Tag Archives: Five Sentence Fiction

Five Sentence Fiction: Doors

An early morning escape © Lisa Shambrook

Dawn approached, sliding silently across the skies, trailing mackerel clouds and a pale pink sunrise.

Orphic rays and shimmering shafts danced softly on the lawn bathing the morning lark, but his song barely caught Kate’s attention as she buckled the suitcase on the kitchen table.

Organza fluttered at her neck as a cool breeze wandered curiously through the room, and she fingered the iridescent material, fighting the tears that dropped onto the hurriedly packed case now resting at her feet.

Restless fingers fumbled as she repositioned the scarf to cover the now fading circlet of purple and yellow, and she hurriedly grabbed her life with a quick look up at the ceiling.

Sunshine now flooded the small, tidy kitchen and Kate slipped noiselessly out of the back door, closing it gently behind her.

Really enjoying a return to Lillie’s Five Sentence Fiction, the challenge where I cut my flash fiction teeth way back when…have a go yourself and take a look at the other entries.

Five Sentence Fiction: Freedom

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Tintagel, Cornwall, but think Greek islands for this FSF piece! © Lisa Shambrook

John, a remnant of a time long past, was weary.
Two thousand years witnessing the horrors of humanity made the solitude of Patmos still more desirable. Sometimes the good, the small miracles, outweighed the greed and the violence, quashed his sorrow, but more often he would not to tarry any longer. He travailed through his revelation, his feet sore and his heart grave.
Now, caught within this modern world, the grief of freedom, immortality, hung heavy around his neck, like the chains of bondage as he waited, patiently, for peace.

Back after another hiatus and writing again for Five Sentence Fiction, prompt word: Freedom over at Lillie McFerrin Writes. Take a look at the other great stories.

Five Sentence Fiction: Clutch

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Image by Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

The thread hung, as thin as gossamer, as delicate and fragile as a spider’s silken strand.
Dark circles stained the pale skin beneath her eyes, and she ran shaky fingers through forgotten tangles. Long nails snagged within her web of hair, and the softest sigh slipped from desiccated lips as she watched the door through jaded eyes.
Outside, grey clouds filled a grey day and rain spattered the streets, and she knew no one would come.
Still, her fingers clutched the thread, slight and frail, her last thread of hope.

I haven’t written any flash fiction since Christmas, and have missed Lillie Mcferrin’s Five Sentence Fiction greatly, so this is my piece for the prompt Clutch. Hop over to Five Sentence Fiction to read the other great stories.

Five Sentence Fiction: Beauty

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Photograph by Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

Ice shimmered across the road and his feet struggled to stay upright; he winced as the stony trail threatened to cut through his thin soles and carve into the blisters holding his feet together. Bony fingers, wrapped in bandages to protect against the fierce northern chill, grasped a tiny, glass ampoule, as if life depended on it. His trek was almost over, and the sun had almost vanished behind the needle spikes of mountains beyond the village, and he was almost home.

In a tiny cottage far inside the village, a candle shone in the window, and the light in the traveller’s weary eyes flickered with the fullness of midday sun as he pushed through the doorway. His blackened fingers held the flask steady as enchanted liquid slipped softly past her cracked lips; it only offered another mere few months, but he’d make that trek over, and over, and over, if it gave his wife even another single moment.

I haven’t done Five Sentence Fiction for a bit, but who can resist a word like Beauty? There is so much beauty around us, do we recognise it?

Check out all the other pieces at Lillie’s Five Sentence Fiction…

Five Sentence Fiction: Learning

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Photograph (pencil sketch of Cait) by Lisa Shambrook (please do not use)

Tears filled her eyes, unbidden, as she gazed at a pastel portrait of herself. A five or six-year-old child gazed back at her, with wide chocolate-brown eyes and messy, light-brown hair framing delicate childish features. Her mum had pencilled in a halo of daisies threaded through her hair and coloured them with pastels. The innocent beauty on the page entranced her and broke her, it was the first time she’d ever seen herself through the eyes of another. It was more beautiful than any photograph she’d seen, and more delicate than any mirror image she could ever remember.

It’s been a while since I last did a Five Sentence Fiction and I miss it!

Check out all the other amazing pieces…

Five Sentence Fiction: Blades

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Photograph by Lisa Shambrook and Instagram (Please do not use without permission)

His hands began to smart as bitter cold bit into his skin, but he remained sat upon the frozen log, his legs jiggling to keep warm. He tugged his hat down over his red ears and breathed out, jittery breaths, feeling the warmth creeping slowly back through his woollen gloves, reviving his fingers.

He stared out across the ice, watching her feet slice and glide, his wonder evident as he watched her dance on knives.

He shivered and stamped his feet, trying to keep life in his extremities for just a little longer and she smiled at him, her cheeks rosy and her eyes twinkling like frost. Heat flooded his body like red hot blades searing his prickling skin, and he knew he’d sit out in minus whatever just to be near her…just as long as she smiled.

Written for Lillie McFerrin’s Five Sentence Fiction: Blades.

Go take a look at the other great entries…

Five Sentence Fiction: Goggles

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Photograph by Lisa Shambrook, using Instagram and Streamzoo (Please do not use without permission)

Thalia’s spanner bounced and clattered across the hangar’s dirty floor as she wiped the back of her greasy hand across her brow; she emitted an exasperated growl which was immediately lost amid the hiss of steam and piston thud. She closed her eyes, leaned over the grimy engine, and rotated her shoulders trying to release the afternoon’s pent up tension.
She tensed all the more as unannounced hands rested on her stiff shoulders and began to knead, as if her back was soft, yielding dough – it was not.
She yanked off her goggles and slung them across the room, just as her oil smeared fist met with the obsequious Danny’s jaw, “Take that as a warning shot!” she cautioned still brandishing her torque wrench like a gladiator’s weapon.
Nursing his chin and wounded pride, Danny slinked away, and Steven, on the other side of the hangar, offered Thalia a grin that she couldn’t refuse to return…

After the Dirty Goggles Blog Hop I was more than ready for some more Dieselpunk…

Take a look at the other Five Sentence Fictions…

Five Sentence Fiction: Words

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Photograph by Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

The sudden explosion lit up the dusk and its thunder robbed him of his hearing as he was hurled across the dusty, gritty road; shock and shrapnel embedded its shards beneath his bloodied skin, but nothing stopped him crawling back across the detritus to circle the remains of the best friend he ever had. Confusion tore at his heart, but despite the ringing noise and acrid smoke he refused to leave, and settled mournfully in the middle of the rutted road to wait.

Black night loomed with shouts and gunshots, then chaos and blasts, and he flattened his ears and his body, and trembled by his master’s corpse.

Dawn sneaked across the hills and he shivered in the morning cold, until soldiers, bloodied and weary, marched back along the road, and he growled, his hackles raised and ears sharp. He flinched as they approached and their brusque commands failed to touch him; it took a burly trooper’s bristly embrace and soft, whispered words to allow the dog to leave, but never forget.

Written for Lillie McFerrin’s Five Sentence Fiction,

go and read all the other stories…

Five Sentence Fiction: Paradise

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Photograph by Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

The moon slowly rose, lifting high over the purple mountains, casting its pink glow across the bleached land. Stars faded into an inky backdrop as the moon took its place on night’s stage. Light mists crept across the peninsula, like curtains, rising from the rocks and crevices around the base of the ridge.

The two sated dragons met each other’s eyes and rumbled, contentment flooding their bodies. They dropped to the ground and nestled close, and allowed their dreams to guide them through the night.

Written for Lillie McFerrin’s Five Sentence Fiction.

Read more great stories using the prompt here.

Five Sentence Fiction: Whisper

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Photograph by Bekah Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

“Tell me, tell me what you see” she murmured, and I pulled the heavy fleece tighter around our shoulders as she relaxed into my arms, her grey hair tickling my stubbly chin.

“I see a huge ball of white flame, a golden orb, dancing on the horizon. The sky is on fire, and the few cotton clouds are bathed in molten bronze…” my words struggled to do the sunset justice, but she gripped my hand with such fervour, I continued to describe what I saw. “The sky’s turning indigo, from orange to violet to indigo, I can even see a few early stars, right up high…and the waves are lapping gently on the shore…”

“Ah, I can hear the ocean…” she spoke softly, her voice a reverent breeze, “What else can you see?”

I stared at her, my hand brushing her cheek, I gazed right into her sightless eyes and whispered words formed in the soul of my heart, “I see beauty, perfect beauty…I’ve never, in my life, seen anything so beautiful…”