warmth of the sand radiating from underneath the threadbare cloth, and watched the waves crash onto the shore.

Thank goodness we had the forethought to place our castle out of harms way. I remember your exact words about it.

“Back here, there’s no way the salty foam can touch it. We have nothing to worry about.”

I lifted my sunglasses and looked from you, to the sandcastle, back to you, and smiled. I felt a warmth of bliss flow over me.

You smiled back.

In that moment I saw something–just a glint of something in your eyes. I couldn’t place my finger on it at the time.

You sat up and, with all your might, smashed your fist through our perfect sandcastle. And just like that, the warm bliss I felt before ebbed away.

I scanned the rest of the beach and identified the scattered remains of our other attempts.

I watched you walk away. You showed no remorse and you never looked back.

Bar Scene

My entry for this week's 100 Word Challenge (link and linky list to come soon). This week's word is COMPLIMENTS. I hope you enjoy.

He zeroed in on her, and took five long strides to where she stood. He leaned in next to her on the bar, signaling the bartender to bring two drinks. “Hell-ooo beautiful.”

“Ugh, it’s you. Get lost.”

“How’s about I get lost between your thighs?”

“Oh yeah, sounds great. My place or yours, baby?” She rolled her eyes and turned her back to him.

“Come on baby, I’m just trying to do us a favor. You and me…you can’t deny it would be great”

“Go screw yourself.”

“It just wouldn’t be as good,” he chuckled, “Hostility, it compliments you well.”

Uninspired

This is my entry for this week's 100 Word Challenge.
It's definitely not my best. In fact, I don't really even like it. It started off as something completely different and as I tried to refine it got more and more muddled and fractured. But I guess, given the theme, the style serves a purpose.
The word for the week is UNCONSCIOUS. It's actually super important that I state that this week since my post doesn't use the word and I'm not even sure it alludes to it very well, when I started the piece it did, I promise, I guess it just kind of got lost.

Uninspired—rolling around in a space where nothing leaves an impression.

Void—feeling like a shell that something once called home but is now too cracked and ugly for even a young child to find interesting.

Empty—searching  every corner and finding not just nothing of import, but nothing at all.

 No comfort. No solace. No anguish. No outrage. No passion.

We’ve all struggled with this aimlessness, the stark feelings of insignificance.

I choose a constant stream of flashing visuals and cacophonous sounds to drown it out, but mostly, it falls on deaf ears and blind eyes.

What about you?

Bite After Bite

This post, as all of my posts, is in response to the wonderful Velvet Verbosity, keeper of the 100 Word Challenge. This week's prompt is STARVED.

Two tall tapers on the table and several pillar candles around the room provide soft lighting. You pull out my chair and I take my seat, wearing my finest dress—the one you tell me you like so much because it accentuates my figure. You take your seat across from me, we’re close but too far to touch. I pull the fork toward me and blow, watching the steam curl away from me. Your lips start to move but I can’t hear anything you’re saying. I take bite after bite, shoveling in your lies, so why am I still starving?

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::edit::
I read over this quickly this morning and realized I had left out a word which would have put me over the 100 word limit, if added back in so I had to fix things a bit-no content changes or anything, just making it fall within the rules.

Chasms

This post is in response to this week's 100 Word Challenge, the word of the week is, if you couldn't guess by the title of this post, CHASM.

*side note: Sadly, after sitting and staring at the computer screen for about 25 minutes, I decided to give up on coming up with a witty title.

Lit by the soft glow of the moon, I could just make out the crevices on the surface of the well-shadowed visage and the dark feet of the crow ahead. How peculiar, that with each step closer the crevices became rifts, and rifts fissures, and with that final step, deep chasms. With a blink of my eye, they were gone. As I stood looking ahead, I saw the meaning, these were not chasms to fear, yet marks of a good life.

She smiled again and the smooth skin crinkled around her eyes, giving her a luminescence the moon herself envied.

Trip Down Memory Lane

In an attempt to be more...something, I've decided to do my best to participate each week in the 100 Word Challenge. The word for this week is FORGETTING.

Let’s take a trip. We’ll begin by roving over each membranous fold and every cortical crease.

To your left you’ll see a crate containing memories of a birthday, to your right, graduation, and a first date is straight ahead.

But let’s go deeper--let’s delve into the darkest depths of the mind, explore every dank corner and push past the misty cobwebs dwelling there. We’ll dive past delectable morsels of self-deception. Here, we’ll find the memories driven into hiding.

Haphazardly shoved into the boundless shadows, their once gleaming labels scoured beyond recognition—jealousy, heartbreak, cheating, abuse.

Repressing but never forgetting.

The Ones We Choose

This post is in response to this weeks Velvet Verbosity's 100 Words prompt which is "family."

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Beep. Beep. Beep.

 7 o’clock.

“Grrrmfphl.”

I roll out of bed and walk downstairs, eyes closed, following the sound of the sputtering coffee maker. The combination of my foot hitting the cold hardwood floor and the smell of the coffee rousts me slightly.

I enter the kitchen to see him standing there, grabbing the creamer out of the fridge and two cups from the cupboard.

I sneak up behind him throwing my arms around his waist, giggling, kissing his neck.

“Well good morning beautiful.”

 He turns around and drops to his knees, and kisses my stomach—and our burgeoning family.