#ThursThreads - Week 42 - Winners

Week 42 of #ThursThreads had some great tales! Thanks to all who entered this week. I'm honored to see all of you and read your stories. It was great to have our returning regulars and some new "faces". Great thanks also goes to judge J. Annas Walker for reading all the tales.

Entries:

• Kel Heinen | @Aightball
• Rebecca R Kovar | @RRKovar
• Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil
• Meredith Smith-Lane | @squee79
• Wren Archer | @WrenArcher
• Susan Hayes | @capricia13
• Ryan Strohman | @rastrohman
• Clare Stubbs | @ClareStubbs2
• David A Ludwig | @DavidALudwig
• Rebecca Grace Allen | @RGraceAllen
• Aurora Lee | @AuroraLee

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

Rebecca R Kovar | @RRKovar

J. Annas says: The grieving widow is accepting condolences, outwardly doing what is expected of her. The interesting bit is all internal. The great guy everyone applauded by others for leaving his wife well off was really a monster. He fostered a monster within his wife, bringing about his downfall. It has an interesting dark twist in the end.

 

  Ryan Strohman | @rastrohman

J. Annas says:This is a nice bit of science fiction. It leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Two children set up an apocalyptic event just to find a guardian. It left me wondering why and what next. What are they? Aliens? Government experiments gone wrong? Something supernatural? The possibilities are endless.

David A Ludwig | @DavidALudwig

J. Annas says: The classic damsel in distress gets a new take. She runs from the bad guys after being ambushed on vacation. Her savior comes in an unlikely package, a stone Golem. The magical shoulder she cries on turns out to be her best chance for survival. It was an interesting surprise ending. I would like to know if the Golem succeeded.

Week 42 Winner

Rebecca Grace Allen | @RGraceAllen

J. Annas says: Even though there is little real action going on in the piece, there is a good sense of this woman's desperation, her intense worry over the future, and clear obsession over every word Micheal sends her. The emotional ride becomes the story. You get a notion that she is building her whole life and sense of self around words on a screen. They are no more tangible than the long distance internet relationship, but she holds them in such high esteem that she seems to suffer anxiety over them. It begs the question of the heroines sanity. I like how her neediness seems to consume her. I can't help but wonder if the relationship would last if they were to live closer. Would she suffocate him? There is enough of the character presented in such a short space to answer the question. I think so.

'Everything’s going to be okay.’

Elaine reads the words over and over again, black against white on the screen in front of her. She tries to taste every letter. Rub her fingers over them. Hear them in her mind in the soft, deep cadence of his voice she’s only heard over the phone.

‘I don’t know how to do this,’ she types back. ‘I don’t know how to be so far away from you, and still feel like I’m yours.’

But it’s not enough.

There’s no way she can put into words what presses at the edges of her rib cage, what threatens to pull her off the road when she’s paralyzed with worry that she’ll never get the chance to feel his touch.

That they’ll be stuck this way, with nothing but miles in between them, and black and white words on a screen.

She never knew they would end up here from where they started. Support in an online chat group. She was looking for help when she was sick. She found Michael.

‘I know. That’s why I’m here.’

Elaine reads. Breathes. Closes her eyes. When she opens them, she sees only words again, but this time, they are so much more. They mean everything.

‘And I’m not going anywhere.’

Congratulations Rebecca, Rebecca, Ryan, and David! Claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it! :)

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