Second challenge of the fourth campaign: The Cry of Gulls

By now you know the rules, but i'll post them again just in case. As always, head over to Rach Writes to see the full post (and to vote for me, I am #9)

Do one or more of the following:

Write a pitch/logline for a book based on the prompts (less than 100 words) ✔
Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the prompts
Write a poem with a twist using the prompts as inspiration (in less than 200 words) ✔
Write a story/poem in five sentences, each sentence based on one of the prompts ✔
Write a poem/flash fiction piece (in less than 200 words) about the water pear *without* using the words "pear", "spoon", or "droplet".

For added difficulty/challenge:

Complete at least three of the above activities and tie them all together with a common theme (feel free to either state the theme in your post or leave us to guess what it might be) ✔
Write in a genre that is not your own ✔
Ask Challenge entrants to critique your writing. After the Challenge closes, you may wish to re-post your revised piece(s), and I'll include a Linky List at the bottom of this post for those wishing more feedback on their revisions (note: revised entries will not be judged, so please label clearly your original post and your revisions. Please do not offer critique unless someone asks for it, as per the usual blogging conventions. If you do ask for critique, make sure you ask for it clearly so people know you want it, and please be prepared to receive feedback that may not be 100% glowing. If you are a critiquer, please be tactful and courteous, and remember to provide positives as well as negatives.) ✔

So here is my entry:

***

In a city ravaged by war a soldier finds love in the arms of the enemy -- Gulnar, a POW translator frees Mitch's heart from despair, and in return, he frees her from the confines of prison. As they flee the advancing army Mitch once swore to serve, a child in the ruins draws them both back into the chaos.

Can love keep them together when war takes away the one child they hoped to save?

The Cry of Gulls is a 170,000 War novel


The Fire Sermon.

We found Rahim scavenging amongst the garbage like a sea bird -- a lost victim of the war and we the heroes come to rescue him when we could not even save his city.

But then the landmine -- a moment caught in time, like a dancer in a strobe light or a single frame trimmed from the larger film, gathering dust on the cutting floor.

I wake in the sea, and pull myself coughing back beside Gulnar, whose leg is weeping blood while above us the broken bridge shudders one last time.

Love is an energy we cannot see, Gulnar insists, and I had almost believed her -- could almost see it still when she explained it again: twisting and golden, linking us all together like bugs caught in some giant spider's web.

All I know is that in my dream Rahim is running still -- always running -- away from the war to catch a ball forever out of reach.


Death by water

In the ruins of the bridge I woke,
Too numb to feel the fear.
In the ruins of the bridge you spoke
Words I could not hear.

Footsteps on the cobbled stones
echoing towards me
then the footfall on that one loose stone
to be swallowed by the sea.

You spoke again of love
In a language I could not speak
You told me it was above
all the weapons of the weak.

You lied and said he lives in us,
a smile etched in forever
Your lie has left and so will I
For dead is dead forever.

***

And there you have it folks... I hope you all leave whatever feedback you care to share. It was a little harder than I thought not writing in SF -- I kept wanting to add robots.


P.S -- anyone know where I stole my titles from?

T.B.

--

About me.