It’s that time of the month again- AW‘s blog chain is here!!! lol What did you think I meant?!?! My flash fiction piece is below. At the end is a list of the other participant’s blogs where their flash fiction pieces will be. It’s a kinda cool topic this month, so go read some of the others.
This month’s prompt:
Child of the devil
Whether the devil be literal, figurative, or Cruella. As always, can be prose, poetry, play, fiction, nonfiction.
Instructions:
Simply post your blog’s URL in this thread to join. I’ll let you know in this thread when it’s your turn. Once your turn comes up, you have two days to complete a blog post using the prompt. When you are finished, please add a link to your post on the thread.
1000 words or less
Date Night at the Devil’s House
“Don’t scare Trevor, dad,” she told her father. Then she turned to Trevor. “Don’t let dad scare you. I’ll only be a second grabbing my wrap.”
She turned and walked out of the room confident the two she’d left behind would get along. Her surety lasted only so long as it took to grab her wrap from her room and return. She almost walked into a low yet heartfelt discussion.
“I promise I only have the utmost respect for your daughter, sir.” She heard Trevor say so earnestly, it almost colored the room.
“Don’t stay out past her curfew. And if I find out that you’ve laid one single hand on my daughter, I promise I’ll make your life hell.” Her dad’s tone of voice was even, which was incongruous with the words he’d spoken.
She didn’t doubt her dad would make any guy who hurt her regret it. Could possibly make that guy’s life a living hell if he desired. Literally. He was the Lord of the Underworld. The proverbial devil- with a capital D, after all. Satan. Beelzebub. And a host of other really odd sounding and spelled names.
She’d long ago given up the hope of having a second date with any guy while she still lived at home. Most guys took her out once.
Before meeting her dad, they would be all excited to have her agree to a date. Then they would meet her dad. Not wanting to offend him, they couldn’t very well turn tail and run on the spot. So invariably the date would proceed. But it would proceed in the sense that the guy would treat her like his kid sister and not an almost adult female. A few had given her a chaste kiss goodbye. Most just said ‘see ya later’ and then ran-walked as fast as they could far, far away from her and her house and her dad.
In the beginning, she’d just thought the guys were being nice in a gentlemanly sort of way. But as she waited and waited and then waited some more for a phone call about a second date, she’d finally gotten a clue they hadn’t been nice or gentlemanly. No, they’d been petrified of her father.
At first, her feelings had been hurt. But over time, she’d realized that such spineless ninnies weren’t for her anyway. Still, she’d wished that at least one of them had had a backbone. Seriously, was every guy such a wuss? Apparently, all the ones that came into her sphere of existence were.
Trevor would be the same. She had no doubt he would be like all the others. After overhearing her dad’s spiel, she at least understood why her other dates had all but peed themselves.
Resigned, she stepped back into the front room where Trevor was standing close to her father.
“I’m ready,” she said in a cheerful manner that belied her certainty that this date would be like all the others and just fizzle.
“I forgot to tell you that you looked fabulous, Lily,” Trevor said.
He walked over to her, pretended to help adjust her wrap and then kissed her lightly on the cheek.
She was so surprised by his actions, she couldn’t form a reply.
Her dad looked murderous. Whether it was because she was in the room, her dad kept his silence, however, just glowering in his dadly way. On anybody else, the the smoke coming out his nose would have been hypothetical. But since her dad was her dad, he had real little puffs of smoke coming out of his nostrils. Not a lot. But enough for her to know he was ticked.
She’d have to talk to him later. It wasn’t as if she were a child. She was 17 after all and a kiss on the cheek was pretty damn tame compared to some of the stories she’d heard from other girls.
She smiled. Maybe this date wasn’t going to be like all the others. It had certainly started out different.
She turned her head slightly so she could look directly into Trevor’s eyes. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
Her dad followed her to the door and waited with the door open as they got into the car. As soon as the doors were shut, words tumbled out of her mouth.
“You’re brave, you know.”
“Not really. But if I had let him see I was afraid it would have colored our relationship.”
“Yeah? How?”
“I just wanted him to know he could care about you but so can I. Plus, it was a man thing. Trust me, he’ll respect me more for it and next time I come pick you up, he’ll be less intense.”
“Seriously? Is there like a handbook on this?”
“Nah. It’s just that my dad behaved like your dad when my sisters were dating. I figured it out then.”
“You’re dad’s a dick too?”
Trevor laughed. “Not normally. But the guys my sisters would date thought so. Until they started bring home guys he couldn’t intimidate. Then he chilled.”
“Great,” she muttered. “Wished I’d figured that out ages ago.”
Trevor broke out into a full on smile then. “No way, babe. Then you might’ve been taken when I was ready to ask you out. Besides, your dad’s gonna be more pissed when he figures out who my dad is.”
“Who’s your dad?”
“Michael.”
Well shit. What were the odds?
“Umm, my dad and your dad used to be friends. I overheard my mom talking about it once when she was complaining to her BFF that dad doesn’t get out for a guy’s night out anymore.”
“Yeah, I think they had a falling out.”
“Must have been serious. How long have they been on the outs?”
“A pretty long time,” Trevor told her. “But maybe if we keep going out, we can get them back together again.”
“The world might end if we do.” Literally.
“True.”
“We’re going out again?” She couldn’t keep the hope and surprise out of her voice.
“Absolutely.”
“Cool.”
Participants and posts:
ishtar’sgate – http://chickenscratchbc.blogspot.ca/ (link to post)
orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to post)
areteus – http://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
BDavidHughes – http://bdavidhughes.com/ (link to post)
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
articshark – http://www.drslaten.com/blog (link to post)<———–me
pyrosama – http://matrix-hole.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
Anarchic Q – http://anarchicq.com/ (link to post)
meowzbark – http://www.lizzylessard.com/ (link to post)
MsLaylaCakes – http://www.taraquan.com/ (link to post)
grace elliot – http://graceelliot-author.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
Angyl78 – http://jelyzabeth.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
milkweed – http://www.thistlequill.blogspot.com/ (link to post) [after 8/15]
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