Trees: A 100 Word Story

storytime.pngYup, it’s flash fiction time again! As always, this is based around Laurence Simon’s weekly challenge for the 100 word-stories podcast. It’s a great exercise for writers – writing a good drabble is a lot harder than it appears, but is still a "small" task so you can get around that idea of it being too much work. And then you get a random (and often bizarre) writing prompt to shoehorn you out of writer’s block! Go read the rules for the Weekly Challenge and participate!

You can hear my reading of the story below using the player, but if it’s not working (usually in RSS feeds), you can download it directly here. You can also read and hear the rest of the entries at the 100 Word Stories podcast site!

angry hand tree shadow knight thingieThey came on the quiet night, the still night, the silent night.

After the fat man in red clothes had flown away, they marched down the streets, the alleys, across the yards, to the houses.

Flashing colored lights lit their bodies, their twisted gnarled limbs as they creaked and moved. Their footfalls shook milk in glasses left beside earnest notes. Their fingers screeked across windowpane glass.

Children rose from their beds at the noise, hoping to catch the giver of gifts.

And so they, the little ones, bore first witness to the day the forests came to avenge their kin.