The Wrong Shoes #SundayPhotoFiction

The teenage girl walked into the studio set, the blue and white chequered dress swishing around her. She was nervous, this was an important scene in the movie but she followed all the directions and got everything right.

During the lunchtime break, the director and wardrobe designer came to her.

‘You did just fine,’ the director said, ‘but I’m having a problem with the shoes.’

The girl looked down at the sliver slippers on her feet, puzzlement on her face.

‘They are not coming up well on the film,’ the director continued, ‘so, I decided to change them to these ones….’

The wardrobe designer came forward and showed the teenage girl a pair of bright ruby red, shinny shoes that seemed to sparkle with magic.

‘Oh!’ the girl cried, taking the shoes, ‘they are…just….I love them!’

The girl slipped the shoes on, they fitted perfectly. She smiled up at the director and designer.

‘Great!’ the director said, with a clap of his hands, ‘let’s get back to it then! We’ll need to re-shoot this morning’s scenes.’

The abandoned sliver slippers were dumped back in the wardrobe department, totally forgotten forever.

 

(Inspired by; https://sundayphotofictioner.wordpress.com/2019/02/23/sunday-photo-fiction-february-24-2019/ with thanks. Photo Courtesy of Susan Spaulding).

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Dear Diary #50

Dear Diary,

It’s officially winter today, though it feels like it’s been here for awhile, expect for the snow which I hope keeps away for longer! The weather has settled into a pattern of being wild, wet, windy, cold and getting dark so early that all but the morning daytime feels lost.

Today, I’ve been busy getting the Christmas decorations out and some of them up. The kids, now claiming they are ‘too old’ for such things took awhile to get into the mood of things but those decorations that reminded them of silly times – a school play, craft pieces, a photo on Santa’s knee, helped to get them into it.

Of course, only two sets of lights worked! So I left Danny testing them in the shed and I took Emma out to buy some more and a few other things. The shops were busy as was to be expected but we got through okay. Christmas music was playing in all the shops and it felt like everyone had suddenly got this idea that now was the time to start celebrating officially. Though TV and shops have been creeping it in since the start of last month!

Back home and more decorations to put up and it turns out I was right to replace the lights as poor Danny couldn’t fix them. I cheered him up with hot chocolate and crumpets which were so lovely in front of our still new fireplace! A fire really does add that cosy, cheery feel to Christmas. I don’t know how we coped without it before!

I made a nice stew and dumplings for tea and we watched a Christmas movie, though the kids were still tutting and spent more time on their phones/games then watching it but at least we were all together and that’s good enough for me.

Then before we came to bed, I walked around and just smiled, Christmas is truly here and it feels so good and welcome, the perfect beacon of hope in the long winter nights.

The Set #FridayFictioneers

Will had learnt not to question things on the odd jobs he picked up during summer but this time was a little different. Helping the set producer prepare the background, Will wondered what this movie was about. It’s a horror for sure he decided, placing paper pumpkin lights in a too fake creepy tree.

Another assistant wheeled on a rectangular cage trolley then helped an actor who was heavy bandaged and wearing a blood stained white doctor coat inside.

‘What is this about?’ Will asked.

‘It’s a love story between two burn victims,’ the set producer answered with a shrug.

 

(Inspired by; https://rochellewisoff.com/2018/07/11/13-july-2018/ with thanks).

Wave #WritePhoto

There’s nothing special or magical about Wizard’s Cove, just an old impossible legend about Merlin. It goes like this; Merlin hid out in a cave here for years when the King cast him out. Merlin did a vanishing act but all the time he was right under the castle, waiting for the King to realise he needed a wizard to help save England from invasion.

Walking along the strip of sand between the rocks and the out going tide, heading over to the caves, I decided that if I was Merlin I wouldn’t want to live here for a few days let alone years! There was nothing on this small patch of shore and getting back up the cliffs was really hard for a fit, thirty year old man who’s hobby was rock climbing. So, I couldn’t imagine an old man being able to do it!

Unless, he used his magic powers….Could Merlin fly? Could he levitate? Could he call a bird or other beast to transport him? Or maybe he could just appear and disappear wherever he wanted? How much did the stories go into Merlin’s powers?

I cast my mind about trying to remember even a hint of information. Merlin was said to be a most powerful wizard. In the Disney film, he does lots of magic; he makes things smaller, things clean themselves, he changes others and himself into different animals and he does at one point vanish then reappear later saying he’s been to the future! I was fond of that film as unlike the other Disney movies there no Princesses.

Shells and rocks crunch under my boot, bring me back to my walk. A wave came close then rolled back, leaving seaweed behind. I avoided it and approached the caves. There were three entrances close by each other but only one of them went far back. The other two were just hollowed out holes.

I stepped into the cool gloom, happy to get out of the hot sun that had been burning my neck. A slow dripping sound echoed and I could hear the rush of the sea. I got my torch out and shone it around the walls, ceiling and floor. There was nothing but sand and natural stone.

What had I been hoping for? Some scratched in words; Merlin was here? A magic spell in Latin? The drawing of an owl? Perhaps even, the remains of a skeleton? I laughed and the sound boomed, trailed and took awhile to fade.

There was nothing and even if Merlin had come here anything would be long gone now. I turned, thinking that tonight I’d do some more research into the legends. My torch light caught something, a sparkling. I looked down at the wall and there just above the sand line was a faded letter ‘M’. Or so it seemed to me.

‘No,’ I breathed and shook my head, ‘it’s a trick of the light or someone carved it not long ago.’

I bent down and scrubbed at the wall and sand. I traced the shape with my finger and decided it could just be but of course that would be impossible.

 

(Inspired by; https://scvincent.com/2018/06/28/thursday-photo-prompt-wave-writephoto/ with thanks).

First Sunrise #TwittingTales

I embraced the dark, cold theater. Feeling secure despite many people nearby. Tampering down excitement, the pictures came to life, real but yet not real; moving and talking in full colour. Then, I saw the sun rise in all her glory for the first time in a hundred and twenty years.

(Inspired by https://katmyrman.com/2018/05/15/twittering-tales-84-15-may-2018 with thanks).

Dear Diary #44 Athazagoraphobia #atozchallenge

Athazagoraphobia; the fear of forgetting, being forgotten or ignored or being replaced. 

Dear Diary,

Today has been one of those days. The phone didn’t ring and no one knocked on the door. I didn’t really want to sit in front of the TV all day but what else could I do? It’s been raining most of the time and looking miserable in between. Not many people past by my window and I guess the stray cats had somewhere else to be today too.

I tried to do a little knitting, just a scrap of a scarf I started but my hands were too shaky. I give up after twenty minutes. I can still do it every now and again, but I’m missing it more and more. I tried some other things; word searches, dot-to-dot, quizzes and coloring. Anything to keep me going. I did a little reading too of Wuthering Heights but mostly that’s from memory now. I can just about follow the words but they get jumbled.

I’m sure tomorrow there was something I had to do, something I was looking forward to but I just can’t remember it. I tried looking on the post it notes dotted around, my notebooks and my two calendars but nothing was written. It hurts to try and remember for too long then some other faded memory pops up and I start thinking about that instead.

Today has been just too lonely and emotional to bare. I’m laying in bed now, listening to the rain against the window and the wind howling. I think sometimes the weather, the TV and the stray cats are all I have left now. And the people I do see; the post office woman, the shop workers, the landlord, the neighbors I do know, they are nothing as I am nothing to them.

It’s a strange thought but I’ve had enough time to reflect on it now. I’ve accept the way things are. It’s too late to change anything. It always worried me when I was younger; this fear of being forgotten and ignored. I guess it still does worry me but in a different way now. I wanted to make people remember my name liked movie and TV stars but that career didn’t work out.

I’m starting to think that no matter what it’s the same for everyone soon enough. We all get forgotten. When the people who knew you go, if they didn’t tell anyone about you, then who’s to remember you then? If people stop watching the movies you made, using the things you invented, get rid of the things you created it, then that’s when you are officially gone.

And that’ll be us all soon enough.

Wind Back Time

Hanging upside down and trying to control her breathing as panic floored her, Lisa tried to think about something else. Shutting her eyes which was easy enough to do because she suddenly felt sleepy, she began listing off everything she had had been heading to the shops to buy.

Tea bags, milk, sugar, bread, cheese, fruit and veg….chocolate biscuits, Lisa thought.

A fire engine siren whipped through the air, causing Lisa to open her eyes and stop the list. From her upside view she couldn’t see the red truck but she knew it was there now. Blending on with the other emergency vehicle at the scene.

Her hair felt wet and she hoped it was only sweat. Wiggling, she tried to see if she could get out, but her hand didn’t want to reach down and undo the seat belt. Dragging in a deep breath, she watched the blur of people standing outside her car. Lisa tried to count them, but the figures seemed to become one.

‘Help,’ she cried weakly. Not sure what else to do.

‘It’s okay, Miss,’ a too young looking ambulance man said.

Lisa turned her head to look at him.

‘Please don’t move,’ he added.

‘Ok,’ she mumbled.

Lisa shut her eyes again. The ambulance man was saying something else but she didn’t hear him.

How had this happened? she wondered.

One moment she had been driving along the motorway the next another car had ploughed into her side and she had spun and flipped. At least that’s how it had seemed to her. Perhaps, that was just her mind thinking of it like a movie.

She wished she could rewind this back like a movie. At least then she might try to do something differently. Maybe more lanes or slow down, just something that might have made a difference.

‘We are going to cut you out now. Please stay still,’ the ambulance man said.

Lisa took a few deep breaths and focused her mind winding back time. However, nothing she could do would change what had happened.

Closed Heart

What was it about opening her heart again that she found so difficult? Fay stopped thinking and took Reed in again. There was nothing wrong with him on the surface and he seemed fine underneath too. Most importantly though, he ticked all of her boxes; handsome, nice smile, good figure, funny, well educated, liked a lot of things she did and found her attractive.

Fay sipped her cooling latte and wondered why the walls where still up. This was what? Their seventh date now? And still, she could not let him in. Which was totally not her. Tucking a stray strand of light brown hair back, she got back to paying attention to him. Reed was saying something about the movie they had just been to see, but Fay was not sure what he was talking about.

She frowned at her half empty coffee mug and pushed it away from her. She needed to figure this out somehow without him noticing. Taking a deep breath, she told herself she would start trying to let him in, but first letting go of the past would help.

Dear Diary #21

Dear Diary, why am I so fascinated by the Suicide Forest in Japan?

I watched another online video today of four young men exploring the place. It was raining and you could hear the rain dripping off the trees. There seemed to be no birds or any other animals in the background, just the men walking and talking to the camera. The forest was mega wild and they said the ground was made of fallen trees, roots and undergrown plants. It looked almost like an evil fantasy forest.

They found three broken umbrellas then a camping spot where two light green single person tents were still intact. Off to the side, were the remains of a small camping fire, badly damped by the heavy rain. An empty rucksack lay beside the first tent, the zips all undone. A white baseball cap was behind the second tent and there was a scattering of Japanese sweet packets.

They looked into the tents and I held my breath believing they were about to discover someone, but there was only litter and water. They even searched the area, though they claimed the video wasn’t about them looking for bodies…but I guess if you came across an abandoned tent in the middle of a forest will known for suicides then you’d want to know what happened to the person.

I sort of want to know too, but I think it’s clear what happened…

I want to go, more desperately then before. I want to know why people are driven there and why they decide they don’t want to live. Plus, there are all these claims about it being haunted and not just by the souls of those poor people, but by evil spirits that lure people in. Okay, maybe I’ve seen too many movies, but there must have been something that started the stories, there always is. Maybe, it would be a good thing for my PhD? And it’d give me a reason to go…Though this would be the third ‘haunted’ place I’ve submitted in my applications. But from a psychologic point of view, it’s just super interesting.

Hopefully, my fascination will die down soon enough, but right now I’m going to start a new application and see what the universities think about it. Maybe, there’s a reason why I’m so attracted to these creepy place? Perhaps, I need to do some mind testing on myself!

Lonely Heart Day

Balancing the bowl of ice cream on my knee, I hit play on the remote and watch Howl’s Moving Castle start up. I settle back and am just about to have my first spoon full of strawberry swirl, when my mobile beeps a text.

Glancing at it on the coffee table, I debate leaving it but can’t resist. Lacy is asking where I am.

At home, I reply.

But y?

coz changed mind its fine hav fun, I type and set my phone onto my other knee.

Finally, I get a taste of ice cream and moan at the cold, sweet pleasure of it.

My phone beeps and Lacy calls me a chicken. I don’t rely, but seconds later another text comes through and she’s added that there are lots of cute men at the singles party.

I shrug it off, have more ice cream and try to quieten the arguing voices in my head.

What do I need a guy for anyway?

For snuggling on cold nights? For sharing stuff? For…Just being there?

They’re all the same though!

Only because you pick the ones you feel sorry for. There are plenty out there.

 Once they get what they want they just leave. It’s always them and never you.

Relationships are difficult, it takes time, but they are so rewarding.   

 I’m better off alone.

No. I’m worse alone. There’s probably someone out there for me…things just need more time. What was that statistic thing? There’s like a thousand matches out there for each person? How many do I have left? A hundred and ninety-four? I’m bound to meet someone then. Or else…crazy cat woman!

I laugh and scoff the rest of desert down. Placing everything on the coffee table, I snuggle under the wool blanket grandma made and drift off into a fantasy world of bright colours, magic, supernatural and romance.