I wanted to cover my ears as the flames licked the sky in Newcago.
“Help me. I’m on fire!”
“I can’t see…”
the wail of a small child
Helpless I watched. The firefighters tried but could not get to the center of the apartment complex.
Then the first bodies…
The charred hand of my favorite professor. He turned that ring around his finger while he lectured.
Find me a lonesome tree in OldYork where I can bury my nightly pain.
But I knew I was the only one who could find the scum who burned people for the hell of it.
******
The gnarled tree is today’s prompt from Friday Fictioneers led by our hostess Rochelle. It’s the kind of tree you could sit beneath for a picnic or a good rant. Have a look at what the Fictioneers are writing about today.
Week 3 in Newcago Serial When the Lights Go On
week 2 in Newcago Serial Can’t Kill The Thirst
Week 1 in Newcago Serial Secret Weapon
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Published by moondustwriter
Thank you for visiting Moondustwriter. In 2019, we have an exciting project. We are developing elementary curriculum for Ugandan children. As a writer, it is a thrill to help children who want to learn. Along with the curriculum, we hope to develop simple fictions about Uganda for the children to read at school. Trust me books are in short supply. We will use our trusted story tellers: a butterfly and a lion to make the stories come alive. Stay tuned as Bethany and Me put pen to paper.
I've been part of the blogging community for more than 10 years. Some old timers may remember the award winning (2012 Twitter Shorty ) blog community - One Stop Poetry. I was the (quiet) originator of the idea and co-producer of One Stop Poetry.
I am a published writer, poet, artist and photographer. I have written, as well as edited, for periodicals, radio, blogs and fellow writers.
There are many facets to this moon - thanks for stopping by.
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Great story ! 🙂 i hope he finds the fellow who set the fire
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or fellows / thanks so much for your visit
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What an interesting story you’ve created here…with such dark tones to it.
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Inspired by a real one I just heard (sadly)
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Good atmosphere and the promise of more excitement–like the detail of the professor’s ring and choice of the tree to bury your pain. Look forward to next week’s offering.
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A chilling story. Horror at it’s best. Well done.
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HI – Sorry, I missed the previous stories… I hope they find this creep who set the fire.
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Dark and gruesome, filled with detail and atmosphere. Very well written.
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What a sad scene. Great figurative language you used; I just hope the arsonist gets caught!
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The detail about the professor’s ring is just awesome.
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Gruesome place, this Newcago. Nicely done.
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Love the way this fits in with the other stories. Very well done and very dark. I like it
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I’m getting inspiration from someone who worked the beat
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Excellent way of doing it. Gives you more realism to it
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Hello! This post could not be written any bteetr! Reading this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this write-up to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Many thanks for sharing!
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Not a nice place Newcago!
Loved the all the detail you managed to include in such a short piece, well done
Dee
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no – I’m glad you can see the dark corners
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Knowledge wants to be free, just like these articles!
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Powerful stuff here once again.
Well done.
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The professor’s ring bit was good, which told me the setting was a school.
The story is a bit too close to the bone for me! Here in England a man, wife and ‘friend’ have just been imprisoned for deliberately setting fire to the couple’s house, which killed 6 of his children (all of the wife’s). He was trying to implicate his mistress, who had also been living in the house with 5 other of his children, and had moved out. This man has 17 kids in all. Doesn’t work.
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The setting actually an apartment house (didnt have the word count for the details). It was a real arson case that a friend of mine was a first responder to. What “man” doesn’t understand is that someone always pays for another’s reckless behavior often paying with life
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True, there are no effects without causes. Mine was almost a true story. I was the 11 year old girl who wrote that short story about the tree and sent it off for publication. I was 13, not 11. I sent it to a girls comic: ‘The Bunty’, which published stories about ballet and horseriding, not sci-fi/fantasy. The editor sent me a really nice letter of rejection!
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very atmospheric – I was curious as to how you were going to weave the old tree into your story but you did it very well.
I love Newcago (but I wouldn’t want to live there!)
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That takes a sick individual to do something like that. Hopefully he can find him.
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I always hear this imaginary sax music when I read your posts! Very atmospheric and a good read. 🙂
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How/why is he the only own who knows..
Read the previous episodes too.. Maybe I sense, but is it known yet what the secret weapon is?
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Newcago sounds like a dismal place. Your stories seem like the good basis for a novel.
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It would be worse…
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Love that you managed to work in little details, like the ring, even in so few words! The brief glimpse we get of Newcago here isn’t very pleasant, but it’s very intriguing all the same, and I’d be curious to know more.
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I am also writing to let you unesdrtand what a nice encounter my wife’s child found browsing your webblog. She mastered a good number of pieces, which included how it is like to possess a great teaching nature to make other individuals easily fully unesdrtand a number of complicated subject matter. You truly surpassed readers’ expected results. Thank you for rendering these powerful, healthy, educational and also easy tips on this topic to Evelyn.
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Unparalleled accuracy, unequivocal clarity, and undeniable importance!
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Hopefully the investigation can be done with the light of day!
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