100 Word Challenge: Sorry Not Sorry

I've been told I don't apologize enough.  I do tend to focus on a solution to a problem, even when I am the problem. Saying "I'm sorry" technically isn't a solution.  I've been working on this, trying to say "mea culpa" more often. 

Except when I'm dealing with people who feel wronged, but say nothing, stewing over my secret sins. Some people just want put on the cloak of a martyr, and pull everyone else into their drama. I have an intense dislike for passive aggression.

Nope. Not happening.





In those cases, whatever I did, I am so not sorry.




The 100 word challenge is brought to you by Tara over at Thin Spiral Notebook. Go check her out!

100 Word Challenge: Pitcher Plant

A variety of delicious aromas wafted from the house a few times a year, tantalizing and tempting.  Many a weary and hungry traveler was drawn inside by those smells. 

The home was abandoned.  The roof had collapsed long ago, leaving the bones of the house disguised in the greenery of vines. Birds nested in the vestiges of the attic; mice furtively searched for seeds on the dirt floor.  Still, the smell of roasting turkey drew travelers inside, seeking dinner. They were welcomed, before floorboards opened, a maw of darkness swallowing their screams.

The house had an appetite of its own.




I'm trying out Tara's 100 Word Challenge once more, where the word is "dinner".  Check it out!

100 Words: Karaoke

We didn't have iPods or smart phones while I was growing up.  It was all about the radio, or the record player, for my eight year old self.  One of those portable record players resided in my room, and a Donny Osmond record was all I needed.  

As the needle began the revolution through the grooves of the vinyl, I waited for the scratchy sound of the music to begin.  Then I would sing at the top of my lungs, all about "puppy love", until my mother would suddenly yell that she had a headache. 

I made my own karaoke.



Go visit Tara at Thin Spiral Notebook to see other 100 word entries--or try your own hand at it!

100 Word Challenge: Weather

We welcome the springtime weather in Texas, as the storms wash away the allergens and dust that usually plague us all.  As we got ready for bed on this particular night, the storm arrived, right on time, with something extra.

Hail.

Every bang and thump sounded as if it would soon be landing on the carpet of our bedroom. I worried about the entire roof collapsing from the impacts.

Our life has been like that, these past two years. Cancer dropped heavily into our lives, and I worried that everything would collapse.

I'm still standing, and so is our roof.




Go visit Tara at the Thin Spiral Notebook to read other writer's entries for the 100 Word Challenge!

100 Words: Search

I've always been an explorer. Not the traditional kind. I don't have the energy or attention span for that.  My explorations involve the search for knowledge.

Back before the internet that search was intimidating. No Google, no Siri.  It was all about going to the library and hitting the books until you found what you were looking for.  My first attempt at searching for answers involved Gray's Anatomy. I was only five, but I was fascinated by the heavy tome.  Here were the answers to questions I hadn't even thought of yet! 

It was love by the first page turn.



Go check out Tara's Thin Spiral Notebook, to check out the 100 Word Challenge.  Join in!  

100 Words: South

I like to drive south. 

There aren't many people who would admit that the points on a compass can have an effect on their mood, but I'm not most people. Heading north makes me feel business-like, brisk and efficient. 

Driving south just seems to unwind the tightness between my shoulder blades. It doesn't seem to matter that I'm only headed down the road a few miles. The tension slowly begins to uncoil, and I feel like I can let go a little. 

And the fact that the beach is in a southerly direction? Doesn't have anything to do with that.


Visit Tara over at Thin Spiral Notebook.  She hosts the 100 Word Challenge, with a new word each week!  Plus she likes English Premier League football AND Justified!

100 Word Challenge: Liquid Amnesia

The record player was skipping, the words "Lay down, Sally" pelting me over and over; I sat up to holler about it.  The sudden pounding in my head reminded me that I'd consumed tons of alcohol last night.

Where was I? 

I quickly made a list of details.  I was in a stuffy bedroom; the door was closed.  I appeared to be alone, and I was wearing my rumpled clothes.

At least I had that going for me.

Histrionics hurled themselves at the gate of my self-control, but a calmer frame of mind was required now

I needed some coffee.




Go check out the 100 Word Challenge over at the Thin Spiral Notebook  Lots of fun writers over there! Also, Happy Easter!

100 Words: Wedding Day

Caroline was to marry Old Man Jenkins.

Her parents would receive a large sum of money, enough to pay off their years of frivolous debauchery.  Her father screamed that she would do her duty, then passed out.  It was the least that Caroline could do, her mother slurred, after all they'd done for her.  Then gin took her consciousness as well.

Her parents  had always treated her like the meal ticket she was, and nothing more.  Caroline couldn't think of anything to justify a claim of familial duty. Not even a single hug.

Caroline escaped from it all that night.


Go try the 100 Word Challenge over at Tara's Thin Spiral Notebook.  The word this week was 'duty'. 

100 Words: Habit

Garrett hit the alarm as it sounded, at exactly six in the morning.  He sat up, the same as every other day.  The dark quiet seemed oppressive, and Garrett drew breath deep into his lungs with difficulty.  Then it was out of bed and into the kitchen for breakfast.

Except the coffee maker was empty and cold. The kitchen was dark. His beloved wife was not standing at the stove, pink curlers in her hair, spatula at the ready.  Her kitchen was bereft, as lost and alone as he was now.

Garrett sat down at the kitchen table and cried.


Written for the 100 Word Challenge.  Go check out Thin Spiral Notebook and read the other entries.

100 Words: Last Words 1942

The paper was so thin, and the ink from my pen was soaked up, spreading into spidery veins of the page. Tearing a page from an old book was not an ideal way to leave a note, but I had no other choice, hiding in the library storage room. 

The soldiers were entering the front of the building, barking orders.  The stomping of boots became louder, and compelled my hand to hurry.

"My name is Olivia Schwarz.  I was here.  I lived. Don't forget me, World."

I stuffed the piece of paper in another book just before they found me.


Go and check out all the other entries at Thin Spiral Notebook!

100 Word Challenge: All About Perpective

She closely monitored the other girls and imitated their behavior with careful precision. No matter what she said or did, her classmate's voices murmured at her back like an icy cold wind, until her shoulders hunched with pain.

Where ever Callie went, the whispers followed her.

Weird, peculiar, strange, freakish...  

She could have let those voices linger after high school, shriveling her away to nothing.  Instead, Callie left town for the big city, where her particular peculiarities were discovered by an talent agency.  There were new whispers, murmuring over the surface of her skin.

Extraordinary, exceptional, remarkable...

She was invincible.


Tara over at Thin Spiral Notebook has taken over the 100 Word Challenge!  Go visit!