02-18-25 WRITING PROMPT SUBMISSIONS

Posted by Matthew Bockholt on February 18, 2025 at 9:28 pm

Prompt: A scene with at least 1 “Yes, but…” or “No, and…” writing technique.

Max Words: 300

POV: Writer’s Choice

Tense: Writer’s Choice

Challenge: Must use the following words (any tense): vibrant, gloomy, crisp, serene, fierce, wander, ignite, sculpt, whisper, devour, horizon, echo, compass, veil, oasis.

Matthew Bockholt replied 17 hours, 9 minutes ago

              Car Ride

Traci Dowe/Kenworth

Vibrant blue skies held despite our gloomy expressions.

          “Are we going to Toronto?”

          “Yes, but…”

          “What about the Falls?”

          The crisp sound of a potato chip bag hit the silence.

          “No, and…”

          I rolled my eyes at the serene glance out the window by my cousin, Harry. I wanted a fierce travel mate not what I’d gotten.

          “We’ve wandered from the map too far as it is, Jessie.”

          My stepfather ignited a match and lit his cigarette sculpting spirals of smoke.

          “It just keeps getting better,” Harry whispered.

          Outside, a crow devoured some roadkill.

          My stomach turned.

          “Let’s see what we notice over this next horizon,” Mom said.

          Somewhere, a tire squealed and echoed into the noisy chatter of traffic.

          “Where’s the compass pointing?” my stepfather asked.

          “Due North.”

          A veil of sunlight shot over the cars, an oasis against the coming night.

          “Can’t we stop up here?” my stepfather said.

          “Sure. But what even is the point of this trip if we’re gonna just stop every couple hours?”

          My stepfather glanced at her. “We wanted to get away, didn’t we?” He shrugged. “We got away.”

          We coasted into a motel room. The kind with the dinky beds and the even scarier prompts of some icky critter winding up on my blanket or worse yet, stomach in the middle of the night or first thing upon awakening. I just wanted to go home already. At least there, I could play my game. I longingly thought of Final Fantasy VII the remake with Cloud’s huge sword and the dance graphics of the battle formations. That would be more fun than this.

          Mom nodded to a Buster Cones. “Let’s all grab one,” she said.

          Nothing melted the tension like an ice cream cone. Perhaps this drive would be all right after all.

https://traci-kenworth731.kit.com/ee579450c0

Click the link above to sign up for my Supernatural Fantasy series coming soon!

Thanks,

Traci