"The Shadow Man" (trying to finish my maynia story a five minute freewrite at a time) - 5 five minute freewrites contained within!
Maynia is over…
...but ...I ground to a halt…so I’m going to try to finish the story…I began… and catch up with the freewrite (and Maynia) prompts…
Here are five x five minute freewrites...
The Shadow Man
If you want you can find the previous “chapters”: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen
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Maynia prompt: plastic biscuit
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@freewritehouse/maynia-day-nineteen-commenters-win-too
The Daily Freewrite prompt: inspector
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@mariannewest/day-940-5-minute-freewrite-monday-prompt-inspector
When Alba came in everyone stopped paying attention to Heather and started talking about technical computer stuff. Heather saw Billy get up and creep over to the door and slip through. She wondered if she should interrupt the grown-ups and tell on him. But Mummy always said it wasn't nice to tell tales.
And besides Billy would be angry.
He was already sulking because Heather was getting all the attention and he was being ignored. He pretended he didn't care but Heather could tell he was annoyed. He had probably just slipped outside to get a breath of fresh air. Perhaps Heather would join him. Try and make it up to him.
Perhaps not.
She stood up and began wandering around the shop. By the counter, there were a whole load of posters advertising Upcoming Events! including Heather noticed with a smile a band called Plastic Biscuit Inspector. That sounded like a funny name for a band and Heather wondered what they sounded like. Probably lots of loud drums and guitars the kind of music that Billy seemed to listen to more and more these days. There was also a poster for the Theatre and Heather remembered Mummy had promised to take her to see the show this afternoon.
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Maynia prompt: fragile
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@freewritehouse/maynia-day-twenty
The Daily Freewrite prompt: protest
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@mariannewest/day-941-5-minute-freewrite-tuesday-prompt-protest
Fragile Protest was the name of the play on the poster and Heather was fairly positive it was not the show her mother was going to take her too. "The story of two women and their fight for survival..." was what was written under the title.
No.
That was definitely not it. Heather remembered there being something about rabbits in the show Mummy has told her about.
The grown ups were still talking and Heather edged towards the door. No one looked up. Alba was talking excitedly and was pointing at her phone. Mummy was looking confused and a little upset. But she didn't look as Heather opened the door and slipped out. The sunshine was bright and Heather blinked at its intensity for a moment. After a moment her eyes adjusted and she looked for Billy. He wasn't visible. There was a souvenir shop next to the bookshop. Perhaps he had gone inside. Heather looked in the window. There were a couple of people looking at the shelves packed with what Mummy would call "toot" but no sign of Billy.
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Maynia prompt: twisted truth
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@freewritehouse/maynia-day-twenty-one-commenters-win-too
The Daily Freewrite prompt: rain check
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@mariannewest/day-942-5-minute-freewrite-wednesday-prompt-rain-check
"Got any spare change?" Heather turned and saw that a man was standing next to her. His clothes were rather worn and - if she were being honest - a bit dirty too. Heather tried not to wrinkle her nose at the smell because Mummy said you should be nice to people because you never knew what had happened in their lives that led them to have to sleep rough. But Mummy also said she shouldn't speak to strangers.
So Heather was a bit torn.
In the end she smiled and shook her head.
"I'll tell you the twisted truth," the man said, smiling and leaning in towards her. Heather backed away. "If you ain't careful," the man said. "The Shadow Man'll get ya!" he began to laugh and Heather backed away further and then, decided the best thing to do was to run across the road - even though Mummy said never to cross the road without holding a grown up's hand. The only grown up was the strange homeless man. And Mummy also said not to hold strange men's hands.
She ran.
"Hold on!" the man shouted waving a piece of paper at her. "I have a rain check for you here." Heather kept on running.
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Maynia prompt: marble pillar
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@freewritehouse/maynia-day-twenty-two-the-end-is-approaching
The Daily Freewrite prompt: raft
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@mariannewest/day-943-5-minute-freewrite-thursday-prompt-raft
She carried on running until she found herself at the entrance to the pier. She hid behind one of the large marble pillars and took several deep breaths before peering around. The man was walking up the road in the opposite direction to where she was hiding. She took another deep breath and decided to wait a few more minutes before crossing the road and going back to the bookshop.
She leaned against the pillar and looked out towards the sea. There were a few people swimming, one man on what looked like a surfboard but with a kite attached to it and two people on a raft.
The pier was almost empty. A few people strolling on to it. And... hold on... was that Billy she could see in the distance? It was... he was walking quite swiftly but she could tell it was him by the movement of his head as he moved. It kind of bounced. He was heading up to the ghost train. Heather thought about running back and telling Mummy where he was but thought it would be quicker to run after him.
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Maynia prompt: garbage
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@freewritehouse/maynia-day-twenty-three
The Daily Freewrite prompt: egg salad
https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@mariannewest/day-944-5-minute-freewrite-friday-prompt-egg-salad
You had to pay to go onto the pier. There were tickets you could get for the week but Heather didn't have it. It was in Mummy's purse.
On the bench next to her was an old woman eating what smelled suspiciously like an egg salad sandwich.
"Excuse me, have you got any money?" she asked the woman. "I need to go onto the pier and my Mummy has my ticket." The old woman frowned, shook her head and stood up, throwing the sandwich wrapper into the garbage bin beside her. Heather could her mumbling to herself as she walked down the road.
Perhaps it would be quicker to run back to the shop and tell Mummy what was happening and get the ticket. But as she was about to go she saw someone approach the barrier. Heather ran up behind the person and slipped through the barrier at the same time. The advantage of being both small and slim, she thought, smiling as she got through. The man turned to look at her.
"You should buy a ticket," he said.
"My mummy has my ticket, Heather said. But my brother is up there and I am worried something might happen to him."
The man shook his head and went off towards the arcade.
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Written in freewrites of five minute each:
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I also run a bed and breakfast in France!
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Good Stuff @felt-buzz, not my cup of tea, but still well done.