Welcome to the new and improved flash fiction writing prompt series – #SwiftFicFriday!
I’ve changed the rules, so if you didn’t see my tweet, check them out!
Rules to keep in mind:
- You have THREE DAYS (8:00AM Friday-8:00PM Sunday on the east coast) to submit your entry.
- Include social media links/handles/anything you want to promote (Twitter, FB, etc) & word count in the comment with your submission.
- Submission must be between 150-300 words.
- All stories are property of the authors.
- Winner will be determined via reader votes on Mondays.
Ready, set, write!
Prompt: To ring in the new year, let’s go with a phrase. Use the following phrase in your story:
Out with the old and in with the new.
Happy writing!
FictionTrials 
Jinx nestled cozily between Emathyst, the executioner, and Oaklie, the bunny cadet, as their sleigh took to the winter sky. A blanket over their laps and Jinx’s cat, Blackie, nestled on Emathyst promised a comfortable ride even through the rushing air. Jinx sighed down at the antique compass in her mittened hands, pointing straight ahead.
“Will this old compass really lead us to my mother?”
“Of course!” Oaklie approximated a thumbs up with a forepaw, kaleidoscopically colored with stray paint. “Santa knows his stuff! Old magic is the best; between this sleigh and that compass we’ll find your mama in no time!”
Vedania, the cupid, crossed her arms sullenly in the front row.
“I hate to imagine what she’s been up to this whole time. Humans shouldn’t leave the mortal world.”
Bluebelle, the druidess in the driver’s seat, coaxed their reindeer up and over a crystalline cloud with a shake of jingle belled reins.
“We can address that after we find her. We don’t know how many worlds we’ll have to cross.”
“Hrm…” Brewer, Emathyst’s partner, grumbled from the other side of his fellow executioner. “Is that right?”
“Sure!” Oaklie agreed with Bluebelle. “What good will worrying do?”
Brewer peered around Emathyst.
“No, I mean about the old magic. Isn’t the saying ‘out with the old and in with the new?’”
Emathyst considered the stars above them meditatively.
“You may be thinking of breathing.”
Brewer sat back on their seat, mumbling doubtfully into his beard. Jinx sat back as well. She wasn’t sure when she stopped missing her mother, but suddenly she was in no hurry to part with her new friends.
272 Four Sisters AU words
@DavidALudwig
LikeLiked by 2 people
My Bed, 261 Words, @JPGarlandAuthor
“What are you thinking?”
She runs her finger across my cheek, on her side and leaning against me as she nearly always does when we were in bed satiated, on a late afternoon in the winter, when the sun is gone and the radiator is clanging out its heat.
I am on my back, my left arm reaching down to her waist.
“Nothing.”
“It is not nothing. Tell me.”
I pull my arm out and push her hand away and it startles her and her gentleness turns harsh.
“I’ve never seen you like this. Just tell me.”
I pull the sheet off me and get up on my side of the bed. But it’s my damn bed. I should be able to get out on any side of it.
I am suddenly modest in front of her and use my crossed hands as a shield as I back from the room. My bedroom. I am in the bathroom dreading returning to her in my bedroom.
I needn’t wait long.
Five, ten minutes tops. I hear her gathering some of her things and step into the living room, draped in a towel.
She’s dressed, her bag over her right arm.
“I never figured you were one of those ‘out with the old and in with the new’ types. I’ll arrange to pick up my things.”
Before she reaches the lobby, the shower, my shower, is hot but not scalding and I am cleaning her from me. With plenty of time to get to Siegel’s Pub to see if someone new happens by.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I know I’m late with mine as it’s 8:36 CST, so I’m missing the voting but I’m okay with that. I’m glad I managed to get something written this time.
New Year, New Life
She glanced around the rundown shack he’d deigned to call a house. Bleach mingled with nail polish and gasoline. Nothing stood out other than the smell.
“Good. Out with the old and in with the new. New life that is.”
Then she turned to the battered mirror near the front door. Her skill as a make-up artist paid off today—no one would know anything. At least not now. Maybe never. All the time she spent listening to him go on about how he could do whatever he wanted to her and successfully cover it up helped, too. He never saw this coming, that’s for sure.
“Too bad, really. He was good looking. But that just isn’t enough, not for his crimes.”
With that parting thought, she grabbed the backpack leaning against the front door and stepped outside. She scanned the neighborhood. No one was out, which was perfect for what she needed.
She made her way to the side window. Trees concealed her from prying eyes as she dug the lone cigarette out of her pocket. Flicking the lighter, she coughed a little as she got it lit. Then she flicked it into the cracked window. Its red glow traced a line as it landed on the bed. The whisky she’d dumped out caught right away, crackling up into a respectable blaze, the glow outlining the still form on the bed.
“Goodbye, Frank. I hope the shit you put me through was worth it.”
Then she slipped away through the trees to her car, waiting over on the next block. Parked there, it would force her to take the long way around, which would give her the perfect alibi.
280 words
@dontpanic2011
LikeLiked by 1 person