Rachel's Campaign Challenge

 

It's time for Rachel Harrie's First Campaigner Challenge!

For those who are unaware, the challenge is:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “Shadows crept across the wall”. These five words will be included in the word count.

  

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:

• end the story with the words: "everything faded." (also included in the word count)  
• include the word "orange" in the story
• write in the same genre you normally write
• make your story 200 words exactly!

And here is my entry at 200 words exactly:


          Shadows crept across the wall. I could no longer sleep. Exhausted, I had fallen asleep the second my head hit the pillow last night. Then I dreamed . . .  
          Dark mists swirled around me. I ran, calling out, searching frantically for my mother. Stumbling as I went, I narrowly avoided colliding with shadowy figures, some wandering aimlessly, others desperately searching as I am.  
          “Mom!” 
          She turned and saw me across the dark abyss. She reached out to me, and an unknown force pulled us apart.  
          I awoke abruptly. I was alone. Reality returned. My mother is dead.  
          Long dark hours pass as I lie awake. Finally the darkness fades. 
          Slipping out of bed, my feet pad across the cool wooden floor. I quietly lift the blinds and watch rosy orange light creep up the horizon of the fading darkness. The black night is over. A sliver of hope embeds itself in my heart. Maybe, just maybe, life will be ok.  
          A heavy tiredness engulfs my body. Noiselessly I slip across the room and back into bed. Curling up under my comforter, I close my eyes and will sleep to come again. Breathing deeply, my body relaxes, and everything fades.


This is entry number 122 on Rachel's Linky.