An April challenge to write a 30 word story each day in response to a prompt. Day 18: college
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When they met in college, their shared dreams didn’t include babies.
One careless night.
She sighs, “I didn’t know I wanted it, but I miss the future it gifted us.”
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#30Words30Days challenge prompt for day 17: support.
She’s never been a clinging vine, needing support to thrive.
He’s always celebrated her independence.
This grief journey is riding vines like Tarzan, feeling out of control, praying for safety.
The reconciliation feast, sitting on the floor Moroccan style, is awkward.
Their pain remains a gulf between them. But it’s a beginning.
She feels less lonely.
He feels more loved.
#30Words30Days prompt 15- individual
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When they embraced with their bodies,
they embraced the shared grief,
negotiating the pain with firmly wrapped arms.
Their hearts synchronized.
We are not alone! their bodies sighed in relief.
Day 14 prompt for 30Words30Day challenge. “Motley”
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If he were in motley and clowned for her, she’d have been less surprised.
“Why are you back? I said I need to be alone.”
“We need us,” he wept.
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#30Words30Days challenge
He’s staying with his mother.
“Sometimes,” she says, “respecting loss isn’t sufficient.
Sometimes you must gang up and show radical hope in tomorrow.”
“I’m grieving, too.”
“Embrace shared grief together.”
A microfiction challenge #30Words30Days. Today’s prompt: hierarchy.
She’s studied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
She’s got food and shelter, but can’t sleep.
Her body’s betraying her.
She doesn’t feel loved. Doesn’t belong in her skin.
Self-esteem? Self-actualization?
Ha.
Day 11 prompt for the #30Words30Days microfiction challenge. Prompt: Sharing
She told him she needed time.
She’d been pushing him away for months.
She isn’t ready to share her pain.
She needs to embody it, dwell within it.
Accept it.
#30Words30Days challenge. Prompt for day 10: Together
He held her through it. He was the epitome of supportive partner. She knew it.
In her grief, his support was too much.
Together was much too hard to bear.
A challenge to write 30 microfiction stories in the 30 days of April.
“You’re young.”
“You can try again.”
“There was something wrong.”
“It’s probably for the best.”
Their kindly meant words are spikes.
They smash through her grieving heart, splintering and crushing.
Shawn L. Bird 