AUGUST 2022 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO PARSON!

[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 2022 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, 23 August 2022

Voting ends at 11:59 pm GMT, 28 August 2022


We ask all entrants to do their best to vote when the time comes
but you do not have to submit a story in order to vote
as we encourage all Chrons members to take part in choosing the winning entry


The Magnificent Prize:

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

AND

The option of having your story published on the Chrons Podcast next month!


Theme:

WATER

Genre:

SPECULATIVE FICTION


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! **

​

 

[Raz2k13]

Unforgiving Love

I rushed out of the house and into the forest. I stumbled down my well worn path, careful not to get cut by the branches. They hated when I bled. I rushed forward and off the edge of the cliff at the treeline. Adrenaline flooded my veins as I free fell and then they engulfed me. The shock of their cold and sway of their waves calmed me.

“We missed you.” They sang to me.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Of Voices and Water

I’ve abandoned the renovations, sit instead on the bathtub’s rim, water trickling down the drain.
Voices emerge from other apartments, perhaps the confluence of corroded pipes and the properties of sound over water.
But the building’s abandoned.
A man: “Shut that baby up!”
A woman: “Carol, come home.”
A child: “Hey Jude, don’t be afraid...”
I stand, backpedal, trip over my body, Jude.
Over the water that voice, “Hey Jude.”
I ask, “What happens now?”

 

[THX1138]

Old Freind

“Here boy! Fetch!”

I threw the stick out into the lake, splashing water followed it out to where it fell. Turning into a small wave, it brought the stick back to me.

“One more time, only further!”

The water splashed out, and the small wave came back again. Happy as always!

“I miss you, old friend.” I choked up as I bent down to retrieve the stick.

Playfully splashing, the wave lapped my hand.

 

[BigJ]

Under the what?

“Jacob! The kitchen! Now!”

“Emma, honey, what . . . why is there water on the floor?”

“I don’t know, it’s coming from over there! What has your android been up to?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You keep fiddling with it! The idioms, the humour, nothing on it works!”

“Watson, come in here please.”

“How may I be of assistance?”

“Can you explain this?”

“Oh, that. Don’t worry about it.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s water under the fridge.”

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

The ballad of Ronan Spuddlehop

It should've been ironic that Hydrologist Ronan Spuddlehop planned to throw himself to his death from the summit waterfall of Sheanpollineasp.

• Only irony doesn't exist on Sheanpollineasp.
• But magic does.

Rain began to fall as the water spoke: 'don't end things like this', it said.

Ronan turned to leave.

'Wise choice', gurgled the torrent.

It would've been ironic that Ronan slipped to his death descending the dampened steps.

If this were anywhere but Sheanpollineasp.

 

[Aknot]

The End
The water whispers to me. Gentle waves offer a warm embrace. I hesitate, frightened by the unfathomable deep and its dark never ending. A scream suspends my reverie. The glow of burning oil show hungry fins. The terror of teeth and maw plucking us one by one. Then quiet. The seas soothing susurration starts again.
“I am ready”, I murmur and slide under the surface. Swathed in soporific silence I descend, afraid no more.

 

[Guttersnipe]

The Weary Traveler

The traveler had finally found the Fountain, glittering in a glade. Now that he was here, he began
to have doubts. Would the woman of his affection love him this way? He eventually approached,
caught some of the water in his hands, and drank deeply.

The change occurred. His life in this form was now just beginning. The once eternally young boy
had found fulfillment. And it was all due to the Fountain of Age.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

I’ve always fancied twins

I look at them: both beautiful, both powerful and strong, both with that special something.

Lust, you could call it that, but I’ve been around. It’s time I settled down and these two fit the bill.

Besides, how could it be wrong? The attraction is obvious.

Is it just physical you ask?

Yes, but we will be happy together.

Don’t you dare judge me. You have no right.

Covalence is a bond stronger than love.

 

[nixie]

Maybe a camera would be better.
​

The hunter crept into the clearing. He was there in all his majesty, just across the water, drinking calmly, oblivious to his imminent death.

The hunter approached, obeying the voice in his head to come closer. He raised his gun, the creature in his sights, finger closing round the trigger. Suddenly the waters rose, engulfing him completely.

The white stag raised its head and watched as the man vanished without trace.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Waterway To Go

The orbiting hydro-reapers had almost completed the harvesting of moisture from the planet's surface.

"Incredible; they treasured worthless stones and metals, whilst all along possessing vast quantities of the most valuable commodity in the galaxy."

"Yeah, they could've purchased fleets of battlecruisers to protect themselves with just a fraction of their supply; instead they were easy prey. How about their neighbours?"

Indicating the fourth rock from the sun "Looks like somebody got there first."

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Confluence

I took Pappy's rifle and hopped on the raft with the others. We drifted down the muddy river until it met the green Ohio. The way the colors mixed was awful pretty.

A catfish bigger than an elephant jumped out of the river, hellbent on sinking us. I shot it in the eye. It thrashed and landed on the shore, dead as dirt.

If you think I'm lying, ask Tom and Huck. They seen it.

 

[chrispenycate]

Hosepipe ban​

Local agriculture? I blame it on the sandworms. Or the Fremden.

Not for climate change, however responsible they may be, for the drought.

But spice is our only cash crop, and navigators won't work without it. so we can't cull the great beasts, and they suck up moisture like an enormous articulated sponge.

Which makes growing anything to eat on planet nearly impossible - cheaper to import it.

Hydroponics just hasn't made it here.

 

[JS Wiig]

Into the Deep

Max watched the woman’s head disappear beneath the waves. Someone save her. No one else had seen. He couldn’t swim but dove overboard anyway.

Water engulfed him and he panicked. Something grabbed his leg as he struggled for the surface. Scaly hands gently cupped his face. A blurry figure kissed him—it was the woman.

You’re safe with me he heard, soothing. She held him tight against her body and pulled him under.

 

[Eduardo Ficaria]

Proof of work

My mod is on, so I flow into the fight.
I'm now a torrent gushing through their gaps, a bone-crushing deluge of pain sweeping anyone in my wake.
I'm too fluid to catch, yet they try everything to contain me.
No dice, my flood of deadly violence engulfs their last stand.

But they wanted this, the mod's proof of work.
I made it easy for anyone to find it, just follow the crimson stains.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Στύξ

To me! Here I am. Unfurl your sails, enfold me in your cloak,
For I’ve been shewn much; done in with grief, sick to see rapine, injustice.
To your isle we’ll go, across the riddled flow.
Be my bridegroom.

Come back tomorrow

Hope lists as I wait; waters an iron-grey spate under bruised skies.
Should I wave?
Should I wade?
Doesn't Leviathan see me wane?

Where are you?

Where are you?

Come back tomorrow

 

[Firebeard Jeff]

We had all decided at one point in our lives to allow ‘the great spectacle’, to embrace the distraction.
To drink the water. Lucidity, for me, had returned though, and I could see. Us, strange, absurd, oblivious, entrapped. Enraptured by prisons of our own making. And in this metal carriage, estranged, all facing away, all facing one way, all facing the wrong way.
All of them. Always going backwards.

 

[TheIntelligencePolice]

Gone Fishin'

DANGER!
NO FISHING!
RISK TO LIFE!
​

"Pfft, nobody tells me what to do," Jack stated.

He sat down and cast his line into the murky water of the pond, never noticing the ripples getting ever closer. He only noticed when a mass of shining scales and sharp teeth breached the surface to loom above him.

"Man, you should always heed the sign,' it rumbled.

Its teeth were the last thing Jack ever saw.

 

[Troyzan787]

This Time

I’ll make it this time, Mark thought to himself, as he launched his Kayak into the river. He paddled into the rapids, the rushing water splashing him. He came around a boulder, hitting an eddy. The kayak flipped. Mark felt himself pulled under. He screamed in frustration, the cold wetness filling his lungs.

He opened his eyes.

I’ll make it this time, Mark thought to himself, as he launched his Kayak into the river.

 

[Bren G]

Just Covenant

“Court’s in session!”

The prosecutor started. “Noah promised my clients a paradise when the waters receded. Mankind spoiled it!”

The defense rallied, “Natural Law endows mankind with dominion over animals.”

The judge’s gavel hammered. “The sentence stands - extinction.”

“Wait! As His caretaker, Noah’s covenant supersedes this endowment!”

The judge regarded the plaintiffs keenly. She declared, “Mankind will no longer hunt you. Live full lives again on Mauritius.”

The last pair of Dodos soundly rejoiced.