Short Stories

Week 3

Prompt
Write a connected series of three short scenes (no more than five sentences per scene – each scene can be shorter) that work together to move the reader rapidly through time, whether backwards or forwards or back and forth. It might be stages in life or three short scenes that show the events before during and after a disastrous event or whatever you can come up with.

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Stella tugged at a strand of hair, perfectly straight, framing her face done up impeccably by her best friend. She glanced around; from left to right, from building to building, eyes going skyward, then downward to stare at her black boot encased feet. Then there was converse. Her gaze followed them up to a pair of dark-wash jeans, a black hoodie, and the greenest eyes she had ever seen. You look beautiful, he flashed a smile, holding out a hand, Shall we?

Stella took a deep breath, brushing a soft curl back into immaculate position. She began the walk down the slight incline, her heels sinking gently into soft green grass, her friends walking in a line in front of her. Her palms were sweaty, her legs wobbly, her breath hitching in her throat as she rounded the corner, walking the last one-hundred meters to take her place. She smoothed the white material encapsulating her and this moment in fabric, her gaze drifting up to meet the green eyes she would never forget, a smile teased her lips. You look beautiful, he whispered, his hands reaching to clasp hers as the officiant began the ceremony.

Stella fell, less elegantly than she would have liked, into the swinging deck chair, her grey hair billowing around her face. She gazed out at the garden, flowers of all colours in amongst bushes and trees, all buzzing with insects, chirping with birds, and fluttering with the colourful wings of butterflies. A thin, wrinkled hand slid gently into hers. She glanced up. Green eyes shimmered from between years of wrinkles and fine lines, You look beautiful, he smiled.