JANUARY 2017 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO LITTLESTAR!

[The Judge]

RULES:

Write a story inspired by the chosen theme and genre in no more than 75 words, not including the title
​

ONE entry per person


NO links, commentary or extraneous material in the posts, please -- the stories must stand on their own


WHEN WRITING YOUR STORY, PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A FAMILY-FRIENDLY FORUM​

All stories Copyright 2017 by their respective authors
who grant the Chronicles Network the non-exclusive right to publish them here​

The complete rules can be found at RULES FOR THE WRITING CHALLENGES


Contest ends at 11:59 pm GMT, January 23 2017​

Voting ends at 11:59 pm GMT, January 28 2017​

You do not have to submit a story in order to vote --
in fact, we encourage all Chrons members to take part in choosing a winner​

The Magnificent Prize:​

The Dignified Congratulations/Grovelling Admiration of Your Peers
and the challenge of choosing next month's theme and genre



Theme:

Resolution​

Genre:​

Open



This thread to be used for entries only
Please keep all comments to the DISCUSSION THREAD



We invite (and indeed hope for) lively discussion and speculation about the stories as they are posted, as long as it doesn't involve the author explaining the plot​

** Please do not use the "Like" button in this thread! **​

​

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Excerpts from the Captain's Personal Log

One hundred days at sea. Supplies are running low. The men are near rebellion. A single glimpse of land on the horizon is our only hope.

At times I despair. How long I argued with the king’s advisors as to the wisdom of our voyage! Yet I am still certain that a land of great riches awaits us. In the name of Moctezuma, I will bring the truth of Lord Quetzalcoatl to the heathen natives.

 

[Ashleyne]

Grit

I refuse to be a prisoner.

No matter how much adrenaline pumps through me, the pain never dulls. Tears and blood sting my eyes.

I need to free myself before he gets back so I can ambush him and escape. Keeping my eyes open's a battle. I'm scared I'll pass out.

My arm stump flops to my thigh. One arm left. I sink my teeth into my other wrist and twist my head.

 

[Ignited Moth]

THE FINAL INGREDIENT


My keepers view me as salt. An ingredient dashed into the pot as needed until it runs out. Just like those before me.

Each night my fading life grants color to their dying ruler’s cheeks, allowing him yet another day.

They may have arcane knowledge, but I too have skills. Skills all children learn in the slum they snatched me from. When they come for me tonight, I will be ready. Tonight, I’m going home.

 

[Dave Barsby]

REVRES​

“It’s done, Mr President. What you asked for. The CIA supplied the rebels with weaponry via the black market. We’ve spoken to key figures and started gaining the support of the civilian population. They’re ready to amass at the Premier’s door. The fighting will be terrible and bloody. Many casualties predicted. But he’ll be overthrown and an interim government established. The revolution will succeed.”

“I asked for it to be solved diplomatically! Resolution!”

 

[Starbeast]

Quit List for the New Year​

Smoking
Drinking
Fireworks
Junk Food
Swearing

"11:44, and I'm, drunk...heh, heh. Damn! Dropped my cigarette. Oh, sh*t..." sssSSSS KABOOM! BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!! BOOM! "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..............................aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" THUD! "Owwee...." BOOM! BOOM! KABOOM!! "AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh.........aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAA!!!" THUD! "Uhhhhh..."

ssssssss "Not again. Wait. Candy bars don't explo.." KABOOOOM!!! "Sanovaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.................iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiCH!!" THUD!

On a smoldering TV. "...3,2, ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"

"Never....never again will I..." sssssssssss "Have, mercy..." ssss...... "Whew. My Raisinets survived. Chomp, chomp. Damn, these are good.." KABOOM!!!

 

[reiver33]

High-res Heartbreak

I watch Diana idle through the meadow, trailing fingers leaving a wake of dandelion seeds. She stops, shades her eyes against the late afternoon sun, and waves. I remember waving back, taking a break from struggling with a recalcitrant spare wheel.

Her image degrades. Use of the Chronoscope is more art than science and no matter how hard I concentrate, her face remains forever just out of focus.

The past is my mistress, and harsh.

 

[sinister42]

A Resolution

I hereby resolve to blur the lines between fiction and reality, to break through dimensional walls, to mess with space-time, to turn the multiverse upside down and shake out its pockets to find its secret stash. I will know the unknowable, eff the ineffable, evit the inevitable, and tang the intangible truths of the cosmos. This I vow in my own name. Signed in the presence of a notary made of sentient fog.

 

[Luiglin]

Stream of thought

We often proclaim a resolution

In the hope that it will give us a solution

But often we find no absolution

And in the midst of our dark confusion

When at our lowest depths of self-persecution

Joyous thoughts that would lead to a revolution

Are bound and mired in our own soul’s pollution

But there will always be a spark that can ignite a thought evolution

Or is this all just a touch Confucian?

 

[Bowler1]

I am THE only cHiLd

I’d had enough.

My mind was made up.

There was no turning back.

Not now.

Not ever.

So I silently stabbed my Daddy while he slept.

Even dead, he still looks surprised.

My Mommy saw me coming.

She put up a struggle.

I’ll miss my Mommy.

My NASTY little brother was hiding.

I soon found him.

We had FUN together.

I left him on the naughty step.

Let’s see how he likes it out there.

 

[A. Fare Wells]

The New Ruins

Another bomb exploded near us today, adding more rubble to the streets of this damned city. We are all prisoners here, trapped between demons and the bastards fighting them. I feel we will die.

But now I am running. Gunfire chatters. Bullets ricochet off concrete walls as the van door opens. We speed and escape the ruins.

My baby smiles up at me, unaware of the peril we face heading toward a brave new world.

 

[Peter V]

Re-Population Crisis​

Sperrivan, a sapient marsupial looked at the screen as the last man on Earth limped out of the rubble. After six hundred years the eighth Great War had ended.

Twenty two million human embryo’s awaited activation, protected from the savagery of man in the deep vaults. Sperrivan knew it was time to start their growth.

He flicked the power off and leaped into the tree beyond the window.

There would be no ninth Great War.

 

[Droflet]

Turnaround

“You have three wishes,” the genie said.

“Money and power.”

“Done. Next?”

“I free you from your entrapment within the lamp.”

Her beauty dissolved into a hideous visage.

“Freedom,” she screamed. “Now, fool, I will lay waste to this world.”

“I have one wish left.”

“What? Oh yes.”

“You will love this world and all who dwell here. Mostly, you will love me.”

Her scream dwindled to a soft whimper.

“Done.”

Demonology has its perks.

 

[farntfar]

LOVE, fuzzily.

She’d moaned about me since we first met.
I wasn’t strong.
Nor committed enough.
And the little TV in my flat had a poor picture quality.


I say my flat, although it was pretty well our flat now.
She refused to sell hers until we were married.
I didn’t think marriage was necessary.
We argued about it a lot. That and the telly.
Yesterday she left me.
I need more resolution from you, she said.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Re: Solutions

I set the interdimensional portal’s resolution to Otherearth.

“You’re taking a trip, Mother Johnson.”

I’d promised Joan on her deathbed to care for her mother, but the gibbering bat infuriates me.

Otherearth is populated with kind, caring people.

I push her wheelchair toward the portal, then past, into the hallway outside my laboratory. A note pinned to her blouse explains her circumstances.

She’ll be found.

I return, grab my suitcase, and walk through the portal.

 

[LittleStar]

The Promise

"I'll be with you on your birthday." He kissed me, then left for war.

Mum cried when I set his plate that year.

And the next.

Then I started hating him for lying to me every day.

But he never said which birthday. A compromise, to stop it hurting, you know?

I understand now though. I always thought of him, willed him back with me, and know he kept his promise.

And I'll keep mine.

 

[Cory Swanson]

If Only We had Dug Less Adamantly

“The heart of knowledge is in the heart of space.” Professor Morgan glowers at the screen.

James is more cautious. “Sir, these are the highest resolution images mankind has ever captured.”

“You're being a coward. The truth is right there, in that quadrant. Life. The universe. Everything! We have the power, so let's use it. Get it over with! Zoom in!”

James sighs and speaks into his communications unit.

“Increase resolution in sector 42.”

 

[AstroZon]

Another Jovian Conference

From the control tower I watched the shuttlecraft drop gently from the sky. "Ion propulsion," I thought. "It seems the Callisto Corporation is doing well."

Satrap Baruzi stepped out of the craft and addressed the camera, ".... and I vow peace in our time."

A small crowd of cronies cheered while I glanced at my control screen. The next shuttle: Commissar Ohrt of the Portage Guild. "Another Jovian Conference," I thought, "and more meaningless resolutions."

 

[Phyrebrat]

Call me Ahab

The fish went deep, my cane rod bent, kissing the water, V of line zigzagging away. Lily pads shuddered; my mind flashed to childhood - to the panicked tugging of my brother’s hand, diminishing bubbles, the return of stillness; the lake’s denial.

Enough! This time I’d land it; the beast wouldn’t throw the hooks again. The surface boiled - I saw it - and in the wet slap of fins heard my drowned brother again:

‘Fancy a swim?’

 

[ErikB]

Swift Resolution!


It was Pike's idea. African lion hunt.

Why? I like lions. More than Pike! He was behind every conflict I'd ever been in.

Always unprepared!

The charging male lion closed fast. Pike took aim. His rifle misfired.

I kicked off my hiking boots and urgently donned my running shoes.

Pike glanced at me.

"A lion can run 34 miles per hour! You can't outrun him!"

I ran.

"I only need to outrun YOU!"