The Unicorn Challenge.
A magical new weekly writing opportunity from her – Jenne Gray – and me.
Visit her blog every Friday to see the photo prompt, and post your amazing story in her comments section.
Or on your own blog, and stick the link down in her comments.
The rules are:
Maximum of 250 words.
Based on photo prompt.
That’s it.
To hear me read my story, just click here:
CSI
I sit bereft, hardly hearing the detective’s words.
Mark, my beautiful boy, only four years old, is dead.
Killed.
Murdered.
And, to make the nightmare even worse, Christina, my lovely young wife of less than a year, is being questioned at this moment.
She is apparently the main suspect.
In fact, the only one.
The police were called by a neighbour who was alerted by Sara’s hysterics on the front lawn.
Sara, my little angel, is seven, and still struggling to come to terms with the loss of her mother almost three years ago, so her trauma is very understandable.
The responding officers found Christina sitting in tears at the foot of the stairs, cradling Mark in her arms.
His neck was broken.
They assumed an accident until they found blood on the back of his head.
And traces on her engagement ring, which was still wet on the rim of the wash basin in her bathroom.
I’m stunned, incredulous.
Mark was getting along so well with his new mum, I thought, and really starting to bond, while Sara has been much more difficult.
The detective shakes his head sadly as Christina, her frantic eyes seeking mine, is led out to the cruiser.
I avert my gaze, then see the expression on Sara’s face.
And I know the truth.
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It seems to me that there is a double twist between the two women. I think that’s right, although I’m a little dense at times!
Sara is just a child, Chris, who doesn’t like her new step-mum.
But whatever you are, it is most certainly not ‘dense’!
aha, thank you!
Oh, that last line. What will he do now? A gripping story that had me in from the start, and led to a concluding twist I didn’t expect.
Yep, rock and hard place springs to mind, Margaret.
Happy it worked so well for you.
‘Much more difficult‘ sounds like much big understatment? I like how the picture inspired this story that reminded me of the movie The Bad Seed.
Indeed, Michael, but dad sees through rose-coloured specs perhaps.
Not familiar with the movie.
The movie is a drama/thriller from the 50’s about a sociopathic little girl who does bad things.
You write so beautifully.
And you comment equally beautifully!
Seriously, if you enjoy my work, my second novel is available now:
in UK: http://tinyurl.com/5n797txb
or elsewhere: http://tinyurl.com/4zwhr3ks
I am in the US so I will get it here. Oh yes, I enjoy your work!
excellent little story.
sure, the twist (effective as always) we’ve come to expect but…. but! that other half of my Reader mind, the part of me who hopes to figure out how you people write so effectively, especially with so few words, jumped right up at the line:
“...my lovely young wife of less than a year, is being questioned at this moment.”
damn! would’ve taken me, like, eighteen words to establish the relationship, not to mention the misdirect that occurs in by having her be young…. and step-mother!
muy coolito
Glad it worked for you, Clark.
I know how hard you work at improving your writing so, if any of this helps, I am delighted.
Ooh, the emotion is raw in this. A simple drawing and it can inspire such a tale. All sorts of questions raised too. Excellent story.
Thanks, Jenne.
Bon voyage demain et mardi.
Uffda! Clearly, Sara is overly attached to her Papa!
Now, what REALLY killed her birth mother?!
Daddy’s girl for sure, but you do have a nasty suspicious mind, Liz!
You forget..I’m quite familiar with your work!😄😄
Oh dear. Sara is systematically taking out everyone in her way. If she wanted her father’s attention, she’s got it now.
Troubled, jealous child. Well done, CE.
Spot on, Nancy!
I am/was a middle child. I felt my older sister got all the privileges and my younger brother got all the attention. Fate/Karma/Destiny – I’m the only survivor.
Comment from Witcraft: “but not seeing the connection to the prompt”. lol
I always ignore the prompt. It’s up to the reader to make the connection. 🙂
I too am a middle child, the oldest was the ‘golden’ child/grandchild and the youngest the baby of the family.
He and I are still so close that I dedicated my most recent book to him.
The delightful way you casually disregard the prompt is perhaps my favourite thing about this challenge. But the chalk outline of a body and a story about a murder investigation seem fairly related to me.
Maybe I’m a bit thick today (it happens) but not seeing the connection to the prompt. That said, an intriguing whodunit.