Many thanks to the sixty-nine people who entered the Witches Sail in Eggshells flash fiction competition. It was fantastic to see how the titles from Chloe Turner’s short story collection sparked such an array of different stories. Here are the three winners as chosen by Chloe, and the two stories that had the most likes:
Winner: Rachael Smart
In Falmouth I gut a seagull for my aeronautic dress and the feathers make a prayer of my hips. By June, I can clear the breakers. Rooftops, September. Aerial views of blue that fits around yellow, bird inside a bird heading for Brighton. In low clouds, plane tails are knives.
Runner up: Sudha Balagopal
On my birthday, Dad brings a pinata dressed like him: overalls, boots, checked shirt.
Blindfolded, my friends and I whack while lookalike smirks, unbroken. Mom heaves a swing, breaks the pinata’s leg.
Our faces lift, then fall. No candies, sweets? Nothing?
“You hollow man!” Mom shrieks, thwacks. What remains, crumbles.
Runner up: Stacey George
She spooled molten glass from the crucible, like dipped honey from a pot, and filled it with her breath.
So malleable in the beginning, she thought, as she shaped a glowing heart.
If it cooled too quickly, the cracks would show. But then, some things were made to be broken.
Most Likes: Laura Besley
They were young, but not carefree. Never that. She the rich man’s daughter; he the cook’s son.
He gifted her a rose quartz pendant. She wore it every day, until she married someone “more suitable”.
Once smooth, a crack now runs the length of the heart-shaped stone, splitting it apart.
Most Likes: Kate Martin
‘You the new girl?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Rightio. I’m the boy to know. I’ll be able to tell you everything. First, watch out for Elliot. A loner. Weird. And if I’m honest… smells a bit.’
‘Really?’
‘And there’s Lucy. She’s great. My— Oi! Where ya goin’?’
‘To ask Elliot if he’s okay.’
Congratulations Rachael on your win!. All the above are worthy contenders. I’m not surprised Kate received most likes, I loved it.