Six Sentence Stories – The Lie
He almost never thought about Earth anymore.
There was no point, since you could hardly even call it a planet now, he thought as he caught sight of what remained drifting into view at the corner of his window, shadowed against the backdrop of blazing swirls of vermilion, persimmon, marigold that would complete its inevitable destruction – a destruction set in motion by a galactic bump, a shove from a celestial bully with no regard for the inequity of challenging a smaller and weaker body. The dead men had lied when they promised to go back after a few months; they knew there was no reason to return because nothing and no one could have survived and even if by some miracle anyone had, it was unreasonable to think they could still be alive now after so many years.
He eased the wearisome craft closer to the smoldering surface, settling her on what he hoped was solid rock, unfastened his harness, and prepared to leave. He was more than under-equipped for an excursion like this, especially alone, but with no one left in the station and no hope of finding anyone here, did it matter? He urged the rusted hatch open, walked a few careful steps, then stopped, slapped in the face by the unmistakable smell of fresh, burning flesh.
Want more? Read part 2 of “The Lie” here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This has been a Six Sentence Story.
Each week, the lovely Ivy Walker hosts a link-up challenging writers to spin a tale in six sentences – no more, no less. Click on the link right here to find out more and link your own post. While you’re there, click on the blue frog button to find more stories from some wonderful storytellers.
This week’s prompt was LIE.
My Husband challenged me to try writing a little science fiction this week. The result is definitely a “little” science fiction – this is Six Sentence Stories, after all…
Also joining Elena for the Blog Share Learn weekend link-up party. Hop over and check out some great blog posts from some really awesome bloggers.
Love this? Share the love and tell someone!
You might also like...
Lisa A. Listwa is a self-employed writer with experience in education, publishing, and the martial arts. Believing there was more to life than punching someone else’s time clock and inspired by the words of Henry David Thoreau, she traded her life as a high school educator for a life as a writer and hasn’t looked back. She is mother to one glorious handful of a daughter, wife to the nicest guy on the planet, and reluctant but devoted owner of three Rotten Cats. You can find her adventures and thoughts on living life deliberately here on the blog.
43 Comments
Comments are closed.
Wow…impressive piece of writing! You could build a really great short or even novel out of this…i want to know so much!
Thank you. A lot. You know, I did feel like I could have kept going at the end of this one. Perhaps I will.
I hope you told your husband ‘challenge accepted and I kicked it’s ass!!’
This is great!
When he woke up this morning I told him I did the sci-fi and he said, “Oh? I was kidding…” Never challenge me…I will always take a challenge. 😀
Thanks for liking it!
This drew me right in. I am not good at these short shorts, but you sure are!
Oh, yay! Thanks, Carol. I don’t know if I’m good at these or not – I just like doing them. I’m glad you like it!
OH my gosh this is strikingly good, Lisa! WOW WOW WOW. You are so gifted. AMAZING read.
Wow, thanks, Chris! And SO GOOD to see you. I feel like we miss each other most of the time. xo
His own?
Nope. Not his own. Although that might make things interesting, too.
Well that’s just teasing. Are you going to write more of this?
I might, actually.
GOOD!
OK, it could be his own…I might know how that would happen. 😉
Um. YIKES!
Mwah-hah-haaaa…
This calls for a part 2.
I’m thinking about it.
totally with the others on this, very good Six, amazingly enticing setup!
more about this would be a good thing
Thank you, Clark. Definitely thinking about the possibilities…
Great imagery Lisa! You’re an amazing writer!
Liv, thanks for saying that! I really never thought about fiction. Maybe I should reconsider.
You Should!!!
[…] ← Previous […]
This is an amazing piece of writing, and what a great photo to go with it. That last sentence was a real “face slapper” for the reading audience. Great SSS.
Thank you, Pat. I love the photo, too – took a while to find just what I wanted. I wanted something that kind of echoed the color descriptions in the story. I really love doing these.
Haunting and provocative.
Oooh…thank you, Val! If I turn this into short story or a novel, will you write that on the review? I think I’d like “haunting and provocative” on a review about my words. Definitely. 🙂
damn! start of a good (regular with lots of sentences) story is all this is!
Thanks! I like getting a “damn” from Clark. 😀
I am actually thinking about doing more with this one.
Wow, Lisa, amazing piece of Sci-Fi here! It’s not easy to interest me in that, and you most certainly left me wanting to know more. Very well done!!
Thank you, Josie. I actually really liked writing this one. And I never would have gone this direction if my Husband hadn’t challenged me to do it.
[…] Missed part one? Read “The Lie” here. […]
[…] The Lie, Part 1 […]
More! That’s all I am saying.
More there shall be…eventually!
This was so awesome I got a dystopian feel to it while I was reading it. 😃
In a million years, I would never have opted for a dystopian theme, but I started this on a challenge from my Husband. I guess I thought I was being a wise-ass and the next thing I knew, THIS happened. And I kind of like the fact that it blew up from a six sentence challenge into something I think has a whole lot of life in it. So glad you like!
[…] The Lie, Part 1 […]
Wait, is this Jack???
Yes. This is Jack.
[…] Want to know more about Jack? Read the beginning of his story, “The Lie” here. […]
[…] The Lie, Part 1 […]