Thank you to everyone for joining in this week (28/07/17), and reading / liking / commenting on each other’s stories. You don’t have to be a Friday Fictioneer to read/like/comment on the stories on offer so please don’t be shy, there is a mix of styles and storylines all inspired by the same photo. This week’s photo was provided by © J Hardy Carroll.
Thanks, as ever, to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers so congenially. Definitely the hostess with the mostess!
The following one hundred word flash fiction is my second story based around this week’s photo prompt. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed reading yours.
TINA’S EXCHANGE
by
Kelvin M. Knight
Go on, I dare you! The voice crackled out of the cradled handset. Double dare you!
Stripped back to her rebellious childhood, Tina was compelled to reach out. The moment her fingers brushed the ancient telephone, more appeared. Left and right, telephones repeated into the distance as though distance no longer existed.
Neither now does time.
What? Tina’s voice crackled out of the cradled handset. Where am I?
The exchange.
What exchange? Voices howled out of every handset.
My judgment; your soul.
I’m sorry, pleaded Tina.
Click. A waterfall echoed inside her telephone. And she knew. She was on hold.
(100 words)
Kelvin M. Knight 
Spooky! A well-drawn scene in just 100 words!
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Hey, Esha, thanks for reading, and commenting. Really kind of you.
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A true horror story!
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Sounds like any minute she’ll wake up and find it a nightmare. The telephones multiplying give the sense of infinity.
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Infinity, yes, that was the helpless sensation I was after. Waking up and finding it all a bad dream would be so cliched. Thanks for reading and commenting Christine- sorry if it wasn’t your cup of tea. 🙂
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You’re right: waking up from a dream is cliche; I go that route on occasion, though. Maybe because I’ve been so prone to crazy dreams all my life. 🙂
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Ditto.
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Dante’s Limbo. Now a days we suffer each time we try to contact a service provider.
Lovely take.
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On hold? That’s purgatory right there. Well written, absolutely chilling.
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Thank you Varad. Yes, it does sound like purgatory doesn’t it. Hmmm 🤔
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Wooooah! Nicely done Kelvin. You have an amazing gift of words.
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Thank you, Natasha – what a lovely comment to wake up too 😊
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:))
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On hold at the judgment: Hilarious. You probably did not intend this to be funny, but I think I have a quirky sense of humor. A very creative take on the prompt.
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Oooooo fabulous! What a moment in time… loved this
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Chilling set up for a psychological horror from Hell. Lovely stuff, Kelvin. Being on hold will never be the same again 🙂
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Here I’m on my my new Android Mobile, wondering what’s a telephone, oh how “times there a changing”. Ha old fashioned Ivor !!
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Mobile, Ivor. You connected now. To. The. Grid. (Cue sinister laughter)!
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Dear Kelvin,
You are the prolific one. This one goes beyond chilling. On hold? You’ve created a frightening masterpiece with this one.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Horrifying.
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A tale of cosmic revenge. Just one catch – what is the “more” in the setence “The moment her fingers brushed the ancient telephone, more appeared” – more fingers? more telephones?.
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Thank you for the catch. More telephones. Fixed now.
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