Red Fox

Posted on January 7, 2024 by Etol Bagam

The chickens are loose, happily pecking on the ground of the farm.

One of them raises her head, trying to listen.

Silence.

She goes back to pecking.

From the woods at the end of the farm, a red fox watches. He’s hungry.

Slowly the fox steps closer to the field. The chicken gets alert again, looks around.

Silence.

Once she’s back feeding and relaxed, fox makes a run towards them. He’s fast. Like a red lightning, it passes by. Once you realize what’s happening, he’s gone.

One chicken goes missing. A trail of red dots leads to the forest.

This post was written in response to January2: Story Challenge in 99-words, hosted by Carrot Ranch

Hansel and Gretel

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Etol Bagam

He escaped from prison long ago and since then have been living in the woods.
His crime?
Abuse and cannibalism.
Police went crazy trying to find him, but the woods were so tight that he was able to hide well enough.

Last year a new house was built at the edge of the woods.
A house with adventurous kids.

The kids would explore the woods from time to time.
A boy and a girl, like Hansel and Gretel.
They were thin and tiny.
He watched from his hideout.
Peering from the woods.

Someday they would be big and plump…

This post was witten in reponse to the August 9: Flash Fiction Challenge, hosted by Carrot Ranch.

It’s been a while that I don’t write. Life has been busy and creativity not being exercised. Hopefully I’ll find some more time, but no promises here….

As for the theme I chose within the prompt suggestion… well I’ve been reading lots of horror literature…
Hope you enjoy this tiny treat. ;o)

Version in Portuguese: João e Maria

High school sweethearts

Posted on December 19, 2017 by Etol Bagam

It was their Senior year in high school.

Prom night was coming and that’s when they were planning to give themselves to each other in full.

The chosen place was a treehouse at the backyard of an abandoned house.

Although shabby on the outside, the inside looked like a fairytale.

He lays her down gently at the mattress.

When things start to get hot, he remembers he forgot the condoms at the car.

He goes to the car, opens the glove compartment, and presses the button of a little remote control.

Kaboom!

Amongst shrapnel and wood chips, she rains around him in bits and pieces of flesh and blood.

This post was written for the Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest #7.

The rules for contest for this week it to “write a flash fiction in 109 words, no more, no less and weave a murderous vibe through an every-day setting, either in thought or deed.”

The image that came to my mind as inspiration was the last one in the story, then I wrote a story around it to fit. Originally I thought it would be a 299 word story, which allowed me to add many more details. Those details are gone, but I guess the shorter version ended up pretty nice too.

The winner for this contest was announced today at the Carrot Ranch.

Congratulations to Marjorie Mallon!

Good job to all the participants!

Portuguese version: Primeiro amor

The Dark Priestesses

Posted on November 22, 2017 by Etol Bagam

Their lord was captured by the priestesses of the Dark Sect.
She couldn’t let them have him. He was a good soul and needed to be saved.

She got her sword, mounted the mare and whistled for her companion dog.
In a minute they were flying through the woods, avoiding the branches and roots, trying to find the hidden shrine of the dark priestesses.

It wasn’t easy.
The woods were dark and very dense. Riding amongst its trees wasn’t a smooth ride.
Sometimes it also felt like they were going in circles. Maybe they were indeed.
And on top of it all, there was powerful dark magic protecting the shrine from being discovered.

But they needed keep trying.
His life was at risk and the villagers needed him.

She summoned her own Gods to help her on her quest. Hoping they’d help.

After two days riding, stopping only briefly to eat, and having had almost no sleep, the dog sniffed the air and started to bark and howl.
The mare panicked and wouldn’t go on.
She could also feel it. They were getting close.

She tethered the mare at a nearby tree and called the dog to come with her.

As they walked towards the force emanating from the trees, she became weak, her mind was going blank, but she was still struggling. She had to be strong to safe her lord.

After a few minutes of very hard walk, they came to clearing, where the priestesses were standing in a circle, with her lord tied up in the middle, subjugated, kneeling at the center, his head down.

She only had time to hear the spell before passing out herself.

Goddess of

the unliving!

I proclaim

this person

to your

eternal service,

on death.

Her lord was deceased…

This post was written for the Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest #3, hosted by Carrot Ranch.

The challenge today was to write a piece of fiction of about 200-300 words, that included a septolet as a spell or a charm.

Initially I though only the septolet would be required and crated the one above naming is “Verborragic Avada Kedavra”. But it was only once the rules were posted, and I leaned it should be in the middle of a story, that I created the story around it to go with it.

The winner for this contest was announced yesterday at the Carrot Ranch.

Congratulations to Deborah Lee!

Good job to all the participants!

Portuguese version: Sacerdotisas do Mal

BFF

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Etol Bagam

Her best friend has moved to a different country, on another continent, at the other end of the ocean.
She passes by the beach and stops to look at that immense mass of water.
She squints her eyes trying to see her friend.
But it’s no use, her friend is too far…

This post was written in response to Sacha Black’s Writespiration #136 52 weeks in 52 words, week 41 and also to today’s prompt BFF from Writer Write’s October prompts.

In the Writespiration prompt we’re supposed to say what happens next, after the picture. I wrote instead about what was happening at that very moment.

Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Etol Bagam

Today, Carrot Ranch website is starting a Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest.

For more details you can check their website at:

The Ranch

They’ll be having 8 contest, every Tuesday and Thursday, starting today and going until the end of the month.

I heard about it a couple weeks back and was planning to post my entries here, but because it’s a competition they advise not to publish until judging is finished.

So no post today with my entry for the first one. I’ll instead post in on the day the winner is announced. And for today’s contest that will be on November 7th. So stay tuned!

In case someone else there is interested in participating, here are the rules for the first one:

Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest #1

Good writing to us all!

;o)

Beware of the Chicken

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Etol Bagam

They were playing hide and seek.

There was one spooky house no one ever dared to go.

He wasn’t afraid. The only thing was a sign about attacking chicken.

Pfff… Chicken? Seriously?

He got in and a gigantic shadow formed around him. Shaped like chicken. He was the size of a worm…

This post was written in response to the Writespiration #134 52 Weeks in 52 Words Week 40, hosted by Sacha Back.

Fiction: On display

Posted on September 28, 2017 by Etol Bagam

They were visiting the Wild Western museum. During their visit, the guests could dress up.

He decided to prank her. All dressed up, he hid in one of the displays.
Stubbornly, he would only show himself after being found.

A few hours later, the lights went off and the museum’s doors closed…

This post was written in response to the Writespiration #134 52 Weeks in 52 Words Week 39, hosted by Sacha Back.

Fiction: If I came with a warning label

Posted on September 9, 2017 by Etol Bagam

If I came with a warning label, people may not like me much.
My secrets and sins would be disclosed. And that’s not good.

If a warning label would be attached to every person, then everyone would know about their secrets and sins. And get mad, and get hurt, and get away.

No, I don’t want a warning label on me. And I don’t want to read warning labels on others.

They’re to do more damage than good to friendships or any other kind of relationship.

So I keep my secrets to myself.
I go about life being true to myself, being honest when I fell like, and sometimes false, pretending to be someone else.
And I’m ok with this. And people are ok with this too, because that’s what they do.

And we get along….

This post was written in response to the Mini Writing Prompt Challenge: If I Came with a Warning Label. . . #bravewarninglabelchallenge

Fiction: Project Management

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Etol Bagam

They were working on a new project.

Her job was to create the schedule and plan for it.

She was struggling with the project management tools, and that was impacting the start date. The team got anxious, afraid her struggles would delay the project so much that the deadline wouldn’t be met.

When she finally figured the tools out and went over to share the plan with the team, she was surprised to see the project was finished already… Before even beginning!

She threw the plans away and celebrated their on-time delivery.

She couldn’t have asked for a better team!

Image Credit: Bikurgurl

This post was written in response to 100 Word Wednesday: Week 10, and inspired by the online courses I’ve been doing on project management… ;o)
Although I’m sure I’ll be a much better manager than the lady on my story.

Fiction: Honeymoon

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Etol Bagam

They met very young and were best friends forever.
Then each went on with their separate lives.

But all the time, they still had each other at the depths of their minds.

One day, they meet again.
They look at each other and see time flying backwards all the way to their childhood together.
“Hey, It’s been so long without seeing you”.
“Yes, I missed so much.”

They hold hands for the first time in ages, and from that time on, they never went apart again.
As if they were in a constant honeymoon.
Their time had finally come!

This post was written in response to March 9th: Flash Fiction Challenge, hosted by Carrot Ranch.

The story was actually taken, and adapted to fit the size constraints, from another piece I wrote a couple years ago for a Literary Lion challenge about Time. If you’re curious, here’s the full story I wrote at that time. Hope you enjoy!

Fiction: The Big Birthday

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Etol Bagam

When he was little, he decided he would live 100 years.
He had a happy, healthy, fulfilling life.
The day before his 100th birthday he lay in bed peacefully thinking: “One more day and I’ll be able to rest.”
The next day, after blowing up the candles, he closed his eyes and died.

This post was written in response to Writespiration #106 52 Weeks in 52 Words Week 10, with the theme: The Big Birthday.

Fiction: The distance between

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Etol Bagam

They are newly wed and snuggle every night to sleep.

Time goes by and they realize it’s more comfortable not to snuggle.

The distance between them in bed grows in the same proportion as the problems of the daily life increase.

Soon, the bed will become too small for both of them.

This post was written in response to the Writespiration #103 52 Weeks in 52 Days Week 7 hosted by Sacha Black, for which we’re supposed to write a piece with 52 words, that includes the theme: The distance between…

The pictures were borrowed from https://sawbuz.wordpress.com/tag/relationship-sleeping/ and mat be subject to copyright by their owners.

Fiction: Stilettos

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Etol Bagam

We were doing a paint project outside when daddy came to pick the kids up for the weekend.
He looked uptight, she was all dressy.
I was covered in paint, tangled hair.
She had a frown and seemed uncomfortable on her stilettos early in the morning.
I had a big smiling face.

This post was written in response to Sacha Black’s challenge Writespiration: 52 weeks in 52 words.

This is the first time I try to participate and this week’s theme is:

That moment you see your ex with their hot new bit and you look like a turd.

6 on the 6th – March 2016

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Etol Bagam

Mind

Her mind started to drift off.

Flash

She saw flashes of her life.

Entry

Entering that dreamy state of unconsciousness.

Bongo

She heard bongos playing somewhere close.

Carpet

Laying on a carpet of leaves.

Swept

The winds swept her live away.

carpetofleaves

This post was written in response to the Six on the Sixth Prompt – March 2016, hosted by Adam Ickes. The idea is to write 6 6-word stories. He provides us with 6 prompt words that we can use on our stories or not. The words this month were MIND | FLASH | ENTER | BONGO | CARPET | SWEPT, and I chose to use them.

Picture is from pixabay.com

Siblings

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Etol Bagam

Wandering and thinking of a gentle form of teasing his sister on their next game.

Tease

Versing

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Etol Bagam

This week, I’m trying to participate for the first time on the Weekly Writing Prompt, hosted by The Secret Keeper.

In this prompt we are supposed to write in any form (fiction or poetry) using the 5 provided words.

This week’s words are:

I typically write fiction in prose, as poetry is not in my comfort zone. But for this week’s words, and the story they inspired on me, I thought writing is verses would be more appropriate. So I tried…

I wrote a story that’s being told in 5 haikus. Each haiku containing one of the prompt words.

They are haikus in metrics, not so much in essence, but I guess it worked ok-ish.

Let me know what you think.

Versing

She had a cool gift.
Did something no one else could.
The gift of speaking!

Not normal speaking.
She always spoke in verse,
and never in prose.

For that same reason,
they offered her a nice job
that would make her rich.

Her work was easy.
All she had to was to speak,
entertaining guests.

With that she would earn
a coin that would allow to
buy her love a gift.

5words

Edible pothole

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Etol Bagam

“Hey Martha, they are holding the doughnut contest again this year. How about we participate this time? I even got an idea of how to make it.”

“That’s cool. Yeah, let’s do it. What’s your idea?”

“A pothole doughnut!”

“Huh????”

“Yeah, we can make a big, big doughnut, then make it look like a street pothole.”

“But how are we going to accomplish that?”

“Well… we would have to have something to play as pebbles… maybe covered almonds?”

“Huh. Almonds as pebbles may work. But streets are dirty too…”

“For dirt some graham crumbs?”

“Hum… I don’t know… how do we make them gray? Streets are grayish…”

“Food coloring!”

***

At the day of the contest, Martha and Silvia arrive with a huge tray, and place it at the table. They also bring a panel of cars and street lights to go behind their doughnut at the table.

The judges get a bit confused by the not-so-appealing looks of the treat, but still amazed with the ladies’ creativity.

And the taste…. Hummmmm…. So deliciously good!

They come back home with the big prize and a huge proud smile on their faces.

This post was written in response to this week’s Sunday Photo Fiction Challenge.
I must admit I think I could have done better, but for whatever reason I had the doughnut idea and wanted to use it (it does look like a doughnut hole, right? so nicely round…).
Hope you enjoy.

To see other stories inspired by the prompt, click the blue frog below:

The time is now!

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Etol Bagam

Not knowing what to expect, he made his way into the dark of the forest.

It started one morning when, while waiting to open the gates for the big celebration, his house was marked.

Guests went away, afraid of being close to the red mark. He and his family were doomed.

He knew it was time to change, but he was also afraid.
He could still save his family if he went away, but that would mean not seeing them ever again.

The spirits came to summon him. “I can’t decide when to change” was his answer.

“The time is now! Come.”

And so he did…

This post was written in response to 2 writing challenges:

Mondays Finish the Story – Oct. 19th, 2015 -> with a prompt to start a story with the sentence “Not knowing what to expect, he made his way into the dark of the forest” and be inspired by the picture below:

To see other entries for MFtS, click the blue frog below
100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups – #Week171 -> with a prompt to include in the story the sentence “I can’t decide when to change“

I also took the opportunity to write a brief continuation to my own The Red Mark, on which lots of people replied curious about what the mark means. Well, this 106 word story does not really explain much, but puts us one step ahead into finding out what it means… ;o)

Six Word Stories

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Etol Bagam

I’ve been sort of watching some entries to the six word story challenges, promoted by Ben at A Hopelessly Wandering Mind, but it was only today that I decided to try it.

Not happy with trying for this week’s challenge only, I created a story for each of the other weeks I missed too (it was only 7 more, totally manageable ;o)

I also noticed that the stories have some illustration to go with it, and for that I grabbed my Post It pad and my pencil and got doodling a bit. I guess they illustrate my stories somewhat well (I’m not a great doodler, so can’t really do fancy stuff… )

So here it goes:

Week 1: LOSS

Teary eyes, never seeing her again.