Rules from Jenne and C. E. Ayr:
A magical new weekly writing opportunity from me – Jenne Gray – and him – C. E. Ayr.
Visit this blog every Friday, read an amazing story from each of us, and then post your own even better effort in the comments below.
Or on your own blog and stick the link down in the comments.
The rules are:
Maximum of 250 words.
Inspired by photo prompt above.
That’s it.
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Idyllic Spot!
By Tessa Dean June 2024
Caroline stared at the lovely painted bridge she had just crossed over. She had never been here before. A set of wooden steps led up to another level, and she idly wondered what was up there.
She wondered why they were meeting here. Usually, they went to more secluded spots. She assumed that they were going to talk. She always hated it when Robert wanted to have a conversation, as they usually had to do with their relationship. She wondered what she had done this time.
Much to her surprise, Robert arrived with a woman. “Caroline,” Robert began and stopped. The woman watched her carefully. “Robert, let’s get this over with. I have to get back to work. I have no idea what you were thinking, but this ends here or else.”
Samantha opened her tote bag and tossed a sexy teddy at Caroline, smacking her in the face with it. Next came a birthday card addressed to Caroline. “Robert is mine, or he’s history, and if it is you he is with, you are history too. Do you understand me? Speak up, girl.”
“Yes, ma’am, and I’m so sorry. I will never set my eyes on him again.” Caroline picked up her purse and left, practically running across the red bridge.
**********212 words***********
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website – http://www.tessadeanauthor.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.wordpress.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.wordpress.com
Tessa Dean - Author 
I think Caroline is well shot of this Jim.
He sounds like a right bully in their relationship. ‘She wondered what she had done this time’, for example.
And her passive reaction is typical of the behaviour of a person being bullied.
I wonder how you see her developing after this.
(I know it’s a piece of flash fiction and that’s the end of this story, but I find myself hoping she gets her self belief back and is able to stand up for herself in future.)
I like your introduction of the colour red to the bridge at the end.
It seems symbolic of the encounter.
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Thank you Jenne. She is a very timid person and the encounter with the wife who was really a bully was too much for her. If I had more words I would have gone deeper into their relationship, but I had to cut a lot out. She always did whatever it was he wanted and he controlled their relationship. However, his wife controlled their relationship so in that case she bullied him although I can’t bllame her as he slept around all the time. This was actually a smailler piece of a much longer piece. I started writing a book about their relationship and it went into much more detail. In that book he liked to be the master and her the slave. It was a much different piece originally. I cut it down a lot and ended up with that piece.
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Interesting take, Tessa. I’ve no love lost on Jim …. or Samantha, for that matter. In fact, toss Caroline into that mix as well. Two bullies and a whiner. I don’t approve of bullying but Caroline needs to man up. Please don’t mistake me if it sounds like I didn’t enjoy your story. I did …. any story that gets under my skin and ignites a reaction on my part is quite alright in my book.
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Thank you. I am glad that you liked it. I suppose she did come off as a whiner.
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Trouble from all corners here. Your characters are all experiencing huge problems/conflicts – the meat of storytelling. I read your comment that this is an extract from a longer piece, and I can see that there’s plenty of material here to be developed.
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I had written the piece, then incorporated into a novella length story (not published) and then I cut it down for this prompt. It was originally almost a 1000 words so I cut it down a lot. I wasn’t sure if it would still make sense being cut down so much. I cut out a lot of description for one thing and the story went more into their relationship before getting caught and how they got caught. So yes, I cut out a lot.
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The jig is up, but it sounds like things were headed that way. Let’s hope Caroline moves on to a true gent, next time.
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The problem is that most women constantly fall for the same type of man.
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We do.
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