What do you see? 20th April

Posted on April 20, 2020 by pensitivity101

Thanks to Sadje for hosting this weekly challenge. You can join in here

Image credit- Pixabay-Thommas

( For visually challenged reader, the picture shows a stormy sea with an old ship battling the winds. There is a full moon peeking through the clouds)
It had been a terrible journey, plagued with one mishap after another.
The first had been the food had all rotted. The second the captain jumped overboard in despair, and the third the water supply was contaminated by rats.
They had no choice but to try and make it to land.
Then the storm hit.
The main sail was in tatters, but valiantly the crew worked together towards an inlet unmarked on their charts. None cared about discovering a new world, they just wanted to put their weary feet, aching backs and blistered hands on dry land.
The storm raged on, the moon teasing through the clouds casting a yellowing light on the waters below.
So intent were they in achieving their goal, none noticed the vessels behind, and they were not friendly.

About pensitivity101

I am a retired number cruncher with a vivid imagination and wacky sense of humour which extends to short stories and poetry. I love to cook and am a bit of a dog whisperer as I get on better with them than people sometimes! We have recently lost our beloved dog Maggie who adopted us as a 7 week old pup in March 2005. We decided to have a photo put on canvas as we had for her predecessor Barney, and now have three pictures of our fur babies on the wall as we found a snapshot of my GSD so had hers done too. From 2014 to 2017 'Home' was a 41 foot narrow boat where we made strong friendships both on and off the water. We were close to nature enjoying swan and duck families for neighbours, and it was a fascinating chapter in our lives. We now reside in a small bungalow on the Lincolnshire coast where we have forged new friendships and interests.
This entry was posted in #flash fiction, blogging, Challenge, photoprompt and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

16 Responses to What do you see? 20th April

  1. Sadje says:
    April 20, 2020 at 4:13 pm

    You’ve built quite a narrative for this photo. I wonder what happens next?
    Great story Di. Thanks a lot for joining in the challenge

  2. scifihammy says:
    April 20, 2020 at 4:48 pm

    Oooh A good suspenseful story here 🙂

  3. Melanie B Cee says:
    April 20, 2020 at 4:55 pm

    Wonderful depiction of that image! I think a lot of people romanticize the old way of travel – sailing on ships – by making it sound adventurous and exciting. The reality, sadly enough, was just as you describe, much of the time. I have ancestors that sailed over from England (in the 1800s) and some died on the voyage. I have a great great grandmother (I think she was anyway), who died in childbirth on the voyage to America. Scurvy and rickets were also common place. Great effort you gave in describing the gritty reality of voyaging.

  4. D. Wallace Peach says:
    April 20, 2020 at 4:59 pm

    Intense story. Those poor sailors… just when things couldn’t get any worse! (I actually like situations that are rock-bottom horrible on characters and then the author slaps them with another problem). Well done.

  5. Pingback: Sharing responses to the prompt, What do you see; Chris Hall -Navigating these Stormy Seas, Di – What do you see, and Eugenia- Monthly reset. – Keep it alive

  6. willowdot21 says:
    April 21, 2020 at 2:08 am

    Typical nothing ever improves 🙄

  7. Chris Hall says:
    April 21, 2020 at 9:44 am

    What a gripping start! How will the sailors fare? No doubt the island, if they find one, will be seething with cannibals 😉

  8. judeitakali says:
    April 21, 2020 at 10:41 am

    Oh my, that ominous ending, I love how you wrote this tale

  9. Pingback: What do you see # 26- A roundup – Keep it alive

Comments are closed.