I made it to the second round of the Microfiction writing competition for NYC Midnight. Stories had to be 250(!) words or less, using an assigned genre, word, and action, and be submitted within 24hrs.
This was my entry for the Second Round. Genre: Action/Adventure; Action: Falling into a River; Word: Season.
Flash Fiction by Stefanie Gilmour
The Story
Eve Prides couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t climbing. She’d progressed from her parents’ furniture to free soloing. Her love of scuttling across surfaces culminated in a trip to Mt. Tuspo.
She frowned at the storm clouds. The weather report had promised clear skies. It was the season of ice melts and flash floods. Raindrops pelted Eve as she continued upward, racing to find purchase.
The heavens split. She tried to hoist herself up, but cried out when her shoe slipped, and her small body fell against the cliff face. Pain shot through her fingers as she struggled to keep hold of the slick rock.
She heard a sound, like a train, barrel down the mountainside. A wall of water struck her. She was swept away from the rock face, caught in the deluge rushing down the mountainside. Her body was buffeted about, and then she was falling again.
The edge of the cliff raced away from her, and a cascade of water followed her downward.
This is the part where I die, she thought.
She fell into the river below. The lazy current of the engorged river pulled her away from the waterfall. Eve surfaced with an explosion of flailing arms and frantic gasps for air. She swam to the shore, chest heaving, as the sun broke through the clouds. Her eyes narrowed at the mountain. Eve Prides would return in the dry season, and she would attempt to climb Mt. Tupso again.