The Simmering Mind

I love writing prompts, because I never know what the muse is going to throw at me!

This week I took part in the Speculative Faith 2014 Summer Writing Prompt Challenge.  My entry turned out to work decently as a piece of flash fiction (stories under 1,000 words).  The whole time I worked on it, I snickered to myself…  It’s so unlike the science-fiction I normally write, and I found it hilariously cheesy.  But it amused and shocked me, so I hope it does the same for you.  🙂

I also love these contests because it’s fun to see how different all the entries are – everyone has a unique take on it.  It’s closed to submissions now, but if you like reading sci-fi and fantasy, please go to the contest page, and vote on your favorite entries!  (There is a $25 gift card for the winner.)

The first sentence is the prompt from the contest.  The rest is me…blame the crazy muse!

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Scorpion Bride

Flash fiction by Bethany A. Jennings

The way Tag judged his circumstances, he could die if he stayed or die if he left.

Well, he couldn’t leave now.  The door slammed, flicked by the monster’s stinger-heavy, unfurling tail.

Not wife.  Monster.  He couldn’t bring himself to think “wife” anymore.

She flashed one of her alluring smiles, but now fangs glinted between her lips.  The bridal gown’s skirt split around the girth of her swollen, snake-like belly.

They said shifter-scorpion venom killed in thirteen minutes.

Tag choked.  “Why?”

“I wondered that,” she crooned.  “Why you?  Why did the universe bestow this much power on such an unlikely candidate?”

Superhuman data-control abilities were a pathetic defense against shape-shifting wives.  “The powers don’t do me much good now, do they?”  Tag clenched his fists.  “You lied to me!”

“Of course they do you good!”  The shifter-scorpion lounged onto the bed, tail flicking.  “The powers will keep you alive! – because they will get me what I want.”

Tag’s mouth soured.  She wasn’t hungry – she was power-hungry.  He wondered how painful death would be.  “In that case, you’ll have to use your plan B…killing me, right?”

“Wrong!”  She reached into the elaborate sculpture of her hair, and pulled a micro-dermic needle from between the jeweled hairpins.  “Ever heard of Morsian mind-control serum?”

Fear punched Tag in the chest.  Four star systems relied on him for digital security.  Eighty-billion people.  He felt his entire soul draining, leaving behind nothing but the emptiness of fear and cold certainty.  It was time to die.

He’d chance it with the stinger.

Tag took a flying leap at the door.  The shifter’s tail lashed out, whipped around him, dragged him to the bed.  Tag’s head slammed against the footboard.

In a fog of ringing pain, Tag dug his fists into the sheets as the needle stabbed his throat.

The shifter-scorpion leaned over him with smiling triumph.  “Happy wedding day, Tag.”

The End

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Poor dude.  With more space to write, I would get him out of there, but alas, with a limit of 300 words I only had time to display the horror of his fate.  *maniacal writer laugh*

I hope to share more flash fiction here on my blog, in the future!  I’m just beginning to learn this style of extremely short stories, and they are lots of fun to write.