This week we chose to use the words “MOVE & MAKE” provided by David Ellis.
I
turn back
A star falls
A bright light shifts
New fate is arranged
Stardust, airborne wishes
I compose my inner mind
Life has to change for the better
An ancient force has prepared the way
All will assemble in the red desert…
©anitadawes 2020
James Wainwright picks up a hitchhiker and discovers two things 1. The woman he picks up is his childhood sweetheart, only Seventeen years older. 2. He is no longer of this world.
James began a road trip alone in his 1956 Oldsmobile. He stops for a hitchhiker only to discover she is his childhood sweetheart, Sam, who disappeared seventeen years before. James learns from Sam falling asleep miles back caused him to perish in a one-car accident. He also comes to understand that Sam was taken and murdered all those years ago, and now she has come back to help him find his eternal home.
The pair visit a number of times and places and are witness to a number of historical events. The rules dictate that they do no harm to the time continuum. Trying to be careful, they inadvertently come to the attention of Lucifer who would love to have their souls as his subjects. They also find a threat to human survival and desperately need to put in place the fix necessary to save mankind.
The question becomes, will James find his eternal home in grace or lose the battle with Satan for his immortal soul and the future of human life with it? If you like time-travel, adventure, mystery, justice, and the supernatural, this story is for you.
The prologue to Eternal Road reads like any good murder mystery, followed by a quite normal beginning to chapter one, but that’s when normal left the building!
Eternal Road is a beautifully written and unique story in so many ways. A love story, an exhilarating adventure, and interesting variations of history, all rolled into one.
This story encompasses all your different emotions, as it explores life and death, good versus evil, and considering the afterlife can be such a sad subject, I found no sadness in this story.
On the contrary, I found the chemistry between Sam and James heart-warming as they try to make sense of their predicament and learn how to handle it. The ending was a surprise for me, being a lifelong romantic at heart, but I understood the reasoning behind it.
And because of this, I have the feeling there could be more from John Howell on this theme and that’s fine by me!
© Jaye Marie 2020
Don’t hesitate, go for it
Time is a butterfly
Beautiful in its fleeting moments
A jewel waiting to be polished
To be turned into something
Of great value
Grab every moment
Squeeze it for all it’s worth…
©anitadawes 2020
I watch from a distance
As his beautiful hands spread gel through his hair
I know he is careful, he won’t spill a drop
His skin flawless, glows, but for one small
crescent shaped scar on his right shoulder.
I left my number, hoping he would call
My name on a list of many might mean nothing to him
I hoped my manuscript would sting his conscience
that he would bend to the will of my words
Remember that one night
When I left my mark on his skin.
This manuscript is no frilly romance
More vengeance for having been kicked to the kerb
Would he dare to publish my words?
©anitadawes 2020
October 15: Flash Fiction Challenge
October 15, 2020, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about chores. It doesn’t have to be a western ranch chore; it can be any routine task.
Picking blueberries would not have been a chore
Ironing my stepfather’s underwear definitely was
As a ten-year-old, I thought it ridiculous
But mother insisted
Another, was polishing his shoes plus my brothers
At least they were smaller.
Sitting beside my baby brother’s cot
Stroking his head, trying to get him to sleep
With the sun shining
through my mother’s bedroom window
Reminding me I should be playing outside.
That day, something broke in my heart
I felt a strange kind of dislike towards my mother
that grew over the years
Today I decided to bury that memory…
©anitadawes 2020
This morning I was chasing clouds
Now I am watching them
dancing naked by candlelight
Six beautiful nymphs with golden locks
Soft music spreading through my mind
As large willows brush the water’s edge
Should I be spying on a scene from a fairy-tale?
Moving slowly, my bare feet touching water
Looking down, I could not see my reflection
The water clean, clear
Reflecting willow fronds, flickering lights
Dancing nymphs
Where am I?
©anitadawes 2020
Beauty disguised as decay
Gothic windows, painted by time
Kissed by autumns warm orange
Trees stripped of their summer leaves
Above the balcony
Behind dirty windows
Shadows linger, layers of time live together
Unaware of each other
Objects move by unseen hand
No one owns up to having touched
Late at night, whispered words of
are we haunted, touch the interior
Do ghosts live here?
©anitadawes 2020
Autumn Daydreams, #Haiku
Haikai Challenge #159/#160 (10/10/20): Fall Foliage/Goose (Kari) #haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga#Haikai Challenge #159/#160 (10/10/20): Fall Foliage/Goose (Kari) #haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga
Crisp
Crunching
Under foot
Orange flashing
Autumn dancing by
Time moving nature’s gown
Cold winter frost lies waiting
Where rivers run with time passing
Old voices whisper in dark forests
Soft spun silken moon hangs dark on blue skies…
©anitadawes 2020
UPDATE
This was originally posted as one of Colleen’s challenges, but this was wrong. It was for Frank Tassone and for some reason I chose the wrong link!
So sorry, Frank!
