100 Themes - Short fiction

This is one of the 100 themes list. Below I am posting a drabble, flash fiction, folktale, vignette, picture or other Mentar-y thing for each theme.

Sadly I can't access the old list I had at school due to security so I guess I am restarting.

1. Birth
2. Enthusiasm
3. Love
4. Hate
5. Triumph
6. Feel
7. Wrecked
8. Soft
9. Cold
10. Without
11. Inspiration
12. You
13. Confused
14. Affection
15. Joy
16. Horror
17. Acceptance
18. Sympathy
19. Holding
20. Defeated
21. Pride
22. Knife
23. Overwhelmed
24. Depressed
25. Adoration
26. Worship
27. Zeal
28. Light
29. Exhaustion
30. Obsession
31. Rage
32. Empty
33. Anger
34. Fury
35. Delight
36. Submission
37. Infatuation
38. Anticipation
39. Pessimistic
40. Jolly
41. Grasping
42. Agitation
43. Calm
44. Astonished
45. Loneliness
46. Lust
47. Longing
48. Tender
49. Hard
50. Rebirth
51. Amused
52. Broken
53. Abused
54. Tranquil
55. Composed
56. Glad
57. Stress
58. Serenity
59. Colorful
60. Coping
61. Boisterous
62. Placid
63. Tired
64. Bliss
65. Neglect
66. Fine
67. Question
68. Energetic
69. Noble
70. Disgust
71. Lively
72. Power
73. Pity
74. Humiliation
75. Satisfied
76. Thankful
77. Hyper
78. Goosebumps
79. Worthless
80. Remorse
81. Degraded
82. Revenge
83. Fulfilled
84. Shame
85. Graceful
86. Shining
87. Content
88. Feelings
89. Pleased
90. Relief
91. I
92. Zest
93. Tears
94. Building
95. Optimistic
96. Thrilled
97. Dealing
98. Reflect
99. Embarrassment
100. Death

Birth (Maret) :


Maggie wondered, as she peeked from her vantage in the alley, what life was like for the girl passing by, hand in hand with their mother with the brown curls, the pink cheeks and the well cut gray cloak. Or even the boy following his mother home with a basket as they walked back from the market. This mother was stout and ruddy, in a worn dress, but she reached back and smiled at him when they stopped to cross the street.

The children were interesting in their way, but Maggie was more interested in mothers. Rich mothers, poor mothers, pretty mothers, ugly mothers, fat mothers, thin mothers. And from them she began to cobble together a mother of her own.

“You’re funny in the head.” her friend Ethan scolded, when he ducked through the alley to find her sitting there. “It’s not like giving birth makes a person some kind of saint. Yours left, sure enough.”

Maggie barely spared him a glance. Ethan didn’t know anything about mothers. His sounded more like Maggie’s father than a proper one.

“She’ll come back,” she told him, “You’ll see.”

Enthusiasm - Linet

"The least you could do is show a little enthusiasm, you know," Cat admonished me.  

"I'm enthusiastic." I lied "It is those Densen etiquette lessons shining through that are helping me to keep my composure."  I wondered if I threw up if she would let me go home.  But that was probably bad form.  Maybe if I swooned.  Noblewomen swooned, I thought.

Cat, along with Harmony, had made reservations at a trendy, up and coming restaurant to celebrate Melinda's birthday. When I had stammered about working in the shop, Cat had insisted I come.  "My treat" she had said.  

The whole thing confused me a little.  I wasn't sure that Cat and Melinda were even that close.  I knew which fork to hold when and which spoon to eat what with, but I couldn't understand the difference between feigned and real affection between the young women around the table.   They were so...well....enthusiastic about their attention that I wondered if it could be anything but fake.  

And yet, none of them called the others on it.  They went on pretending that they were all the best of friends.  

If this was the way noblemen all acted, I was suddenly very grateful to be a commoner.

Love - Cinta

I managed to kid myself for a bit.   He was so different, you know? So the things he did were objectively fascinating.  Anyone would have been interested, I told myself.  I was his doctor, so having concern for his physical health, wanting to keep him well was only natural, right?  We were traveling together so of course I looked for little ways to make him happy and get to know him.  That only made sense.

I woke up in the middle of the night one night, in the middle of the night, from some rock in my back I hadn't managed to clear when we set up camp. Maybe it was the hard ground, maybe it was the cold. Anyway, I wiggled, trying to get comfortable again. I rolled over and watched him breathing.  I tried to match it, feeling like if I could relax as much as a sleeping person then I would soon be asleep as well, rocks be damned.  In....out....in....out.  I relaxed as I watched his face.  He was so strong, so quiet so...beautiful.  

And I had to admit to myself, as I dozed off, that I probably was feeling something a little more than was healthy for a proper doctor-patient relationship.

Triumph - Valentina

She raised her chin and with a small gesture of her hand tossed back the girls on her shoulder to sit behind her back instead, as if where they were they would've interfered with her taking the last of my five pieces. She then reached out and daintily picked it up with two fingers in her thumb.

I suppose I shouldn't of been surprised. Val was always quick I picking up new games. And it wasn't as if I didn't know that she could have a bit of a competitive streak.

But I'd been so sure, from the question she asked, that should never played this game before. Had I been played? Probably.

She smiled at me. "Care to play another round?" She asked.

"No thanks." I said, shoving the pieces into the bag. "I think I have to go home."