Drabble: Along the Beach

Drabble: Telling a story in exactly 100 words.

I put the challenge out a month ago. The stories were to be based on this generic shot I took on an east coast beach. I tampered with it in Picasa. Liked what I saw. Posted it and invited you to share your ideas (or in some cases, nightmares). Below are six brave writers who picked up the baton and turned out some solid stories in 100 words.

Dig it.

~JackBates

Along the Beach

The Bitch, the Beach, and the Cub Scout
by Jim Harrington

Karl spotted the woman and boy through the rifle sight. He knew three things about the witch. Her ass was way too big to be wearing a thong, the kid wasn't his, and she and her lawyer shouldn't have stole his money. He'd taken care of the lawyer. Now it was her turn.

He found her easily. She always complained about not going to that famous Daytona Beach.

"Bitch," Karl mumbled.

The boy giggled and ran away from the waves. Karl lowered the rifle, wiped the salty sweat from his eyes, and smiled. Maybe tomorrow would be better, he thought.

Seasick

by John Clark

I pitied everyone in the Bayport Motel. They were, to put it bluntly, screwed and there wasn't a thing I could do to change that. I closed my eyes and fought the nausea threatening to send eggs over easy and maple-flavored bacon onto the granite outcropping that was all that stood between me and 500 feet of nothing. I wasn't afraid of heights. No, my fear was fueled by the images running through my head as I imagined the scene below just a few minutes from now. I turned and began climbing higher, as the giant wave filled the horizon.

SCENE CHANGER

~ By Absolutely*Kate

 “What a crummy room. Can’t even see the sea.”

“Sighting seas ain’t what we came here to do Barney. Boss sent us on a job. Here, we perch over Mango Bay’s comings and goings. Do our business, nail the next one, walk beachfront, jibber-jabber later. Got it?”

“Well sure Fred, ya put it that way. Where d’we get started?”

“Now you’re talkin’. Help me lift this tarp, angle the body right.”

“Ya sure this caper will work? Won’t they stink when they’re dead?”

“Nah. Sprayed this baby. She’s a beaut! Boss said make it look natural.”

“Fish-Décor. Who’da thunk?”

“Yabba-dabba-do!”

Along The Beach

by Darren Sant

Max sat on the roof looking out over the beach. Grey waves kissed the pebble strewn expanse of sand like a long lost lover. He sucked on his cigar and blew smoke upwards. It hung in the air for a moment before the wind took it. 

A lone gull cried a mournful tale causing Max to nod. It shouldn't have been like this, there was no need for the betrayal. Max sighed knowing there was no other way. The business would carry on regardless. 

As the sea carried his partner's body away Max climbed back in through the open skylight.

Ebb Tidings

by Walt Giersbach

Gloria was in that motel when the hurricane hit the Jersey shore.  She was ten miles out to sea or in a shark’s stomach when they finally let people return to town.  The sea mocked my salty tears as I walked the dunes.

“We’ve all lost our past,” a cop said when he saw me crying. 

“Gloria DeLillo was my fiancée,” I choked.

“Miss DeLillo?  Long gone.  We thought it was her body in the motel, but ID in the lady’s pocket said otherwise.  We’ve got an APB out on her.”

“She’s alive!”

“Well, until we charge her with murder.”

 Summer Sunset

By Katt Dunsmore

Sarah stood on the balcony, sipping champagne and watching the tide come in as the sun sank behind the sea. She could see Mark, out by the shore. She raised a hand and waved, unsure if he could see her. She was, naturally, mostly in shadow; he was out in the dying rays of the sun. Soon, she would go to him. As Sarah walked out to the edge of the water, she would get her feet wet in the spray as she made her way to him.

There shouldn’t be much left. Vampires did so poorly in direct sunlight.

© Copyright 2013 Tonya D Dunsmore. All rights reserved.

Tonya "Katt" Dunsmore is an American short story writer and illustrator. Her stories and essays have appeared in Crime and Suspense Magazine, Flashing in the Gutters, Flashshots, Mouth Full of Bullets, Associated Content, Silver Moon Magazine, Bewildering Stories, and Flash Jab Fiction, and in the anthologies, The EX-Factor: Justified Endings to Bad Exes (Koboca Publishing, 2006), Daily Bites of Flesh 2011 (Pill Hill Press, 2011), Daily Flash 2012 (Pill Hill Press, 2012), and Daily Frights 2012 (Pill Hill Press, 2012. Her illustrations and graphics have appeared in several publications and on the internet