Welcome to Thursday 360!
Are you a Christian writer? Think you can write a mind-blowing short story in 360 words or less? Let’s see what you’ve got!
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 13th. They must be original, unpublished stories inspired by the photo prompt and they must have no more than 360 words (title doesn’t count).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: John Mark Miller for his story Understanding.
Congratulations! Great story, John.
And the runner up and winner of the Thursday 360 Heartstrings Award is Daleen Cowgar for her story My Daddy’s A Hero.
The Prompt
And here’s the prompt for this week’s challenge.
Remember the deadline is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday, July 13th.
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.
Whitney L. Schwartz 
The Café that Changed the World
@CharlesWShort
358 words
He approached the little café that had changed the world, but he stopped a half block away and stared.
No patrons were visible, inside or out.
Last time he had been there it was so packed he couldn’t get inside, so he sat outside and watched the proprietor flitter about. Entertaining guests. Taking orders. Taking his heart away, yet again. She had been 47 that day, but he saw her as 19. She still had the bounce, smile, and intelligence of the young woman he had married 38 years before.
But that was over five years ago.
The government had offered to rebuild, reconstructing a normal life for those who remained. He had it built, exactly as it had been. A monument to her. But customers no longer came, only a few curious gawkers each day.
The night the world changed he had headed home. He was five blocks away when he felt the first concussion, knocking him off his feet. The first was followed by another, and another, and another. Until he couldn’t keep count. Until he thought the ground he was on would be next.
When it finally stopped he was momentarily glad to be alive. They call it the café that had changed the world because it was the location of the first bomb. And it had been this series of attacks that had brought out the resolve in the people to fight.
The theory sounded good; theories always do. Eradicate terrorism and make it safe to live a normal life again. His life would never be normal without her.
The world was rent into three opposing ideologies and into a final unending world war.
He stared at the café, wanting to see what he remembered. Wanting to remember what he saw.
The draft card had showed up in the previous days post. If they were drafting men his age, the end was close. He knew he wouldn’t come back, but he didn’t mind. There was nothing for him here, anyway.
God had a plan for the end of this world and the quicker he did his part the quicker he would see her again.
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What Might Have Been
Vince took a swig of his latte and glanced at a couple sitting at a nearby table. They both laughed and the woman touched the man’s arm in a manner that said they were more than friends.
Instantly he was in the past, sitting across from Chelsea. He could see her face as vividly as the blue-trimmed café windows by his side. He could still see her smile, the sparkle in her eyes, hear the sunny trickle of her laughter.
He felt that familiar twinge of sadness and regret. When she’d told him she was moving to London, he’d seen the question in her eyes. She wanted him to ask her to stay, giving him one final opportunity to express his love for her…but he didn’t. He didn’t because he was a coward, he couldn’t get up enough guts to just tell her that he loved her. All because of the deep-seated fear of rejection and failure that had dogged him all his life. He’d learned a hard lesson when she left. Facing failure was nothing compared to the pain of regret, of knowing what he could have had if he’d only had the courage to grasp it.
“Vince?”
He looked up at the sound of her voice and felt the shock rush over him.
“Chelsea! What are you doing here?” he asked, standing.
She smiled. “London didn’t seem to agree with me. I’m moving back.”
He saw the flicker in her eyes, posing the same question they had before she left.
This time he wasn’t about to let her go before he answered it.
Approx. Word Count: 267
Host Entry — Not Eligible to Win
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