Writing Challenge Day 7 - The Tattoo

Flash Fiction Challenge, Day 7 - What tattoos you have and do they have meaning.

"Whoa!"

Robbie paused for a moment after yanking off his smelly shirt. He rolled his eyes as he grabbed another one from his drawer, trying to ignore his friend's comment.

"What the hell is that?" Jerry walked up and placed his finger on his friend's back, tracing the dotted line to the big red X in the middle

Robbie knocked Jerry's hand away, feeling his face flush with embarrassment. "It's a treasure map," he murmured.

"Well, I can see that. Uh, dude, why is there a treasure map tattooed on your back?"

Robbie sighed. "I saw it in a movie once. Pirates had been searching for this map to buried treasure when all along it was on their enemy's back. They had even ripped the guy's shirt open once and didn't see it because they didn't take it off. It was such a great moment when he revealed his back to the princess and told her he could save her kingdom. I thought getting it was cool at the time."

"Huh. That does sound sorta cool. In a dweeb-y sort of way." Jerry snickered.

"Tell me about it. I always wanted to reveal my back to some girl and have her swoon over it, since they've all seen A Pirate's Pleasure a million times."

"Just none of 'em ever wanted to get naked with you?"

"Nope."

"Well, get dressed so we can go hit the club. Maybe you'll get lucky tonight."

Robbie pulled on a clean shirt and raised his fists in a fight stance. "Arrrgh!"

Jerry shook his head.

"No?"

"No."

Writing Challenge Day 6 - Fascinating Character

Flash Fiction Challenge, Day 6 - Someone who fascinates you and why

Izzy lapped up water from her bowl and glanced out the sliding glass door. A movement at the top of the fence caught her eye. Squirrel!!!

She watched as the tiny black fur ball sat there, tail twitching. The rodent had a nut in his paws and was tapping it against the top of a board. Then he brought it to his mouth, trying to bite it. Obviously that didn't work since he tapped it against the board again.

Izzy sat there for a few minutes watching the squirrel. It still had not opened the nut. That was dedication. By now Izzy would've dropped the nut and gone on to something else.

She gave a little "woof" and Mommy opened the door for her. Izzy wanted to play. Maybe she could open that nut for Mr. Squirrel. Her teeth were strong. She ran outside and over to the squirrel. The tiny animal looked down at her and froze, then he took off running down the fence. Izzy ran after it, but the squirrel had left the yard.

It had dropped the nut. Izzy trotted over and sniffed it. It smelled like squirrel spit. Yuck. She left it there on the ground and went to lay on her puppy cot. The sun was shining. Who needed nuts or squirrels when you could just enjoy the day, mindlessly vegetating in the heat?

Writing Challenge Day 5 - A Place You Would Live

Flash fiction challenge day 5: a place you would live but have never visited.

"O. M. G., Sarah, Viscount Bainbridge is so freakin' hot!"

"I told you! Jeez, Paulette, how long have I been begging you to read A Stormy Affair?"

"You were right. I wish I had read it sooner, then my dreams would be happy every night. I wish I could sail away to Regency England right now."

"Let me just call up Doctor Who and his time machine."

"Could you?"

"Hah! Why would you even want to live in the Victorian era anyway? Women were treated like property!"

"Bridge would never treat me like that. He respects women and thinks of them as his equal."

"You're forgetting that Bridge is in love with Jemma."

"Pfft! I would chase off that mousy little Miss Phillips. What does he even see in her? She's a nanny! A viscount can't marry a nanny, can they?"

"In fiction they can. How would you win him away from his lady love. Tell me, oh wise one."

"Hmm. I think I'd be the daughter of England's most powerful Duke.  I was raised by nuns and run away from the convent in search of adventure. I'd stow away on the viscount's ship and he would find me hiding in his cabin."

"And you think he would marry you?"

"He would take one look at me and tell me he never believed in love at first sight until this moment."

"More like he would make you his mistress."

"Hey, I'm a Duke's daughter! My father would shoot off his family jewels if he disrespected me."

"Your reputation would already be ruined."

"Why?"

"Duh. You were unchaperoned on a ship full of sleazy men."

"Hey, they're classy sailors. The viscount only hires the most loyal and honest of men."

"Whatever."

"He would totally marry me."

"Yeah, right."

"Shut up."

Writing Challenge Day 4 - 10 Interesting Facts

Flash Fiction Challenge Day 4: Ten interesting facts about my character

I am currently writing a story about a group of friends who are fanboys (of different fandoms). Today I will focus on Richard.

1. Real name is Rikart, but everyone thought it was Richard, so his family changed it.
2. He met his friends at age 9 when he saw them passing around Mars Attacks! trading cards.
3. He is a writer of science fiction stories.
4. He has had the same recurring dream for as long as he can remember.
5. His stories are based on his recurring dream.
6. After his book was rejected by ten different publishers he decided to self-publish.
7. This is is first year buying a booth at Comic-Con.
8. He has never had a girlfriend.
9. He is 23 and has never had a girlfriend.
10. He may or may not be from another planet.

Writing Challenge Day 3 - First Love

Flash Fiction Challenge Day 3: first love and first kiss.

George heaved a loud sigh and slowly pulled himself out of his easy chair, his old bones howling at him to sit back down. "Cain't be sittin' around all day." As much as he would like to.

He headed for the kitchen, passing the old family photos on the wall like he did every day without really paying attention. Today he was feeling nostalgic. He stopped and looked, letting the memories wash over him. The first was him and Clara at their 50th wedding anniversary. The image showed him and Clara laughing like a couple of loons, their faces illuminated by 50 cake sparklers.

The next photo was their twin boys college graduation. They all looked so proud. "Our boys done good, Clara."

There was an old faded photo of their wedding day in 1965. "Ah, Clara, you were so young and beautiful." He touched his finger to his lips and then to her sweet face. "You were my first and only love."

The last photo was of him and Clara sitting under the apple tree where he had carved their initials. "We shared our first kiss under that tree." He sighed again. "Why am I so sappy today?"

"It's you're 75th birthday, sweetie. That's a quarter of a century. I hate to break it to ya, but you're an old man now."

"Rub it in, Clara. You're still young and beautiful at 69."

Clara smiled and wrapped her arms around him from behind. "And you're still charming as ever, you old devil." She kissed him on the shoulder. "Come on, we need to get ready for your big party." She took him by the hand and led him down the hall.

Writing Challenge Day 2 - Earliest Memory

Flash Fiction Challenge Day 2: my earliest memory

Howie climbed the attic stairs, his feet getting heavier with each step. He found the old suitcase buried under boxes of photographs. The thing was caked in dust. How long had it been since anyone had use of it. He pulled the boxes off and lifted the case. He coughed as he was surrounded in a cloud of dead skin cells and insect feces. He lugged the heavy burden back down the stairs and straight out the back door. He gave the bag some hard whacks, trying to clean it as best he could. Then he dragged it to his bedroom. College on the east coast would be the best vacation ever, with some hard work thrown in. It sure beat hanging around the house waiting for his parents to kill each other.

Everything was ready to go. His clothes were separated in neat stacks on his bed, his school supplies sorted and boxed up on his desk. He pulled the zipper on the giant suitcase and halfway around it got stuck. He pulled and pulled, but it wouldn't budge. A memory popped into his head.

His mom and dad were laughing, his mom yanking on that damn zipper. 

"Come on, you can do it! I have faith in you, sweetie."

"Yeah, right. Easy for you to say. I think we need The Hulk right about now."

"Raawwwr! Hulk, SMASH!" Dad struck a muscle man pose and Mom laughed.

"Oh, you sexy beast! Get those manly arms over here. Your baby boy will never get to Disneyland if we can't even get the suitcase open.

"Disneyland can wait." Dad pulled Mom into his arms and kissed her, while young Howie sat on the bed clapping his little hands.

Howie gasped. They used to be so in love. What had happened? He shook his head at one of life's great unanswerable questions. He pressed on the canvas surrounding the zipper and tried a gentler pull. It opened easily. It didn't require The Hulk, just some thought. He flipped the lid open and inside was a lone photograph. It was one of those theme park special deals, where they have you pose outside an attraction. His dad had one arm around his mom while holding Howie on his hip. It was their one and only family vacation. The only happy memory he had.

Writing Challenge Day 1 - Social Media Problems

Okay, so I came across this image on Facebook last week and decided to do this challenge for the month of April, along with many other people. The twist is I'm going to do these as flash fiction pieces.

Flash Fiction Challenge Day 1 - Five problems with social media

Gracie checked her smartphone again. She was supposed to be studying for a psych exam, but it had been hours since she had received any notifications from her social media pages and she was anxious. She had posted a photo of her boyfriend Steve and had hoped her friends would comment. Maybe the notification thingies on her phone had stopped working? She closed her textbook, pulled out her laptop and surfed over to Facebook. She tried to log in but her password wouldn't work. Weird. Next she tried Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Tumblr. She couldn't log in there either. What the hell was going on? Finally she did an internet search for "Gracie Dennon Facebook" just to make sure her account was still active.

Her profile photo came up, but the banner image behind it was nearly pornographic. It was a photo of two naked people entwined in a sexual position--artfully hidden in shadow--with her and Steve's heads pasted on the bodies. She did more searches and was horrified to discover the same sexy image also on her other accounts.

Gracie couldn't stop shaking. She glanced around the school library, imagining everyone had seen this humiliating photo and was now laughing at her behind her back. She slammed her laptop shut, shoved it and her books back into her backpack and ran out into the hallway. She had to find Angela. Her best friend would know what to do.

By the time she got to Angela's locker the last period bell had rung. She watched Angela and Sharon approach. She couldn't understand what Angela saw in that social climbing whore. She frowned at Sharon. "Gracie," the whore said with fake sweetness.

"Hey, Sharon," she replied calmly before turning to Angela and gasping, "I've been hacked!"

"Really? How do you know?" Angela's eyes went wide.

"Have you seen my Facebook page?"

Sharon snickered. Gracie glared at her. "Did you to this? You demented bitch! What the hell is wrong with you!" She grabbed Sharon and slammed her into the lockers.

Angela tugged at her arm. "Gracie, stop! It was me!"

Gracie let go of Sharon and turned to her friend in stunned disbelief. "What? Why would you do that to me?"

"I'm sorry, Gracie. It was just a joke. A stupid April Fool's prank. I didn't think it would upset you so much."

Sharon stepped over. "In all honesty, I did help her hack into your accounts. Sorry, Gracie. We didn't mean to hurt you. I thought that photo was pretty sexy, myself."

Gracie shook her head, her vision blurring with tears as she glanced between the two girls. "Just fix it. And if that image isn't taken down by the time I get home, we are no longer friends." She turned to leave just as a bunch of cat calls started.

"Lookin' good, Gracie! Who knew you had such a hot bod under those sweatshirts."

"Shut up, Tommy!' Steve shoved the loudmouth into the wall. Then he put his arm around Gracie and led her outside. "Hey, you okay? I saw the photo on Snapchat."

Gracie buried her face against Steve's chest. "Everybody thinks I'm a slut now."

"No they don't. It was obviously an April Fool's joke. I'm sure there's a lot of that going around. Just ride it out. By tomorrow it will be old news. Besides, you did look pretty hot."

Gracie giggled. "So did you. Sixpack abs? You must work out a lot."

"There ya go. Just laugh it off. If people see that you're not upset by it they will have no reason to tease." He kissed her cheek. "But man oh man I will have that image burned into my brain for a long time. It really turned me on."

Gracie put her arm around Steve and gave him a squeeze. "After the initial shock, I was a little turned on myself."

"Wanna go make out at my house? My parents won't be home until late." He wiggled his eyebrows and gave her a hopeful smile.

Gracie bit her lip, feeling a shiver of excitement roll through her body. "Okay," she whispered. "But first you have to help me study for Friday's test."

"You got it, babe!" He walked her to his car, keeping her tucked close against his side.

-
If you didn't catch the five problems I was mentioning, here they are in order of events: addiction, distraction, hacking, cyber-bullying and public shaming.