'We're decorating the Christmas tree Nana.'
'It's not winter' she replied, eyes cloudy and confused.
I handed her the old worn angel.
'Your Grandad gave me this on Christmas Eve in 1954' she smiled, her memories now happy. 'Is he coming to help us?'
My heart broke all over again.
#writecbc

Flickering candles revealed cracked portraits and shadows that clung too long to the walls. Sue gazed at the grotesque man next to her at the party. 'Great costume' she said, touching his leathery lined mask, but her fingers met warm, real skin as Sue felt a hot hand grasp her wrist...
#writecbc

I stared uncomfortably at the picture. The naked woman covered only by flimsy rags, bones protruding like pencils, eyes dead yet deliberately defiant, blood dripping down her torso. Oh to reach inside the canvas and release her tortured soul from prying eyes and laughing school kids...
#writecbc

She looked familiar. Sullen face, lank hair - I didn't much like her. She stepped inside and we stood side by side in front of the hall mirror but there was only one haunted reflection staring back. The penny dropped, I knew her when she smiled, and hoped one day soon I would again...
#writecbc

It'll be bad, like really bad!

The ocean was as dull as a navy school blazer. 'The sea will keep our secrets forever,' he said, as he put a note in a bottle feeling relief. 'You next.’ She buried her deadly secret inside the bottle then he hurled it off the cliff.

He didn't know that her secret was written in blood…
#writecbc

‘You need to do better, maybe smash glass like you usually do.’ My ear burns as I hear the words “that’s not me” as something slips into bed beside me and we huddle together fear rising. You know you’re in trouble when a spirit who’s haunted you for ages suddenly becomes your closest ally. #writecbc

Down to the bowels of the earth, faces streaked despite a scrub with Carbolic soap. With picks and Davy Lamps they crawled along the confined tunnel of death. The Canary suddenly stopped tweeting, falling to the bottom of the cage as the tendrils of toxic air took the miners one by one.
#writecbc

Beeswax thinks Queenie stepping into the hall antenna twitching. Her eyes scan the cosy cottage with bee paraphernalia everywhere. From the kitchen window she spots the hives. Queenie's heart beats as fast as her beloved bees wings, she'd found her home at last. 🐝
#writecbc

Learning the art of writing a synopsis would be a New Year miracle. I can write 100k words so why is one page so blooming difficult 🤣🤣
#writecbc

Thank you! I participate every year and enjoy the challenge 🎄🪽🪽🧑‍🎄

Ella breathed deeply as the flame overcame the creeping cold. 'Too late to be sorry' she yelled, then exhaling forcibly she blew flames, engulfing the Ice King until he melted into oblivion. Fire wins over ice, good wins over evil, and the joy of Christmas was forever preserved.
#5ActFestiveStory

Icy tendrils wrapped around Ella squeezing out her body warmth. She glanced at her hands, her fingernails now long icicles that could maim. Ella peeped in the mirror, an ethereal figure stared back as pale as fresh, glistening snow except for two terrified periwinkle blue eyes...
#5ActFestiveStory

'I'm done running, it's time we took control' said Ella defiantly, grabbing a rusted key hanging in a Christmas stocking - let's go!' 'I've not been in the Spell Shed for years, I'm as rusty as the key,' mum smiled, 'but magic never leaves. It's time I taught you, my feisty girl!'
#5ActFestiveStory

'Someone who's been missing since Christmas Eve 2000.' 'That's my birthday, you told me he was dead,' gasped Ella. 'He is to me. You must decide whether sorry is enough and seek him out.' 'How will I find him?' 'You've inherited his magical powers, Ella; it's time to use them...'
#5ActFestiveStory

The card showed a photo of a place so familiar it made her heart skip. She had to go there now. But how? Her car was buried under snow. ‘Any chance of you pulling a sled?’ She smiled at Ivy her lazy Pug. Then she spotted the magic snow globe which she grabbed, shook and wished…
#5ActFestiveStory