Thinner Than Water [FLASH FICTION]

Hey folks, inspired by lovethebadguy, I’ve decided to try and flex creative with the Trifecta writing challenge.

Their rules are basically as follows:

Each Monday at 10:00 AM Eastern Time, a one-word prompt will be posted on our home page. The chosen word will come from the Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary. For the Trifecta Writing Challenge, we will always use the THIRD given definition. Please note the definition—we’re likely asking you to use the word in a different way than you typically do.

You should write a creative response using the given word. You must use the word, in its correct form, in your response. Your response can be no fewer than 33 and no more than 333 words. 

This weeks word is “Blood“.

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He had been preparing for months. A part of him even felt like he had been preparing for this his entire life.

Everything he had been through led inexorably to this and in an hour, he would be ready. Then the world and history would know him and remember his name – no more would he be made a mockery of amongst his peers.

Suddenly a crash came from upstairs. Had someone broken into the house? No, he could not afford distractions, not now, and he definitely could not afford to have the police in his house on the off-chance that they would find this laboratory in his basement.

Picking up his fathers old revolver he slowly made his way up the stairs, trying to keep sound from the old stairs to a minimum. Stopping at the door he listened but heard nothing distinctive – perhaps he was lucky and it was just outside or just some punk kid throwing a stone at his window. He gently turned the handle and stepped out into the kitchen. Just as he stepped past the door, a pair of huge men in black gear came charging around the corner and tackled him, his gun going off in a resounding “BANG” and killing his poor defenceless microwave.

Moments later he was hand-cuffed and being half-led, half-dragged out of his own house. Among the few people outside he saw several policemen and in their midst, a face that caused the blood to drain from his face.

“How could you?!” he shouted, “You’re my own blood!”

“Maybe that is so.” said the face from the crowd, “But what you were planning, what you believe now, makes you my brother no more.”

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I hope you enjoyed that teeny-tale, will be trying my hand at this in the coming weeks so hopefully I’ll get better!

In the meantime, as a new participant of the trifecta challenge, they ask quite nicely for us to answer a couple of questions which I’m going to do right here:

What is your name (real or otherwise)?

My real name is Akshay Dhar from India, but around here I’m simply Spider or Spider42.

Describe your writing style in three words.

Surreal, evocative, entertaining. (At least I like to think so!)

How long have you been writing online?

Since 2003 on and off, but the early years saw bursts of regularity – ever since moving from blogger to wordpress a while back, I’ve been far more regular and unlike before have started actively posting my original fiction online.

Which, if any, other writing challenges do you participate in?

InMon by bekindrewrite.com and Andy’s Two For Tuesday Challenge by “Andy’s Words & Pictures”.

Describe one way in which you could improve your writing.

Be more consistent in not just starting stories or ideas but actually following through and finishing them properly.

What is the best writing advice you’ve ever been given

Write. Just write.

Who is your favorite author?

Philip K. Dick. I have many who vie for that spot but his versatility, range and depth are what I would aspire to someday even come close to achieving.

How do you make time to write?

With great difficulty. Partly because there are other things that get in the way but in fairness also because I have a very pronounced procrastination streak sprinkled with bouts of laziness.

Give us one word we should consider using as a prompt. Remember–it must have a third definition.

Drain.

Direct us to one blog post of yours that we shouldn’t miss reading.

Any and all of my short fiction that you would be willing to try out – I live in a place where I have little exposure to the outside world of writers and such beyond online and I CRAVE any and all feedback, advice, criticism, anything. You can find them all HERE or follow the link at the top of the page – same result! 🙂

Cheers!