Steven Paul Watson, Author

Kyle felt the cold breeze of ocean air across his face, hands in his sweat shirt pockets.  It was fall, and though the air was warmer here than where he was raised he still felt the bite of winter.  It was Thanksgiving, and a thousand miles from anyone who he thought might care.  He looked at the empty parking lot, most days it would be packed but not today.  Only the crow looked and squawked at him from a lamp.  He ran his hand over the cross around his neck as he looked back to the ocean and smiled.

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The cemetery was nearly five miles from the nearest road and eighty years since the last person had been buried there.  Jayne discovered it by accident and used it as a place to escape his troubles and write.  Many days fighting his way back to civilization in the dark.

Jayne had only brought one person here and she was no longer in his life.  He took a seat and pulled the backpack close glancing up at the old statue.  He saw the tears on the stone resembling his own; the angel knew why the young man had come today.

“Who are you?”  Miranda did not have to see his face to know he was smiling.  He brought his hands to his hood and started to reveal his face…

She came back to reality, still having a hard time catching her breath wishing she could remember his face.  She looked at her wrist, the scar seemed to burn brighter than the day it happened.  She realized she was still in the woods and it would be dark soon.  She grabbed her book and hurried to her feet, only a few steps from the willow she stopped…she was not alone.

(99 Words)

Five Sentence Fiction – Blush

He had spent more time looking at her photograph than he wanted to admit, with every thought another question found its way into his head and with each passing second there was a new answer in its place all about his future…their future.  He had told her exactly how he felt in more ways than he thought possible, a feeling he did not even know existed before he looked into her beautiful blue eyes and she said the same words he had on his lips.  How much he cared, all the things about her that drove him crazy in every way possible from the good to the bad, the way she smiled to the way she cursed even though she would claim she never did.  He knew they both had left a lot unsaid, text messages or even a phone calls were not as good as a face to face and there was no turning away from how they felt.  He craved, even hungered to run his hand down the side of her face again, to touch her lips, to feel her small hands intertwined in his own; too see her blush and smile again just before they kissed. 

For more Five Sentence Fiction check out Lillie McFerrin’sblog.

“I was there the day you got the scar on your wrist trying to use a grill even though you were only ten.  I was there to ease your tears until I knew I had to leave, before your mother and uncle came home.  They would have been more aggressive in their attempts to hide you if they had known.  But you told them nothing of the man who bandaged your wrist.  The wrap even today you use to hide the scar in public.”

Miranda looked to her left wrist and the burn scar, then back to the man.

(99 Words)

“I remember your mother, laying out on the beach and enjoying the sun while you played in the ocean.  I remember your tiny hands, as I gave you an ice cream cone.  Your mothers call when she realized you were no longer in sight.  Such smiles…such happiness…but look at you now.”

“Who are you?”

“Blood shot eyes from too many tears, lips that haven’t seen a genuine smile in a decade.  I have always been here, watching you.  Waiting for the time when you were the woman we thought you could be.”

(92 Words)

So I wrote this for a previous Five Sentence Fiction and thought it didn’t fit the word of that week (so didn’t use it)…but I think it fits for this one.  So here it is.

Five Sentence Fiction – Night

He sat looking out over the countryside, every voice in his head screamed at him for absurd reasons and the only thing that was certain they were all angry at him; he was more than just angry at himself, he was disappointed.  For the first time in years he had come here, to get away, not since his best friend left and still it felt like a betrayal after all this time, but he knew he needed to try something to fight at the depression clawing at his insides.  This was their place, the place they came to escape all the problems of the world and the one place where he knew he could find peace even though his partner could not be there; more than ever he missed the eager stare.  He could never remember feeling more lost and alone, with his back against some mythical wall and one of the voices in his head reassuring him it could only get better but even that was a lie; it could always get worse.  He forced a smile before he pulled himself off of the ground, it would already be dark before he would get home but he knew more than ever it was all up to him, to make the changes he knew he had to make to get by.

For more Five Sentence Fiction check out Lillie McFerrin’sblog.

He took a drink of his tea, it was more water than tea and the taste was horrible.  He took a seat in his chair looking at the blank canvas in front of him.  The paint tray and water at his side he could not even force a smile.  He had nothing; the bare apartment was not on his thoughts.  In his own mind, stuck in his thoughts there was nothing.  No motivation.  No inspiration. Only a wonder if there was something, someone out there for him.  The longing for more than the life he was stuck.

(97 Words)

Darkness fell over them just as they started to move towards her.  The moon disappeared behind the clouds.  She twisted, holding her swords waiting for any sudden attack but there were none.  They were gone again. 

“Life is a precious thing young Miranda.”

The voice was familiar to her but she was sure she had never heard it before.  She turned to see him, no weapon in site just as the others with his face covered by the hood of his cloak.

“You have grown so much since I last saw you, gone are the pigtails and braces.” 

(98 Words)

                     

Miranda turned quickly holding her blade up, she didn’t have to see him as she heard the body of the other collapse to the ground.  The full moon appeared from behind the clouds as she held her arms high, her eyes nearly closed as she surveyed the darkness.  The laughter had stopped and she could see clearly as two more stepped into view.  Weapons held high, faces hidden by hoods.  The next to enter the only sport she ever learned how to play.  She stalked forward, twirled the blade high keeping both in front of her waiting for their move.

(100 Words)