Thursday 26 January 2012

Blog Hop!

Today, I'm taking part in a Blog Hop, created by the lovely Angie Richmond, Lillie McFerrin, Angela Goff, and Daniel Swensen.

As soon as I saw the photo, I knew I had to enter! It has also taken pride of place as my current desktop background!



Photo credit: Luis Beltran

Here are the instructions, taken from Angie's "Write Me Happy" website:

Write a piece of flash fiction, poem, or song (300 words or less) using the photo above as your inspiration. Post it on your blog anytime between now and when the linky closes. Every eligible entry will qualify for a chance to win one of the prizes listed below. The linky will close January 30th. Lillie, Angela, Daniel, and I will then read, debate, and decide on five winners for the following:

1st: Fifty page critique by
Lillie McFerrin
2nd: Twenty-Five page critique by Angie Richmond
3rd: Fifteen page critique by
Angela Goff
4th: Ten page critique by Daniel Swensen
5th: A copy of Steven King’s On Writing

Pop over to Angie's website to enter!

And here is my entry...



“They say it’s better than weed,” said Jack, crumbling the Plympti plant into the dampened cigarette papers; cemented with saliva, stuffed with tobacco.
“Best of all, it’s free and there’s loads of it!” Simon laughed, looking down from their tree-house at the sparse carpet of Plympti. It lingered like decaying snow, wilted in appearance, despite its rich abundance.
Adam was apprehensive. “The newspapers said three people died from it last week.”

 “Of course they’d say that,” Jack rolled his eyes, “they’re scaremongers for the government, raging that we’ve discovered free drugs.” He stopped packing the joint to look at Adam. “Are you wimping out?”
“Ugh! Why did your little brother have to come?” Simon moaned.
“Shut up and roll it,” Adam snarled, defiant, “I want first draw.”
“Roller goes first.” Jack smirked, sealing the papers together and lighting up.
As the joint sparked to life, the tip seared and crackled, the paper crisping as it perished. Soon, the tree-house was thick with acrid smoke. It was pungent, like aniseed.
Their eyeballs stung.
As Jack convulsed, Simon grabbed the joint.
“Hey!” Adam whined “I was next!”
Ignoring him, Simon took a deep draw and held his breath, closing his eyes.
Jack’s bloodcurdling scream pierced the air. It was the last sound he made. 
His eyeballs bulged, splitting his eyelids. Simon’s eyes burst open too, but there was no life behind them; he was already gone. 
Adam shrieked in terror. Trying to escape, he lost his footing at the tree-house entrance. The fumes prickled his eyes, blurring his vision. Grabbing the light cord for dear life, he swung, like a frenzied monkey through the trees.
As the eyeballs popped from his head, he collapsed into the bed of waiting Plympti.
The beating of his heart stopped long before the swaying light did.




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14 comments:

Angie Richmond said...

I see the linky worked for you. I'm so glad!

David P. King said...

Seeing what Plympti does to the brain would be an interesting commercial, to be sure. Nice one! :)

Unknown said...

Wow, nice piece! I never would have expected these themes from your author pic and your blog design, so it rocks that you can surprise people so perfectly. Well done!

Catherine Noble said...

@Angie Richmond: Thanks! I got there in the end :)

@David: Thank you! Indeed... the Plympti is not to be messed with :D

@ruanna3: Thanks! I read your comment out to my boyfriend, and he said "Basically you look pleasant on the surface, but you're really a psychopath, deep down." Charming! Haha, I'm glad to have surprised you :)

Donna McNicol said...

Wow, I didn't expect that...dark but tempting. Well done!

Jennie Bennett said...

Holy scary! Not so innocent flowers...

Unknown said...

Ha, I do theatre as well and one of my favorite parts was playing a killer. That was after years of playing the cutesy comic sidekick. If you offer people a twist, they'll keep coming back ;)

Huntress said...

Wow, definitely dark...
I LIKE IT!!

Unknown said...

Way to have a different mood in prose that I pick up from the picture. What an awful death. Note to self: don't smoke the white flowers.

Unknown said...

Short sharp snap of horror. Very good.

Bullish said...

I'm so happy to see you joined the blog hop, Catherine!! Yay!! Your take is inventive and well crafted and super creepy. Not sure saying 'I love it' is quite right, cuz it's a little too scary for such a sweet sentiment - so hows about 'I luv it'?! :)

Catherine Noble said...

Sweet Mother of Lucifer... look at all these comments! Yay! :)

@Donna aka Froggi: Thank you :) what lovely praise!

@J.A. Bennett: Indeed, the flowers are not to be trusted! :)

@ruanna3: It must've been fun playing a killer :) I do love a good twist!

@Huntress: Thank you, I'm glad you like it! Love the name, btw!

@Gwen: It's great to see how different all the stories are, coming from the same picture! Take it from me, don't smoke Plympti plants ;)

@Erin: Thank you! It did escalate pretty quickly didn't it? I can't read it without laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it! Thankfully, I like ridiculous.

@Bullish: Yay thanks! "I luv it" is a suitably wonderful compliment! :) I'm chuffed you think it's well crafted; I'm really trying to improve my craft. I'm happy to have joined the blog hop too, it's been fun :D

Tasha Seegmiller said...

This is a great twist - love how the picture made different people focus on different aspects. Well done - new follower.

Catherine Noble said...

Thank you, Tasha, likewise! :)

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