Game?

Today Pegman and k. rawson took us to a beautiful place, Portmeirion Village, Wales. Another place for the bucket list.

Note: Meet at the blue bench in front of Mary’s statue.
I look from the paper to the benches, there are three.
Note: Sit on the correct one or your daughter will vanish forever.
How does one choose?
Note: Be there by 4 p.m.

3:45: Mary seems to be laughing, mocking, as my heels click-clack across the cement.
My husband is playing our game which has morphed from
Hide-the-Lipstick to today’s installment – Find-Your-Daughter.
Each time he presents the game the reward or punishment runs the gamut from
diamonds or pearls to a night in a cellar filled with spiders.

Before today, the anticipation thrilled me,
never knowing when he would offer a new riddle or what the outcome would be.
Not now. The stakes are too high.
Bench #1 – gum stuck to the seat
Bench #2 – too cold
Bench #3 – last choice
I wait, shivering, while wind rattles oak branches like bones.

(147-words)

 

 

The Impromptu Audition

Thank you, Bjorn Rudberg, for this amazing photo prompt and thank you, Rochelle, for posting it! I so look forward to Wednesdays and the challenge of writing a 100-word story.

Jittery. Legs shaking.
Ramon shuffles through the curtain of sparkling lights.
Fingers numb. Eyes twitching.
He balances on the three-legged stool
with frayed webbing.

When had he last played?
Ah, yes, his daughter’s fifth birthday
The day he left – was taken.
Today is Anya’s seventh birthday.
If she’s still alive.

Ramon raises the bow,
sees: broken strings, warped wood.
How can he play?
How can he not?
His life depends on it.

The violin’s neck is slightly cracked.
The chinrest feels like ice.
Still, Ramon begins to play a piece by Wagner.
One he’s always despised.

Josef Mengele smiles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele A link to read more about Josef Mengele if you’re so inclined.

An InLinkz Link-up

https://static.inlinkz.com/cs2.js