Image : Pixabay
We’ve been searching for twelve hours now.
The volunteers from the village have taken three hour shifts, but officers, friends, family have worked through.
I sent Baker away two hours ago. He’s got a six-month-old daughter so he can’t remember what a good night’s sleep feels like.
‘I wanna stay,’ he said, though even in full sun he looked green, pouches of grey under his eyes. ‘I know how I’d feel …’
‘I know, son,’ I said. ‘But you’re no use to me half dead. What if you miss something because your body’s moving but your brain’s asleep?’
That was what made him go. He’d hate to be the one that missed something important. Wouldn’t we all.
Still, I can’t take my own advice. Couldn’t sleep if I left now, anyway. May as well be useful.
‘Boss.’
Harris is standing three feet away. I can’t see his size 12 boots for snow. Flakes have gathered on his shoulders and I imagine the wind whipping drifts against his collar.
The look in his eyes snaps me alert.
‘Down there,’ he says, pointing to the trickle of water the locals call Shimmy’s Brook.
Choked with twigs and dead leaves, snarled in the ice is a scrap of something blue.
I inhale crisp, clean air, know this will be the last time these woods will feel clean.
‘Come on then, son,’ I say. ‘Show me what you’ve found.’
Written for Damon Wakes’ Flash Fiction Day. Take a look here to see what all the fuss is about.
Word Shamble 
It’s amazing how much you pack in to such a short piece. So good Lynn!
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Thanks, love. Quite like the snippets of police procedural I’ve written in some recent flash pieces. Not sure I have the brain to plot a full length one though – too convoluted. 🙂
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Yes! I love reading police/detective thrillers but can’t imagine ever being able to write one! I loved this post though… You nailed it.
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Thank you! Reckon I can only write the gnere in flash form, though. My noggin would explode trying to write a novel 🙂
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When I read one I sometimes have to go back and check the plot line so no, I’ve no hope!
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Haha! Me too 🙂
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Wow, so chilling! The line about the last time the woods would feel clean especially got me.
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Thank you, Joy! I just imagined him being a local police officer, knowing the woods really well and then having a terrible crime committed there. How would that change his perceptions of the place? Thanks for reading 🙂
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I had my heart in my throat, hoping it wasn’t a child. But it is, isn’t it? It’s ok, all is not lost – you could do an Eastenders – let her be dead for a while and then revive her, thereby neatly washing the blood from your pen. It’s not too late… 🙂
I had coffee with a neighbour earlier today, and the TV was on – Eastenders. I could have sworn half the miserable gits in today’s episode had been killed off years ago, but my friend told me that only one of them had, and that was the woman who used to knit jumpers and sell them in the market. She was married to Phil whatsit, and her death was a scam to stop him hassling her, or something – which enabled her to re-emerge as soon as she got short of dosh because no-one else would touch her with stage-make-up brush.
Bet you’re glad I told you that. It’s good to keep up with current affairs 🙂 🙂
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Haha! Lost track of Eastenders decades ago, fortunately! Foul loud of old nonsense, isn’t it?
I thought it was a child, but the scrap of blue is ambiguous – could just be a piece of coat torn on a branch as it made its escape. Don’t realy like stories that have women and children mutilated and murdered – always the victims. If I wrote crime – which I couldn’t cos I don’t have the brain for the convoluted plots – I’d bump men off all the time. Probably politicians, oligarchs, tabloid journalists, paparazzos …
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So, basically, you’d do away with the people who manipulate the populance. I hope you’d put the Green Party in power once you’d killed off all the baddies 🙂
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Well, of course! I’m suspicious of all politicians now, but at least the Greens are thinking long term and not just about money – there’s kindness and empathy there. More than you can say for many others. 😦
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None of the Greens I’ve met would be prepared to forego their principles for the sake of power – for them it’s not about power. It’s about the causes they champion. They’ve turned to, and studied, politics because it’s the best way forward.
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Very true, Jane. I hope no Green would do a Clegg and through election promises away just for power.
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Good read, hoping to try my hands on flash fiction. Hope I can write this good.
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Thank you! Hope you’re travels through flash go well. Do look at the links for the prompts I use during the week and have a go yourself – it’s great fun and you’ll find a real community spirit. Thanks for reading 🙂
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