Friday Fictioneers challenges writers to come up with a 100-word story based on a photo prompt.
Thanks to Marie Gail Stratford for the photo this week.
Our contributions are below.
Joanna’s story ~ ‘A Gift of Crystal’
“It’s almost complete,” Terris grinned. “Hey, why no smile?”
I bit my lip. “Not enough citrine.”
Terris frowned. “Oh yes … and without the perfect blend of crystals…”
“… the grid won’t work. We need the right combination of carnelian and citrine.”
“So what now?”
After a pause, I unclipped my citrine necklace, offering it to my husband.
“Your healing band? You’re sure?”
I nodded. My fear would return. An agoraphobic in deep space: what an irony.
But firing the grid would give another year of life to our crew.
What was my pain, compared with the loss of so many?
[100 words]
As someone who regularly works with the subtle energy frequencies of crystals, this image immediately reminded me of crystal grids. “Firing the grid” is also a phrase sometimes used in healing terminology. I couldn’t resist weaving those words into a sci-fi tale. 🙂
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Ron’s Poem ~ ‘Empty Vessels’
Rays reflect emptiness
Coloured shells that contained
Each drained, each discarded
Stacked, useless, waiting
Store once full, now barren
Uncorked, exhausted, abandoned
All used – not replenished
Move on, find new, consume again
Until all is gone, just colour remains
A blue blob empty of life
Held in dark void – waiting
[52 words]
***
The tales written by other writers who’ve taken part this week can be found by clicking the blue frog below.
If you enjoy writing and would like to take part in Friday Fictioneers, please visit Rochelle’s blog for the “how to” guide. Rochelle does a superb job at managing the whole Fictioneers thing. 🙂 All are welcome.
If you’d like to read any of our earlier stories, they can be found here and on our old blog.
You’re welcome to connect with us on Twitter: we are @LazuliPortals.
Joanna and Ron | The Lazuli Portals
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The Lazuli Portals 
Joanna, a lovely story of sacrifice for the better good. Ron, I felt there was was a metaphor for people in your piece which was colored by the sadness of emptiness and uselessness.
janet
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Glad you enjoyed them both, Janet. Thanks for visiting and for your lovely comment. 🙂
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Joanna, your story of sacrifice fitted perfectly.. I could see that grid myself so I’m totally with you.. and Ron the poem of bottles .. discarded like most of us.. empty and consumed.. great thought here.
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Bjorn, thanks for your comment. Haha, the only other ‘connection’ I made with the image was the game Connect 4! 😀 Thanks for reading.
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Great sacrifice for your character to make. I’m assuming the science is good.
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They can but hope! Thanks for visiting. 🙂
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i liked both the imaginative, dramatic story and the character’s unselfishness.
i liked the poem as well.
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Thanks, K.Z. 🙂
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I’m not a big sci fi fan but loved Ron’s poem!
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Thanks, Dawn.
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Dear Joanna and Ron,
Two very different offerings from the two of you this week. I love the sci-fi with humanity. Agoraphobic in space? Oy. Well done story and poem.
shalom,
Rochelle
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Many thanks, Rochelle – I’m pleased you enjoyed them 🙂 Thanks for visiting and for all your hard work with the Fictioneers 🙂
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Joanna, I loved the way you wove your knowledge of crystals and healing into a story where the ultimate healer sacrifices for the greater good. And Ron’s poem felt like a warning to society about being wasteful. LHN
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Thank you very much, LHN 🙂 Your blog is so bright and lovely; I’ll be dropping by again later to comment on your story. Thanks for visiting us here!
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Joanna and Ron, Both the story and the poem were good. I could feel the character’s pain in sacrifice. The methaphor of the empty bottles used to possibly mean people emptied by life was a good one. Both were well written. 🙂 —Susan
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Thank you, Susan! 🙂
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