Welcome to a piece of Wednesday Word’s flash fiction on Darkling Dreams!
A good friend of mine, P.T. Wyant, is doing a blog post every Wednesday called Wednesday Words with a new prompt for a bit of flash fiction writing, just to get in the habit of writing something, anything. (Even if said flash fiction is complete garbage at the time. Garbage is better than nothing though, right?) If you’re looking for some inspiration yourself or just something to aimlessly write, then go check out her blog for this week’s prompt!
With that being said, I am going to share what I came up with for this week’s flash fiction prompt based off a three word combination prompt. So here is my very rough around the edges minute of inspiration based off her prompt. I’d love to hear what you guys think of it!
(Please excuse any errors you may see, I said it was rough around the edges.)
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Reality’s Escape
Keanna reached up on tiptoes, her bare feet squishing into the soft moss and ferny forest floor. Droplets of dew hung along everything like glistening raindrops as she reached up to the floating, twinkling light. Her fingers wiggled as she tried to touch it but it bounced out of her reach, tinkling like bells as it bobbed away.
“Heyyy,” she protested, sticking her lip out.
Another orb of light floated down and bounced off her head a moment before zipping away in a zigzagging pattern in front of her, tinkling in a teasing way.
Keanna laughed, holding her arms out and making grabby motions as she gave chase after the Forest Sprite. “Come back here!” she giggled.
The violets popping up through the ferns bent under her feet before springing back upright as she passed, chasing the Sprite all around the hilly cove. The full moon was streaking rays of soft light down on her and the Sprites, making her glow in the dazzling light. The bare trees allowed the maximum of moonlight to rain down on her. The Sprites seemed brighter from the shafts of light.
The cluster of thirty Sprites or so danced and jingled around her. Some of them were zooming out of her way when she ran by, others were giving chase to her as they followed her along, bouncing along each other. Some were playing cat and mouse with her, coming within her arm’s reach before bouncing up high into the sky to shine overhead like the blanket of stars above her.
She giggled as a pair of the orbs dipped down and started to bounce in a circle around her head, leaving a crown of woven light hovering above her head in the shape of a dainty tiara. She stopped giving chase and started dancing around, one hand holding her skirts up, the other outstretched like she was dancing with a partner as she waltzed around. The biggest grin pulling at her lips.
“Out here I am not a Princess,” she sobered to the Sprites, looking up cross-eyed at her forehead to see the shining tiara light. “Out here I am simply Keanna, lover of kittens and horses, and the color purple.”
As if the Sprites understood, the woven light suddenly dissipated into thin air, leaving her tiara-less. Satisfied, she couldn’t help but smile and waltz around, humming to herself. A couple Sprites hovered around her outstretched hand like they were her dancing partner, following her twirls and steps as they jingled along in tune to her.
She didn’t know how long she stayed out in the moonlight, dancing, lost in her own fantasy world inside her head. An imagination run wild with adventure and intrigue. She wished she could stay out here all the time, not having to deal with the boring royalty proceedings. She was always scolded for not being able to sit still, or not paying attention, or taking her shoes off, or dirtying her dress. Especially that last one.
Keanna wished she could dance every night in the forest with the Sprites under the moonlight. That she could fall asleep in the mossy bed and watch the shooting stars go by, drawing out pictures in the twinkling lights of night.
But that was frowned upon. A Princess wasn’t supposed to be such a free spirit.
Her head tilted back as she began to twirl in a circle, putting her arms out to her sides. She spun and spun, her skirts fanning out, until she became dizzy and toppled backwards into the cushiony forest bed, staring upwards in both bliss and regret she could not always be out here. Her chest rose and fell more, little puffs of air leaving her lips in the chilly air.
The Sprites hovered and settled around her, some even seeming to bed down in the moss beside her. She watched the stars dance in the night sky, the moon glowing brightly, and the orbs dancing in the spotlights. Sleep began to pull her eyes closed eventually and she turned onto her side, curling up with her arms folded under her head.
A content sigh slipped from her lips, peaceful sleep dragging her down under.
“Princess Keanna!” a voice called, jolting her from her reverie. Her eyes opened and her lips tugged down, pushing herself up to sit. “Princess Keanna, Her Grace wishes you home and in a bath.”
Blissful peace shattered from her heart once more and she sighed heavily, forcing herself to her feet and smoothing her skirts out. She walked over to retrieve her shoes, slinging the tied laces over her shoulder and getting dirt on her garment. The orbs bounced along after her, tinkling sadly that she had to leave once more.
“I know…” she whispered to them as she reached her Shetland pony. Giving her a pat on the neck, she untied the reins from the tree branch and scrambled up quite unladylike into the side saddle. “Cupcake and I will be back,” she promised the orbs, blowing them a kiss that they gathered in a bunch to catch. The orbs played a soft tune in return as Keanna turned her pony away and started trotting towards the chains of reality.
Now you can find this flash fiction work and others on my profile on Wattpad! Click here for my profile and go dive into a sea of Shards of Imagination!
Also, as I work to play catch up from my latest computer crash, I will be posting the Shards of a prompt I missed from May and June directly to Wattpad each week. That means two Shards every week! Those old prompts will not be posted to my blog so if you wish to see the old one of the week, you’ll have to hop on over to my profile on Wattpad.
The next oldest one from June 15th went live earlier today. You can find Nightmare Mists on Wattpad!
Darkling Dreams 