Friday, March 28, 2014

Flash Fiction Friday

New FFF format: Instead of a maximum limit, we now have a minimum of 800 words for each post.  That way if we feel our post should continue we can write our little hearts out, and if we don't want a long post 800 words is managble for all of us. Some posts will probably be short (800+) and posted on fridays due to my schedule right now. 

We'll use one of two skip passes we've been allotted for each month.  This also means we can post bi-weekly if we want, or just take a week off.

Use our own prompt or to use the one given. This week's given prompt - Discovery

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Faye reached down coming away with a fist full of dirt. She cupped her hand in front of his face letting the earth swirl in her palm. A small clear vile formed housing a foggy liquid. Looking closer Richard could make out trees and mountains forming in the liquid base of the round potion vile. His eyes brightened with the realization as he watched the changing scenery of the countries they’d seen together. The pictures formed and melted away leaving a new scene within moments. He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. Attaching the corked vile to a straw string, she tied it to his neck. 
Acknowledging his appreciation with a sad smile “Better than photos.”

Richard could feel Liam in the distance. Giving the couple their privacy, he took the trail leading away until he was surround by a thick canopy of trees. He laid out on the forest floor, placing a hand behind his head. Thoroughly pleased with his gift, he held the vile up against the moonlight.

“I’ve missed you.” Richard admitted more to himself than Faye. Feeling her fingers brush through his hair was her only reply.
“I shouldn’t have gotten involved.”

“With?” resting her head on her arm. 

Richard tilted his head out into the woods signifying the couple who had disappeared into it. 

“Good chance things are going to go south especial if he’s not growing old anytime soon.”

“If Liam lives a thousand years and Quinn is only a fraction of a moment in time, it will be a moment Liam carries with him always.” she reached out to touch him again, needing the contact. 

“Sometimes that’s worse.” 

He continued to toy with the bottled memories. So small in his hands yet the enormity of it all rushed back to him as he starred at the images. 



"This is what you want me to feel?" Richard looked to his mother slapping her hand away. 

He could feel the emotion in him as if it were his own, because it was. He was overcome with heartbreak and longing but he knew it was a trick. Valla had a talent for manipulating emotions. Giving a sample of what the future held for the recipient should they remain on a certain path. The anguish in his heart was not his future. It was only what his mother wanted him to believe he convinced himself. His time with Faye had been exhilarating but she had no power over him. He knew what they were and more importantly what they weren’t. Their relationship was harmless because he had no expectations. Faye couldn’t hurt him. His mother, paranoid and overprotective, was grasping at nothing.

Valla never wanted to hurt her son. She knew her tactics were cruel but less so then the alternative.  She hoped allowing him to feel this torment would bring him to his senses. Under different circumstances, she would have been overjoyed. She trusted Faye with her life just not with her son’s heart. Though Richard denied it, Valla hadn't missed the look in his eyes. The spark that lit through him when Faye reentered their lives. From that moment on the woman she loved and respected became a danger. Faye was not only powerful, she was a wind storm you couldn’t control or predict. Humans were not the only ones who could be driven mad by lust. Their kind were susceptible to heartbreak only the outcome was far worse. A bitter, lovesick incubus could easily ravage a city. The council she sat on was in place to regulate such destructive behavior. She couldn’t risk her son going rogue. She didn’t ever want to be forced to make an example out of him. 

Rocking on his heels, Richard had ventured away from their estate to get as far away from his mother has he could. He sat near the edge of a small lake hugging his knees to his chest. His eyes low in a lustful haze as they followed the tiny beads of water down the curves of her tanned skin. Her wet hair like deep rich honey dancing on the water around her. His heart pleaded to move closer but his limbs failed him. He was paralyzed in his position. He desperately wanted to be the water that caressed every inch of her frame. Protected from sight by lush branches, he was content to stay there forever. Feeling his power rise, he mentally chastised himself. Suddenly uneasy with their proximity. A wave a nausea hit him momentarily crippling him. Whatever little will power he clung to was gone. He had denied his feelings for so long. Now watching it all play out, he realized somewhere along the line she’d slipped past his defenses. He’d lost part of himself in her. Now his only recourse was to strike first. Exit while he still had some dignity, before she destroyed him. Knowing if he could gathered the will to walk away from her, he could do anything. Guard himself against anyone. This self discovery left him empowered yet emptier than he’d ever felt.



“Have you ever loved anyone Faye?” realizing she had been studying him closely while he drifted through the past.

“Of course.”

His laugh was humorless. “Of course. I meant have you ever been in love? More than a fleeting moment that is.”

She pondered her answer. When Richard was born Faye had been gone for decades. It wasn’t entirely unusually to disappear for a while. They spent years like humans spent vacation days. Though she’d kept up with Valla, by the time she settled back in Richard was already grown up. Anxious for a life outside of the prestigious council life his parents had pushed for, she had given him the excitement he craved. In turn she discovered he brought something to her own life that had never been there before. Still she could see the distance in his eyes. She felt it in the reserved way he touched her, he kept part of himself from her. 

“There were a million fleeting moments between us I was very much in love with.”