Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number One Hundred And Twenty-Nine, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was selected by Cenedra, and we went with Light.
The excellent theme music is by Guy David
VOTING
Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):
Anima
Ai! Mama, I am afraid!
What is it, hijo?
I saw the chupacabra! That is his shadow on the wall… he is outside!
You saw what? Your grandmother has been telling you
stories…She would have to talk to Abuela about frightening the boy.
I only see your cousin Lupito, coming home late… Go to sleep now, hijo mio.
Can I have a light, mama? The chupacabra might come back….
Just for a while…
Luz knew that soon, she would have to tell her son about the
family history, that there were real monsters, much much more frightening than some
village myth.
Nika
She sat on the hillside, shrouded by the shadows from a cluster of bushes. Gazing out over the city that had been her home for the past two years, the Hollywood sign loomed behind her. The lights of the city sparkled in the darkness, reflecting upward to paint the horizon a rusty shade of red. It had taken her months to resolve her decision on what to do next, but she had decided.
The breeze stirred, awaking her from her reverie as it whispered across her fur. Amber eyes turned upward to find the moon. It was time to leave.
Philip
Grimey black and grey tiles invited him down grocery store ailes of increasing gloom and darkened potential. Shadowed boxes and cans in layered dust offered hidden rewards.
Overhead the yellowed and brown stained palstic filtered the weak florescence, illuminating nothing.
He turned to look back and saw, far off, down a tunnel, or in a dream, a memory: the door.
When had he come in through the door?
Beyond the door was the city with its cars, and people, and places; and life.
Here was dark, an aisle, dust, and the door.
In the door was a window and light.
Tom
Fred woke up in hell. The light was dim but not dark. He looked around and saw this pleasant green glow he remembered from his childhood. His grandma’s round green
nightlight.
“That the devil’s nightlight” said Larry the demon.
“I thought hell was supposed to be full of torments. Why a night light?”
“Oh Heavens, there aren’t any torments here. The light is there so you don’t bump
your knee.”
“What about punishment?”
“Absence of God.”
“Hell that’s you so bad.”
Larry tucked Fred into bed and kissed him good night. Fred remembered just how much
he missed his grandma.
Steven
Harsh morning sunlight woke me in the field. I was beside the
gnawed-on corpse of Vinnie. Bits of shredded clothes and shredded
Vinnie slid off me when I stood up. Damn. Three weeks of undercover
work ruined because I was hungry and couldn’t remember wolfsbane.
I gave Vinnie’s corpse a once-over, not expecting anything left.
Chewed tendon, maybe, but not a… pre-paid cell phone. With an
incoming call on it.
My smile scared the desk cop when he traced the call, when he gave me
a name. Tonight, I will solve the case. Tonight, I will hunt by
moonlight.
Mike
He labored under the heavy burden, almost more than even he could lift, and began the trek home. The sun’s rays beat mercilessly from the cloudless sky, reflecting up at him from the white surface. The heat was intense, but he couldn’t stop. He had a task to complete – others depended on him.
Suddenly, just as pounding vibrations warned of approaching danger, a shadow passed over him and then a light brighter than the sun itself appeared, immobilising, searing him, until –
In the magnifying glass’s focused beam, the ant popped. The boy laughed, then went in search of more prey.
Almo
There is a time when a man has to choose. He sits at the bar, fingers
playing over the mahogany, thinking done. He stares into space for a
moment, reviewing once again the mental calculations, the logical steps, the
intuition that has brought him to this point.
He breathes and holds. He exhales long and hard.
His mind and conscience are clear.
The time for thought has been shoved aside by the time for action.
He glances up at the woman’s expectant face on the other side of the
bar, her body partially hidden by beer taps.
“Light,” he says.
Eva Moon
She noticed it as soon as she got up: she was lighter. Not thinner,
but somehow less affected by gravity. Her feet hardly touched the
carpet as she drifted downstairs. TV Newscasters were grim: global
warming, pollution, the end of the world.
She grew lighter as the day went on. By evening she had to hook her
toes under the edge of the cabinet to stay low enough to cook dinner.
Later, the moon shone bright in the window. She opened it and floated
up into the icy night. Around her countless other shapes were rising.
Spores seeking fertile soil.
Justin
Now dead, I’m not surprised by the tunnel or the light at one end. I am surprised that the light is a zippo. While I didn’t particularly believe in an afterlife until now, I’d seen enough movies to not be too surprised. I am a bit concerned, though. I never listened to anyone when they tried to tell me about God, Jesus loves me, all that stuff. The fact I was shot by cops after murdering has me on edge, too. I’m grabbing the zippo, nothing bad is happening. I guess I’ll travel the tunnel.
“Hey buddy, got a light?”
Fricker
I had a dream last night … a dream of my little girl swinging at the local
playground, laughing, smiling… enjoying life
A dream of her going off to school in cute little pigtails… carrying her
My Little Pony lunch box… enjoying life
A dream of teaching her how to drive and how not to drive like her father.
Being scared out of my wits when I gave her the keys for the first time, but
not showing it.
I awoke from my dream when she turned on the living room light. “Daddy,
it’s time to walk me down the isle.”
She is my light.
Planet X
The forces of light began gathering their troops for the battle against dark ones.
Billy Bob was one of the first to enlist into the legions of light, hoping to be amongst those who would make the assault.
The day Billy Bob was issued his Star Trooper uniform; he was so proud, parading around, showing off the power of it to his family and friends.
He trained day and night to be a Star Trooper of the mighty fleet of starships.
Billy Bob was more than puzzled when he was given his job classification, just what was a “Head” Orderly?
Jeffrey
“MIS, Jeff.”
“Hi Jeff, this is vendor Bill”
“Hi Bill.”
“Jeff, what’s the Joke?”
“Huh?”
“I got your package.”
“Help me out. I didn’t send a package.”
“It has a Polaroid of a computer screen.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“Nope!”
“I told you know who to get a screen shot of the error.”
“The one with the typewriter?
“The same.”
“Maybe If the light from the flash didn’t obscure the screen.”
Guy David
Back in their hotel room, Bob was looking at his now drunken Harriet with distaste. She was completely oblivious. Bob sighed. He remembered Mike the hacker’s ass, rising and falling rhythmically above his Harriet, both of them so deep in ecstasy that they didn’t noticed the light in the hallway or the fact that he was standing there, staring at them before he went back out into the street. He looked at that Burroughs book Harriet brought with her. He stared at the apple he just took a bite off. “Let’s play a little game of William Tell” he said.
Wilma
Planet Z
Brother Theodore closes the door to the church and goes from candle to candle, gently snuffing each with a brass implement caked in ancient wax and soot.
“We will not clean it until Christ’s return,” said his predecessor, just as he has taught his own eventual replacement.
“When do I light them?” asked Theodore.
“You don’t,” said the old priest hastily. “They light themselves. And don’t get curious about it. Just… believe.”
Theodore stayed up to watch. Every rector of the church did it. And every rector regretted it afterward, the sight of a smiling demon licking each wick aflame