Welcome to Thursday 360!
Well, my laptop died this week so I’m posting from another computer. Nevertheless, it’s Thursday and it’s time to get our 360 on! 😉
Here’s How it Works
New posts will publish here on Thursdays. Write a 360-word (or less) flash fiction story based on the photo prompt (featured near the bottom of this post) and enter it in the comments section below. The results will be posted the following Thursday along with the new prompt. Winner will get the opportunity to display the Champion’s Badge on their website.
Rules and What-not
The rules are pretty simple. All entries for the current challenge must be posted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday, July 6th. They must be original, unpublished stories inspired by the photo prompt and they must have no more than 360 words (title doesn’t count). Stories don’t have to be Christian in subject matter, but cannot contain foul language, erotic, anti-Christian content, etc… (Let’s try to keep it G-rated, folks.) By posting, you attest that your entry conforms to these rules; I am in no way liable if it doesn’t. I reserve the right to reject/delete anything that does not follow the rules.
All entries remain the property of their authors.
Results for Last Week’s Challenge
Champion: Daleen Cowgar for her story It Was Worth It.
Congratulations! Great story, Daleen. 🙂
The Prompt
And here’s the prompt for this week’s challenge.
Special Challenge: I’m giving ya’ll a special challenge to accompany this week’s prompt. Write the entire story in first person narrative from the POV of a secondary character. (Think the way Sir Arthur Conan Doyle told his Sherlock Holmes stories from the POV of Watson.) Have fun!
Remember the deadline is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday, July 6th.
Photo by Ricky Rew
Also, remember to become a follower so you can get email notifications of results and new posts.
Check out Christian Flash Weekly after you’re done for another great contest to help you hone your short fiction skills.
Have a great 4th of July weekend, everyone!
Whitney L. Schwartz 
Wow what a great challenge. Never wrote like that before. Will have to go read a bit before I try this one. I pray your family is well, Whitney. Happy 4th
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“Understanding”
@JohnMark_Miller – 360 words
Springwood was a small town, but the annual Fourth of July Picnic always drew a sizeable crowd. Families from six counties stood cheering in the town square as fighter jets roared overhead, filling the air with plumes of brilliant red, white, and blue.
As I stood among the roaring crowd, I couldn’t help but wonder how many really understood the spectacle. Was this just entertainment, or did they understand that the jets represented those who had bled for their freedom?
“Excuse me, Mister!” A young girl bumped into me abruptly. Her pigtails bobbed in the summer breeze, and she clutched a handful of roses in her tiny fists.
Here was a prime example, I mused, of a youngster too innocent to understand the great significance of today.
“You should be more careful,” I scolded her harshly.
“Okay, Mister,” she gushed, eyes bright. “I was just watching the planes! I watch them every year.”
She pointed dramatically to the sky, where one fighter jet broke away from the rest.
My eyes flooded with tears as I thought of the many comrades I had seen go down in battle…the thousands of fallen soldiers represented by that solitary plane. The crowd cheered, excited by the beautiful display, and completely unaware of its meaning.
“Are you alright, Mister?” the girl asked, alarmed.
I smiled weakly. “Yes, I’m fine,” I told her. “I was just missing some old friends of mine. You…you wouldn’t understand.”
The girl hesitated for a moment, clutching the flowers tightly to her chest. Then, with trembling fingers, she offered me a rose.
“This is for them,” she said. “Your friends, I mean. You see, my Daddy used to fly airplanes before he… went to Heaven. Every year I watch the planes, and bring roses for his grave. But I’m sure he wouldn’t mind sharing…this once.”
I wanted to thank her, but couldn’t form the words. The girl hurried into the crowd, and left me a changed man.
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Wow! That’s a good one!!! Very touching. 😀
Haven’t heard from you for a while, how’s the new church and home?
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Thanks, Daleen! Things are going well…we have VBS going on this week and have been crazy busy, but we’re loving it!
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Awesome!! 🙂
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My Daddy’s A Hero
WC: 320
Daddy’s a hero. Everyone says so. From his sergeant to Bobby Jo down the street. They all say the same thing.
My daddy is a hero.
I know he is too—honest I do!—I just wish that ‘hero’ wasn’t the same as ‘dead’. Dead. Yeah, my daddy is a dead hero.
Why do the superheroes always live? Why do they always save the day? Doesn’t everyone know that’s not what happens? If you come back, you’re a veteran. If you don’t come back, you’re a hero. A dead hero and his broken, lost, ‘brave’ family.
And so, my daddy is a hero.
And my family is broken, lost, and ‘brave’.
They say it was suppose to be a routine flight with no difficulties. They say the first they knew of the attack, Daddy was already falling. They say the plane’s explosion lit up the night enough to see ground troops to fire at. They say his death alerted the rest of the base that there was a sneak attack coming. They say his death saved many soldiers’ lives.
And so, my daddy is a hero.
The first time I saw the 4th of July plane ‘fall’, I screamed. I screamed and screamed, positive that there was going to be an explosion…that someone was going to die…that there would be another family like ours.
Mom got sympathetic looks from our neighbors and weird looks from those who didn’t know us, yet she calmed me down enough to promise that no one was getting hurt, that no one was going to die, that everything was ok.
Now? Now I don’t scream. I just cry. And I cry even more when no one around me knows what it means, when no one understands why I salute with tears running down my face.
But I know why I do.
Because my daddy is a hero.
And now my husband is too.
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Wow, I missed entering last week, but what tough company it would have been. Two great, moving stories.
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