Fearful Heart - Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No. 21 - TWO TEXTS!!!

Welcome to the Romantic Friday Writing Challenge, where participants share their own 300-400-word text on a given theme. This week's theme for Friday, 30th September, Challenge No. 21, is 'Fearful Heart'.

Here is my text: [I've added an extra Sanna-&-Tomas-text! Scroll down past this first text about Eva.] This is the first text:

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'Hi, I'm on my way home.'

'Please come soon. Tommy misses you.'

'Alright. Kiss Tommy for me.' Eva put her phone in her back pants pocket. It was dark. She had been out with girlfriends and wanted to get home.

Should I take the short-cut through the park? she wondered, but didn't have time to think more about it, because she was grabbed from behind and pulled her off her bike. Her hands were tied behind her back. She was then blindfolded, before she could see her assailant.

'Hey, what's this all about?' said Eva, trying not to show fear. But she was fearful for her life.

'You're coming with me,' muttered a male voice.

A luney. I need to get away, thought Eva, as he picked her up and dumped her into what seemed to be the boot of a car. The floor was hard, damp and smelled of petrol and filth. Hearing the boot slam shut and then the sound of the engine, she checked to see if her phone was still there. Yes!

She pulled the phone from her back-pocket with her fingers behnd her back and pressed the emergency-number. Then she rolled over and held her face near the microphone.

'Emergency services, how may I help you!'

'Police', she whispered, 'I need the Police.'

'What has happened and from where are you calling?'

She told the dispatcher the location of the abduction. 'But I don't know where I am now.'

The dispatcher asked for her name, address and next of kin.

'We are tracing your phone now. Please keep the phone on. Are you able to speak up so that we can hear you better? '

'No, and I'm afraid to talk louder than this. He might hear me. Oh no, the car is stopping.'

'Hang on, I think we know where you are.'

'Please hurry', she whispered as she rolled over again and stuffed the phone back in her pocket. Suddenly the boot flew open and someone was pulling her out.

'Get on your feet.' orderd a harsh voice. She seemed to be lead up some steps and into a house.

She thought about the sweet smell of her baby son and the warmth of her husband's embrace, as she was pushed along. Dear God, let me see my baby and husband again!
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[Text Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren]

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Word count according to WordCalc: 399; FCA (Full Critique Acceptable - Write whatever you like. Constructive criticism is always welcome.)



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And here is an extra text, a prequel of Sanna's & Tomas' romantic story:

It was a group photograph with, if not all, at least twenty-two of the teachers at Sanna's daughter's school, taken on a nice autumn day, about a year ago. The photographer had arranged them in three rows, with ten teachers standing in the back row, eight sitting in front of these, and then four teachers sitting in the grass in front of them. Everyone looked happy.

Sanna found readily the image of Tomas far to the right in the back row. He looked especially handsome, smiling with his left hand resting on Katinka's shoulder, the female gym-teacher who sat in front of him. It looked like they really liked each other, and this could have been a source of jealousy for Sanna, but she suspected that it was simply the photographer's way of composing a picture, as Malte, the tall male gym-teacher, also rested his hand on the shoulder of the lady in front of him.

Sanna stod in the stairway hall of the school where this photo was hanging for anyone to see. She was facing the wall with the photo and had her back to the stairs. What if Tomas came bounding down the stairs and hugged her from behind? Or what if he put his hands over her eyes and asked 'Guess who?' But he would not do that at school. Or would he do that at all, anywhere? Sanna did not know enough about him other than that he was a teacher at her children's school. It worried her that she may have invested emotional energy in a man who was impossible to reach. He was most likely already married to the woman of his dreams. He seemed too happy, too harmonious, too sure of himself. In short, he seemed to be a man who already was loved. What Sanna saw, was perhaps how she wished that a man would look like, act like, because of her. But the sad fact of the matter was that he was probably happy because of someone else.

Sanna heard footsteps behind her and turned around to see who it was. It was Tomas bounding down the stairs. He looked at her, smiled, said 'Hello', and continued walking past her toward the headmaster's office.

Sanna went home with a fearful heart. She was not ready to stop hopping to be loved or liked by Tomas; but it seemed unlikely.

[Text Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren]
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Word count according to WordCalc: 400; FCA (Write whatever you like; Constructive criticsm is always welcome.)

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Best wishes,
Anna

P.S.
These two texts are both fictional.

The first text is fictional, but is based in part on events that have actually happened.

I know that this first story may be criticised for not having enough 'romance' in it. The heroine, Eva, does indeed have romance in her life, with her family, but someone is trying to remove her from everything that she loves. The threat of loss makes her family more dear to her. This is a study of fear. I have two sources of inspiration:

One is a real-life story from 'The FBI files' about a serial killer who murdered about a dozen women, except for this one teen-aged girl, whom he let go because she never saw his face. She also had the presense of mind to keep him talking and to play along with him convincingly. She was blindfolded the whole time and satt in the seat next to the driver's seat, so she couldn't have used a mobil phone, even if she had had one. What she did do to help the police find the killer was to memorise the number of stops and turns from where she had been taken. They could pin-point his home geographically. She spend several hours with this man before he finally let her go. While there in his home, she asked to use the toilet and behind the locked door, she left her fingerprints everywhere, in case she would not survive. She made certain that there was enough evidence to prove that she had been there.

Most people don't survive when a serial killer captures them like this. This is the exception to the rule. The other victims were all prostitutes. This girl was not; she was just an ordinary innocent girl. She later made her career in some branch of law enforcement.

The second source of inspiration is from a newspaper article about a young mother in Sweden who had been out one evening celebrating something with several girlfriends before riding her bike home to her husband and young children. She stopped riding a moment to call home on her mobil phone. At that moment, she was stabbed to death by a young foreign man who just happened to walk past. He took his anger out on the first person he saw. They did not know each other.

The idea of calling the police from a mobil phone while you lay bound in the boot of a car is my own take on this horrible scenario. It would not work if you are gagged. People who wind up in the boots of cars are often no longer alive. I want my heroine to survive.

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Text number two is a prequel to my suite about Sanna and Tomas who are completely made up characters.

First Commenter:

Madeleine Maddocks
of
Scribble and Edit





To read more texts for 'Fearful Heart', Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No. 21, Friday 30th September, please go to this site or click on the image below:

Anna's red heart earrings are in a RedTeam-Etsy-treasury!

This is a RedTeam treasury!





Best wishes,
Anna



First Commenter:

Ann Thompson



of
Ann's Snap, Edit & Scrap



and here is Duke, Ann's blogging-dog:

Lunch with Bev and Veronica - Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus - Week 73

Welcome to Saturday Centus, Week 73, Mrs. Jenny Matlock's writing challenge, where participants are asked to write a PG-rated text to a given written prompt. This week Jenny has asked us to write a Dialogue story and the prompt is 'Are you seriously ordering another martini?'.

Here are Jenny's instructions:

This week we are doing a DIALOGUE story.

All dialogue. Period.

WORD COUNT - 150 WORDS PLUS THE SIX WORDS OF THE PROMPT. Total word count not to exceed 156 words.
STYLE OF WRITING - DIALOGUE ONLY
NO PICTURES - PAINT THE STORY WITH YOUR WORDS
THE PROMPT THIS WEEK IS: "Are you seriously ordering another martini?"

Here is my text:

'Hi Bev dear, thanks for coming!'

'Thanks for the invitation, Ms.Wissenmacher. What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?'

'Call me Veronica, Sweetie. Your novel. Let's look at the menu. The ham and crab-salad's simply divine.'

'I'll take the omlette.'

'What about a cocktail? I've already started one.'

'Fine. Now, what about the novel?'

'Just some minor changes. The title for one.'

Waiter, please, another drink. What's wrong with the title? '

'Death on Sunday kinda gives away the whole plot.'

'She dies on a Sunday! She's terminally ill! Thanks, another martini.'

'Pity that she dies. Death puts a damper on things. We were hoping for a sequel.'

'Look, Ms. Wissenmacher...'

'Veronica.'

'Look, she simply must die. That's her story! To change that would... Waiter, another martini!'

'Now, Beverly. You ought to... Are you seriously ordering another martini?'.

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Word count: 150 plus the six words of the prompt.
[Text Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren]
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Best wishes,
Anna



P.S. This text is purely fiction. I haven't written any novel, and I never drink alcoholic beverages - ever. Here, I am really using my imagination, taking inspiration from scenes from old movies.
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First Commenter:
Anitamombanita


of
Lovin' Life



To visit other SC-posts for Week 73, please visit this site or click on the image below:

Blue Moon - Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No. 20

Picture source: Wikipedia


Picture Source: Wikipedia

Welcome to the Romantic Friday Writing Challenge, where participants share their own 300-400-word text on a given theme. This week's theme for Friday, 23rd September, Challenge No.20, is 'Blue Moon'.

(Please read last week's theme-text, 'Bouquet', first, if you have not already done that. You will understand 'Blue Moon' better if you do.)
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Here is my text:

Once in a Blue Moon

They folded their wings and stepped through the door, without noticing that they had been watched. She put the vase on a table in the middle of the all-purpose room with wood-stove and built-in beds with curtains.

'Hungry, Sweetheart?' she asked as they kissed.

'Famished,' he muttered between kisses.

'I'll make oatmeal', she replied, still kissing him, and without leaving him, she waved her hand and made the stove fill a pot with water and oats, and the fire burn hotter.

'Did you do a "stone-charm"?' she inquired.

'No. Better do it now'.

Meanwhile, Carl Linnaeus had gathered his samples and wrote quick notes before mounting his horse and riding away. But after a mile, he was disturbed by the thought that he had really seen two human-like creatures that could fly with their own wings. But that goes against all known laws of nature! And he should know. He was going to write a book about the laws of nature and give names to everything in the natural world. What were these creatures?

If he went now, he might still find them. Whatever they were. They had wings like insects or birds, but bodies like humans. Being small and light, they could be birds or bats. But their faces were so beautiful; and they could speak.

They spoke Swedish, but not the same dialect as Carl. He thought that he had understood what they said, but he was beginning to doubt himself. He might be able to describe them if he saw them a second time; just to be certain that they really were winged human-like creatures and not dragonflies.

Carl turned his horse around and rode back to where he had seen them earlier. It was still fairly light, as summer evenings always are in the far north. It might be light enough to see them, if they chose to reappear.

If it had been dark, Carl might have noticed that the moon was blue. There was a soft glow where he had first seen the little man. And there he was, standing by the hut.

'Good evening,' said Carl softly, 'My name is Carl and I study plants. Who are you?'

The tiny man replied quickly, 'No one!' and in a puff of sparkling smoke, he vanished into the little house, which promptly turned into a moss-covered stone.

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[Text Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren]

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Word count according to WordCalc: 396 ; FCA (Full Critique Acceptable - Write whatever you like. Constructive criticism is always welcome.)


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Best wishes,
Anna

P.S.
This text is a piece of fiction, even though I have use some facts about an historical person, Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), who published his first work on taxonomy called Systema Naturae in 1735, which lay the ground for modern binomial nomenclature, giving everything in nature two names and a place in the greater scheme of things.

Please read last week's theme-text, 'Bouquet' if you have not already done that. You will understand 'Blue Moon' better if you do.

More interesting reading: About älvor, if you can read Swedish; and articles in English about pixies and fairies. Each of these terms represents different traditions that are not necessarily interchangeable.


Picture source: Wikipedia

Thanks for reading!
Anna

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First Commenter:

Adura Ojo
of
Adura Ojo Presents





To read more texts for 'Blue Moon', Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No. 20, Friday 23rd September, please go to this site or click on the image below:

Anna just won a blog-award from Francine Howarth!

Francine Howarth has given me 'The Versatile Blogger'-Award!



Thanks for thinking of me, Francine!

Best wishes,
Anna



First Commenter:

Ann Thompson

(And here is Ann's sweet dog, Duke.)

This is Ann's main blog, Ann's Snap, Edit & Scrap:

'In the Autumn' - Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus Week 72 - Shake-up

Photo Copyright 2010 Christina Wigren

Welcome to Saturday Centus, Week 72, Mrs. Jenny Matlock's writing challenge, where participants are asked to write a PG-rated text to a given written prompt. This week Jenny has asked us to write lyrics to the melody of 'Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star' and the prompt is 'In the Autumn'.

Here are Jenny's instructions:

WRITTEN TO THE MELODY OF: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
WORD COUNT - Up to 32 words INCLUDING THE THREE WORDS OF THE PROMPT
STYLE OF WRITING - Lyrics, rhyming
USE A PICTURE IF YOU LIKE
THE PROMPT THIS WEEK IS: "In the Autumn"




Photo Copyright 2010 Christina Wigren

Here is my text:

Gently, gently, leaves do fall. In the Autumn, one and all.
Sailing slowly through the air, from the trees, that now are bare.
Gently, gently, leaves do fall. In the Autumn, one and all.
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Word count: 28 plus the three words of the prompt, used two times.
[Text Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren]
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Best wishes,
Anna



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First Commenter:

beckyp

of

socially awkward but that's a-ok



To visit other SC-posts for Week 72, please visit this site or click on the image below:

Bouquet - Romantic Friday Writing Challenge No. 19 for 16th September 2011

Linnaea borealis (Source: Wikipedia)

Welcome to the Romantic Friday Writing Challenge, where participants share their own 300-400-word text on a given theme. This week's theme for Friday, 16th September, Challenge No.19, is 'Bouquet'.
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This week I thought I'd give my two romantic characters, Sanna and Tomas a rest. We should let them have some time to sort out their feelings.

In the meantime, here's a historical, romantic, short story with some previously unknown facts for 'Bouquet':

Linnaea borealis (Source: Wikipedia)

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) finds an unusual bouquet:


Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) Source Wikipedia


Linnaeus in the traditional dress of the Sami people of Lapland, holding the Twinflower that became his personal emblem.

It was 1732 and young Carl was finally off on his first exploratory journey to Lapland. He was not yet 25 years old and rode on horseback alone. He discovered a very small pink flower deep in the moss-covered woods. This rare flower Linnaea borealis or the Twinflower, with delicate funnel-like pedals, would later be an indicator of ancient untouched forest, and eventually be named after him, and become his emblem when he would be chosen for the house of nobility.

Carl sat looking at this tiny flower, when he suddenly observed a very small creature pick with nimble hands several blossoms. Carl was stunned. He was just about to first sketch and describe the plant and then preserve some samples in his plant-press. What had he just seen?

With his eyes, he followed the tiny figure of what appeared to be a little man with wings. The miniature man followed a path through bracken to what first looked like an ordinary stone, but upon closer inspection revealed itself to be a tiny hut with a wooden door.

With several of these rare blossoms in one hand as a bouquet, the tiny winged man knocked at the small wooden door. It opened and a beautiful little winged woman stepped out and greeted the little man, who gave her the bouquet of Linnaea-flowers. She happily received the bouquet and promptly put the flowers in a tiny vase, and then embraced the man. Their wings fluttered as they kissed and made them hover and inch or two above the ground.

Carl, the young scientist, was astonished. But he was worldly enough to realise that he could never write or even speak about what he had just witnessed. This was nothing for the scientific journals that would praise his Systema Naturae in years to come. So he watched breathlessly the tiny lovers, and tried to listen to what they said, before they disappeared into the hut under the bracken. Did he hear the words 'Thank you, darling'? Or was there an 'I love you, too!' ?

[Text Copyright 2011 Christina Wigren]


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Word count according to WordCalc: 343 ; FCA (Full Critique Acceptable - Write whatever you like. Constructive criticism is always welcome.)


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Best wishes,
Anna

P.S.
As I mentioned earlier, I decided not to write a story about Sanna and Tomas this week. This text is fictional, even if I am using facts about an historical person. I wanted to write a poem for this post, but after several unsuccessful attempts, I gave up and wrote this whimsical account of some unknown facts about one of Sweden's most famous scientists. Carl Linnaeus was one of the few scientists who was also a poet. His journals are filled with observations written in a, shall I say, 'romantic' style, that no modern scientist would use today.

Thanks for reading!
Anna

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First Commenter:
Joy
of
J.L. Campbell - Snippets & Splashes





To read more texts for 'Bouquet', Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No 19, Friday 16th September, please go to this site or click on the image below: