Wednesday’s child is full of woe, but I’m not! Hello, Hump Day! I have new words. Yay! I’m also pleased to anncounce that I pulled in another honorable mention at theThursday Threads weekly flash fiction challenge. This judge last week is a tough one and normally “grades down” snippets from WIPs because…reasons. Technically, a flash fiction piece should tell a complete story. I try to incorporate that but I also warn readers/the judge that it’s from a larger work. Anyway, he admitted he liked it. 😉 The prompt was a tough one and then once the scene was written, it created some chaos in the structure of the book. Anyway, here’s the prompt: *“But the time wasn’t idle.”* See what I mean? It’s phrased a little awkward but at the same time, it made us work for it so there’s that. Anyway, Here’s a peek at Aisling:

****
Aisling pulled on white cotton gloves. The book smelled of mold and dry leather. She adjusted the goose neck lamp so it’s beam shone directly on the ancient tome. She examined it without touching. The pages were edged in gold. The cover’s leather was cracked and the gilt lettering had flaked. Letters and symbols danced in a language all its own.

Her hand shook slightly as she gently pried the front cover open. Water stains marred the front piece and the top page. Part of the ink was smeared, a few bits were missing and the language remained foreign. It wasn’t Latin or Greek. She could read both. While Egyptian hieroglyphs weren’t her forte, she could recognize them. She was also semi-proficient in reading alchemy symbols.

Nothing about this book made sense. How had it come into the possession of the library? It obviously belonged here in special collections but where had it come from? And why had it drawn her? For it certainly had.

From nowhere, a breeze swept through the room, ruffling the books’ pages and making the hair stand up on her arms. She glanced down at the newly exposed writing. Her eyes watered and she blinked hard. When her eyesight cleared, she could read one line of text.
But the time wasn’t idle.

“What does that even mean?”

“It means we have made good use of it.”

She whirled but no one was there. She was alone in the room. And, very, very scared.
****

If you read Monday’s blog you’ll know that this scene suddenly needed to be part of Chapter One. A Chapter One that did not include the existing Chapter One. 🤦🏼‍♀️ That’s twice now. Chapter Four became Chapter Five because…reasons. Then last week happened. But the good news is, there is now a new Chapter One and all the other chapters just got bumped back one number. S’all good because it’s progress. Still, I may just murder all the characters at the end just to be done with them. Well, except Sade, Caleb, Nikos, and Sinjen. Except Sinjen hasn’t shown up yet. I need to work on that. Okay. Whatever. I have a plan. Maybe. Writers, feel free to tussle with the prompt. Readers, do you think the library or the book might be haunted? *bwahaha* Enjoy your hump day and may your best laid plans not be disrupted!