Carving out time to write seems to be getting more difficult these days, so I’m going to start setting time limits up for myself. It worked when I participated in 5 minute fiction, so I’m hoping it’ll work now.
My time limit: 15 minutes.
Goal: 400 words for the Friday Flash Fiction Train prompt at Our Write Side.
Here goes!
~~~
Something went wrong with the spell, and her first hint was that smell. Nevermind that one second Celeste had been surrounded by utter silence, and now there was a thunderous roar shaking everything around her. Was someone attacking her? Unwilling to sit around and wait, she hurried out of the tunnel, confused as to why the walls of the cave were now smooth and riddled with strange bars.
It took her half an hour to make her way out.
Something definitely went wrong. As soon as Celeste stepped into the light, she found herself surrounded by people in strange clothes. This wasn’t the forest she’d been running through, and the cave she’d been hiding in was nowhere to be found. Behind her, the large structure she came from towered above her, disappearing into the clouds. She had to walk away from it just to take it all in.
“Lady, move!” Celeste barely had time to react before someone yanked her arm. A young woman, no older than her, probably, gripped her wrist tight as she pulled. Behind her, a roaring beast of a thing passed by, faster than anything she’d ever seen. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Stunned, she couldn’t really respond.
“Hello? Sam are you okay? Hey!” The woman looked down at her hand, as if just remembering she had one, and put the small, black rectangle – where the voice seemed to be coming from – up to her ear.
“Yeah sorry. Some lady just walked into traffic. I’ll call you back.”
“Wait! We’re still on for dinner, right?”
“I’ll let you know.”
Celeste watched, enthralled by the thing in the woman’s hand. How had she enchanted it? She’d never seen anything like it, let alone being used out in the open like this woman was. Celeste couldn’t help herself. “Are you a witch, too?”
“Excuse me?”
“Your item – you’ve clearly trapped someone in there. How did you do it? My binding spells never work.”
The woman looked at Celeste like she’d never seen another person before. After a moment her confusion turned to concern.
“Are you alright? People don’t just walk into traffic like that. Do you need help?” She scanned Celeste from top to bottom, her head tilting as if she couldn’t understand. “Are you in town for a convention or something?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Your costume. It’s pretty cool, but Comic Con isn’t until next weekend.”
~~~
Not *quite* done in 15 minutes. But it’s something!
Check out the prompt! Join in on the fun! You have until 12PM EST today 🙂
As always, think happy thoughts!
FictionTrials 
Aha, that ending! I love how the contrast between the slightly panicky Celeste and the very cool, nonchalant response of the woman play off perfectly. It might not be finished, but it’s plenty intriguing.
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