Photo prompt @ Sandra Crook
We were friends, of sorts. He was often angry, withdrawn. Stuff at home, I guessed. I’d heard my folks muttering about his step dad.
“Can I come over tonight?”
“Yeah, you want to stay for tea?”
He shook his head: “Don’t tell your mum. But can I sleep in your barn?”
I must have looked baffled. He glanced towards the teacher’s desk, picked up a shell, studying it closely, lowering his voice “just for one night then I’m gone, see?” he pulled up his sleeve. Fresh purple an ugly bloom over fading yellow. “I’ve had enough. I’m never going back.”
100 words
Is this cheating? I’ve hit a wall with my work in progress, can’t seem to write another word. But seeing this picture gave me an idea for a bit of a back story about events in my leading man’s childhood. Maybe thinking around the story will help me get going again? Who knows? Anyway, thanks to Rochelle Wisoff Fields and her Friday Fictioneers Challenge for giving me the idea. Follow the link to read other people’s stories on the same photo prompt.
kirstwrites 
I could imagine him waking in the morning – in the barn – feeling refreshed and still in survival mode – cos that is obviously his life.
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And for back story – ? Maybe:
It was not the step dad – that guy worked 7 days a week and then was not intimately available for anyone – it was his mom that hit him – not all the time – but sometimes she’d snap – misdirect anger at him – like when he brought a few friends over and things seemed fine – she was confronting him about the day after the friends left – he was sassy “just a few guys” – it escalated to where she said “oh yeah – you going to talk to me like that – raising her hand she said more – from her deeply seeded and unresolved anger (bad childhood – her mother – which is the main character’s grandmother) was raised by nuns who shut her down -(real bad experience for years) so the MC’s mom was raising herself and by 14 was in control of life with independence (her dad was a truck driver so there was money but no warmth and just a lot of emptiness)) she did no drugs – but was pregnant with the MC at 16
And so maybe – the MC’s momwas the culprit
Hope that helps and best wishes on your writing
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Ah, you’ve mapped out a whole story for me there. That would be a good one to write. This is one I’ve been writing in installments on my blog over the last couple of months. I love the idea of him waking up refreshed and in survival mode – all the more poignant as actually his destiny is already mapped out and it’s not a good one: https://kirstwrites.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/haunted-coast-52/
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thanks for the reply – I will go and check out your link
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Nice depth to this. Leaves you really wanting to know more…like what the whispered words were, and what drew him to finally make his decision to go.
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Thank you Jelli! I think the whole town knows that his step father is a bad sort, but everyone is turning a blind eye. The consequences will last a long time too.
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I grew up like that. Tried to escape once, only made it worse.
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Not cheating at all, I often use these short pieces as jumping off points for longer stories, and a good way to get the back story clear. This is an intriguing character. Nice one.
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Dear Kirst,
I’m not sure how what you wrote could remotely be considered cheating. A prompt is merely that and nothing more. As our Thoreau mantra goes, “It’s not what you’re looking at that matters, it’s what you see.” You wrote what you saw and quite well. You made me feel for this battered boy.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Definitely not a cheat! There are many here who use these prompts to share parts of their novels in progress…
And this was good, to boot!
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Not cheating. Just a really good story that could easily be developed into something longer.
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