Snake, by Bruce Arbuckle

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For a while, all Jack wanted was a snake tattoo. Partly because his sister was scared of them, but mostly because Uncle Mick had one.

Mick, his dad’s best friend, spent so much time in their house he had his own chair at the dinner table.

One day, Jack found his mum, his sister and his dad in the kitchen. Claire was crying. Mum told Jack to go to his room.

Dad, furious, left the house, returning an hour later, knuckles bloody and bruised.

Jack never saw Mick again.

Years later, Claire told him why she hated that snake tattoo.

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A 100 word story written by Bruce Arbuckle, inspired by the random word prompt “snake”

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

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Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)

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Liar, by Bruce Arbuckle

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They’d been together for four years, trying for a baby for almost two.

She hadn’t been suspicious when he refused to come to the fertility clinic with her.

“I’ve got private insurance,” he said. “But we’re not married so you’re not covered.” .Showing her the apparent results of tests, he said. “Nothing wrong my end. Sorry love, must be you.”

Then she received a phone call. A woman claiming to be his wife. Sent her pictures of their three kids, and a receipt from a vesectomy clinic.

“You’re not the only one,” his wife said. “He’s playing three other women.”

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This 100-word story was written by Bruce Arbuckle, inspired by the random word prompt “conceive”

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

Read my daily 50 word stories in Humpbuckle Tales or on Hive or on Facebook

Find my 100 word tales right here

Keep on drabblin’!

Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)

The World Ends, As It Always Does, Just Before Teatime, On Friday Afternoon (2: Bradley), by Bruce Arbuckle

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She runs the data through another program. The analysis comes back quickly.

The results are the same.

She checks the data again. Perhaps the error can be found there. She desperately wants to find a mistake.

But there isn’t one.

She takes a deep breath before calling Bradley.

He always finishes early on a Friday. Besides, it’s his birthday. He’s out to lunch with his family. Perhaps she should let him enjoy his cake. One last moment of normality before everything falls apart.

Before the world ends.

But she needs to tell someone.

And, after all, it is his fault.

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This is the second story in my series, The World Ends, As It Always Does, Just Before Teatime, On Friday Afternoon, imaginings of the end of the world across the multiverse. A 100-word story by Bruce Arbuckle , inspired by the random word prompt “analysis”

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

Read my daily 50 word stories in Humpbuckle Tales or on Hive or on Facebook

Find my 100 word tales right here

Keep on drabblin’!

Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)

Misery, by Bruce Arbuckle

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Sometimes his misery overwhelms him.

Returning from work he leaves his outside mask at the door. The smile he uses all day makes his face and his heart ache.

He draws the curtains to shut out the world and keep out the light. He runs a bath. Perhaps hoping to wash away his gloomy sadness he submerges himself in the hot water.

An hour later he climbs out, clean, wrinkled and shivering with cold.

He lies awake on his bed until his alarm clock shouts at him.

It’s time to put his mask back on and face the new day.

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A 100 word story written by Bruce Arbuckle, inspired by the random word prompt “misery”

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

Read my daily 50 word stories in Humpbuckle Tales or on Hive or on Facebook

Find my 100 word tales right here

Keep on drabblin’!

Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)

Helicopter, by Bruce Arbuckle

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We had another big fight last night.

I wasn’t happy because my sister saw him at the playground staring at his phone the whole time, instead of watching the kids.

“Lisa’s a nosy cow!” he said. “And you’re a helicopter mum. Hovering over them, never giving them space to play. Wrapping them in cotton wool. You’re smothering them,” he said. “I’m going out.”

He slammed the door and the vase on the mantelpiece fell off.

“Are you crying, Mummy?” Gemma asked as I picked up pottery shards out of the carpet.

“No,” I said.

I don’t think she believed me.

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A 100 word story written by Bruce Arbuckle, inspired by the random word prompt “helicopter”.

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

Read my daily 50 word stories in Humpbuckle Tales or on Hive or on Facebook

Find my 100 word tales right here

Keep on drabblin’!

Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)

Entry, by Bruce Arbuckle

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The ship’s heat resistant shields were struggling. He knew he was entering the atmosphere of this long dead planet too fast and at the wrong angle. Everything was flashing bright red or yellow and several alarms screeched their disapproval.

Movement to his right: damn!

He might not have wreaked his ride, but he’d failed to shake off the drone.

Shaking, juddering, grinding. A missile clipped the right wing.

He was going to crash. He fraught to pull up the nose, hoping to limit the damage.

He plunged into the sludgy brown water, where the city of London used to be.

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A 100 word story written by Bruce Arbuckle, inspired by the random word prompt “entry”

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

Read my daily 50 word stories in Humpbuckle Tales or on Hive or on Facebook

Find my 100 word tales right here

Keep on drabblin’!

Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)

Impact, by Bruce Arbuckle

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Her words continue to  ricochet around my mind.

It’s been days since she ambushed me, machine gunning volleys of spiteful fury at me. Each accusation finding its target, bullets of truth thudding painfully into my body, bloodying further my already damaged conscience.

What came next was worse still.

Her wounded eyes shouting out pain and betrayal in explosive quietness.

I stood there in silence until she turned away.

I deserve it all. The anger. The vitriol. The hate.

Her disgust.

I can’t undo what is done.

I can’t expect forgiveness.

Not from her. Not from anyone.

Certainly not from myself.

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A 100 word story written by Bruce Arbuckle, inspired by the random word prompt “impact”

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

Read my daily 50 word stories in Humpbuckle Tales or on Hive or on Facebook

Find my 100 word tales right here

Keep on drabblin’!

Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)

Mr Eleven O’Three, by Bruce Arbuckle

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Mr Eleven O’Three sits in the same chair in the hotel lobby every day. He’s smartly dressed: suit, tie, kerchief in his breast pocket. An older gentleman.

“Can I help you?” we inquire. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“No, thank you.”

Mabel offers him coffee – “I think he’s lonely,” she says – but he politely refuses.

At precisely three minutes past eleven he nods goodbye and leaves.

We all have theories about him, some wilder and more ridiculous than others.

One morning, I decide to ask him why he comes.

That’s the day he doesn’t show.

We never see him again.

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A 100 word story written by Bruce Arbuckle, inspired by the random word prompt “lobby”

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

Read my daily 50 word stories in Humpbuckle Tales or on Hive or on Facebook

Find my 100 word tales right here

Keep on drabblin’!

Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)

Bring Them Back, by Bruce Arbuckle

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“Just because we can,” the Chief Scientific Officer says. “Doesn’t mean we should.”

“We’ve been looking for intact DNA for so long. We have the ways and means to bring back a species extinct for more than a thousand years. You’ve seen for yourself the specially designed habitat. They can be safely contained.”

The Scientist shifts, uncomfortable in her seat.

“Are we sure? They were extremely dangerous. They laid waste to everything in their path, causing mass extinctions, almost destroying their own galaxy.”

The other smiles.

“We came halfway across the universe to make contact with Homosapians. Let’s do it.”

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This 100-word story was written by Bruce Arbuckle, inspired by the random word prompt, “extinct”.

I’ll leave it up to your imagination to decide what the secure habitat might be

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

Read my daily 50 word stories in Humpbuckle Tales or on Hive or on Facebook

Find my 100 word tales right here

Keep on drabblin’!

Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)

The World Ends, As It Always Does, Just Before Teatime, On Friday Afternoon (1), by Bruce Arbuckle

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John returns from a clearance sale, a box of crap in his arms.

Lydia doesn’t need to look inside. She knows it’ll contain a plethora of useless junk. John has a talent for sniffing out purposeless items, paying the highest prices.

“Look what I found!”

He’s like an excited child. She used to find it endearing.

He pulls things from the carton, most of it looks broken.

A shiny cube attracts her attention.

She picks it up. The material is unknown to her.

Almost alien.

She squeezes it, accidentally setting off a chain reaction ending, inevitably, in the Earth’s destruction.

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This 100-word story was written by Bruce Arbuckle, inspired by the random word prompt “clearance”.

I’ve been toying with the idea of a series of stories about the inevitable end of the world. The World Ends, As It Always Does, Just Before Teatime, On Friday Afternoon. (1) is the first of these. Or the only one. Who knows?

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Find me (as HumpbuckleTales) on Mastodon

My drabbles (100-word stories) are always published first on Hive: https://peakd.com/@drabble.club

Read my daily 50 word stories in Humpbuckle Tales or on Hive or on Facebook

Find my 100 word tales right here

Keep on drabblin’!

Bruce Arbuckle (felt.buzz)