Awakened (flash fiction)

Awakened

One evening I was in a forest and came across eight stones that formed a circle. When I looked closer, I saw each stone was actually made up of expertly stacked smaller stones. Being curious in nature, I managed to prise one of them free and the stone structure instantly collapsed. I saw a dark winged shape rise up.

“I’m now free, after being imprisoned for thousands of years! For aiding in my release, you will be spared.” Then it laughed coldly and flew off into the night. I wondered what evil I had inadvertently unleashed upon the world…

Joanne Fisher

This was written with the prompt stone-stacking provided by the Carrot Ranch June 6 Story Challenge.

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©️2022 Joanne Fisher

Absolutely! (flash fiction)

And Finrod fell before the Throne by KuraiGeijutsu

Absolutely!

I sat back in my throne as my advisor walked in.

“There’s been an outcry over your new measures. People are objecting.”

“Then kill the ones that object.” I replied. They went pale.

“What if I refuse to carry out that order?”

“Then you will be executed too.”

If they hadn’t wanted a bloodbath, then they shouldn’t have let me become World Leader with unlimited power.

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 65 + prompt

This was written with the prompt outcry provided by Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #261.

As the saying goes: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Imagine if you suddenly had absolute power: How long would it be until you became a tyrant? The Lord of the Rings, for example (not related to the above fiction), acknowledges this issue. Both Gandalf and Galadriel are offered the Ring of Power at different times, but they both end up refusing it as they know where it will lead. Yes at the beginning their intentions would be good, but gradually they would end up becoming Dark Lords themselves. Something to think about…

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©️2022 Joanne Fisher

The Turning (flash fiction)

The Turning

Sofia lay back on her bed. Andreea stood over her.

“Are you really sure you want to do this?” Andreea asked.

“Yes.” Sofia replied.

“There will be no going back. Once it’s done, it’s done.” Andreea reminded her.

“I know. I’m ready.” Sofia told her looking into Andreea’s dark eyes. Andreea bit her wrist until blood flowed, then she laid it over Sofia’s mouth. Sofia grabbed her arm and drank deeply. After a short time, Andreea pulled her arm away and then bent down. She bit Sofia’s neck and began to feed.

As Sofia felt her life ebbing away, she knew in a few days she would wake up as a vampire, or not at all. Whatever happened, she was ready to leave her humanity behind.

Joanne Fisher

Inspired by a prompt, but I intentionally let it run over the word limit.

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©️2022 Joanne Fisher

Goodnight (poem)

Goodnight

I was lost in the dark
her arms around me
cold breath on my neck

she kissed me on the lips
her sombre eyes staring
into mine.

"Goodnight" she said
as though a farewell, 
then she proceeded 

to rip my throat apart
with her sharp fangs

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 45 + prompt

New year, same old fascinations….

This was written with the prompt goodnight provided by Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #242.

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©️2022 Joanne Fisher

The Pig Farm (flash fiction)

The Pig Farm

“Never trust a man with a pig farm.” Nina remembered her father saying as she knocked. A large man opened the door. He wore coarse-looking clothes and smelt strongly of pig shit and sweat.

“You again!” the man said gruffly. She nodded while holding the back of her hand to her nose in an attempt to block out the smell. With her other hand she passed him an envelope. The man took it and briefly looked through it. “You need a hand little lady?” She gritted her teeth as she nodded again. She hated being called that.

“Sure.” she finally replied. He followed her to the car. She opened the boot, and the two of them lifted the body out. They then walked around the farmhouse carrying the body to where the man kept his pigs. Once the body was thrown into the pigsty, she walked back to her car.

“See you again soon I guess.” the man called out after her as she was leaving.

It was her job to make some people disappear. She didn’t know why they had to disappear, but she had learned not to question it. It was not a job she liked, but it paid well and she turned out to be rather good at it. Besides, if she ever refused it might be her own body being fed to the pigs next. Sometimes the pig farmer offered her some salted pork or even large slabs of bacon, but she always said no. She knew what those pigs ate.

Joanne Fisher

Why I should clear my search history….

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©️2021 Joanne Fisher

She Escapes (flash fiction)

• 

She Escapes

When he arrived home, he found the door to the basement was open. With his heart thudding in his ears, he quickly went down the stairs and found the cage he had kept her in was empty, the door hanging wide open. How she had escaped he had no idea. He went back upstairs. Already it was dark and quiet outside. She could be anywhere by now. He sat down on a couch and waited for the inevitable. Soon there was the sound of many sirens approaching. They wouldn’t understand that with her free, the world would soon end.

Joanne Fisher

This was written with the prompt to write a story about an open door provided by the Carrot Ranch August 5 Flash Fiction Challenge.

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©️2021 Joanne Fisher

Always Waiting… (poem)

• 

Always Waiting...


I'm always waiting
for you

but you never
arrive

just as well
you see

I don't deserve
love

certainly not
from you

I'll sabotage
anything

left between
us, so

you're better
to stay away

the damaged and
the broken

are loners by
choice, yet

often wishing
we weren't



Joanne Fisher

Sometimes I need to get these off my chest.

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©️2021 Joanne Fisher

Dark Blood (poem)

• 

Dark Blood


what a way to die -
seizures on the sidewalk
on a dark Halloween night

you wanted to escape
the tinsel people
the sick and the hungry

to fill the emptiness:
heroin, LSD, cocaine,
marijuana, valium...

whatever you need
within arms reach,
who could save you

when your insides 
are like a dead crab
picked over by gulls

and there is not
enough
substance

Joanne Fisher


Originally published in JAAM 12

I haven’t had much time to write lately so I’m falling back on an old poem. When I put my first collection together I didn’t include this poem as I felt it was too weak. Revisiting (and giving it a rewrite) makes me wonder it was better than I thought at the time.

When I wrote this I had just read a biography of the actor River Phoenix who died on October 31, 1993. At the time he was working on the film Dark Blood. They had just shot the exterior parts of the film in the desert and then come back to Hollywood to shoot the interior scenes in a studio. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Phoenix went on a drugs binge that led to his death and the film was never completed. The director George Sluizer ended up releasing the film in 2012. He narrated the parts that never got shot, and having seen it recently, you do get a sense of what was lost. It would have been a very intriguing film had it been shot in it’s entirety and it touches on some very dark themes, which probably didn’t help Phoenix at the time. The list of drugs in the poem is what was found in Phoenix’s bloodstream after his death. I find it sad when obviously talented people throw away their lives needlessly.

On an unrelated note my blood is a rather dark colour similar to the colour above, just so you know…

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©️2021 Joanne Fisher

The Vampires (poem)

• 

The Vampires


after all
they do exist
always coming for you
in the dark

standing in Stygian doorways
grasping for the ones
filled with light
like a hand smothers
a candle

they whisper 
flattery, their
words hissing
through their
white perfect
teeth
waiting

to puncture
your fragile skin
and blood-gorge
on the spirit
leaving you

hollow and broken
and diminished


Joanne Fisher

This is another older poem., though I gave it a rather severe edit.

Not literally about vampires, but people who drain your energy, or use you for their own purposes….

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©️2021 Joanne Fisher

Restless (poem)

• 

Restless


I hide away, my insides churning
in a restless world forever turning
always seemingly on the brink of burning


Joanne Fisher

Word count: 19

This was written with the prompt restless provided by Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #206

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©️2021 Joanne Fisher