I opened my eyes slowly. Where had I landed this time? I hung the watch around my neck.
I was on a beach. The waves crashed onto the shore, the sea spray lashed across my face. I could make out a grey ship in the distance. In front of it smaller boats were heading to land.
The beach was covered with barbed wire and large metal spikes. Beyond the beach the land sloped upwards. On the side of these slopes were small, man-made bunkers.
A panel slid aside on the front of one of these bunkers and a thin metal object poked through.
As the first of the landing boats reached the shore, the air was shredded apart by loud gunfire. I hit the ground instinctively as bullets flew over my head.
I saw the first soldier ripped to pieces, his dismembered body crumbled into the water.
I grabbed the watch and turned the crown at the top. I closed my eyes and held the watch tightly, willing it to take me away from here.
Flash fiction story run by Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. Write a story based on the prompt photo (above). Learn more here: FFfAW
Read more stories inspired by this prompt here: INLINKZ GROUP
Well done Iain. Of course I do like the idea of time travel but yeah on the best things is the exploration of the fact that it might a sort of dawning horror in terms of where you land and you certainly capture that.
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Thanks Shehanne. Don’t dip my toe into sci-fi, time travel much, but liked the idea of being transported into a part of history that was not so nice!
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I quite like some sci-fi. It very much depends on the type. But yeah, I have always liked the idea of being transported to a not nice time for a story and you certainly fit the bill with this piece.
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Oh my gosh! Great story! I would want the timepiece to take me away from that war zone too!
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Thanks PJ, thought it would be different to have time travel turn out to be not such a good idea after all!
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I think it was a brilliant idea!
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Time Travel… One of my favorite genres. Loved “Timeline” by Michael Crichton and “The Doomsday Book” by Connie Willis. Two of my favorites. And a very old one by Anya Seton, “Green Darkness.” You did a smashing job with the flash fiction. I’m thinking Normandy? We’re going to be there next September.
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Normandy is what I had in mind. Will be a great place to visit. Not written much time travel before, glad you liked it.
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Great story! Poor guy. I get the feeling the watch is trying to kill him! It seems he’s already been through hell and now it drops him in on D-day. What’s next I wonder..
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Thanks Sonny. An interesting idea – the evil time travelling watch! Definitely room for a sequel.
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Skilfully done. A taut and chilly tale
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Thanks for reading Graham.
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First of all, I love the title. So sad to be transported to a war zone but with his trusty time piece he could get out quickly.
It would be great to have one of those timepieces. I wonder how we’d use it. Great story.
Isadora 😎
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Thank you, very kind. An interesting question, would we use it to do good?
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I sure hope so. There’s enough going on in the world. My choice would be to travel to places I’ve always wanted to see. Free travel is good. LOL
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Dropped right in the middle of it.
Terrible fate.
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Oh dear, not the best place to land, on this occasion. Great descriptions of a war zone and the awful destruction of life – very graphic. Yes, I’d say you needed to turn that crown pretty quickly.
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If he had been hit would he have been able to time travel to a hospital in time?🙂
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Interesting conundrum!
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Hi Iain I liked where you took me in this take, not the location but the description which allowed me to be there with you on the beach, terrifying as it was….
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Powerful piece. Such an awful time and place to time travel to, I suppose knowing what D-day was actually like would terrify anyone. Hope he got out of there. Great write!
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Thanks for reading and your kind comment.
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This was totally captivating! I can’t help wondering what happened next. Please make a sequel! 😀
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Certainly has possibilities to go anywhere in time! Thanks for reading.
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This was really compelling to read! That is one of the dangers of time travel that don’t get spoken of enough, I think. What if you land in the middle of a war? What if you land right when Mt. Vesuvius was about to erupt?
I really enjoyed this story, Iain!
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Thanks Jade. Really kind words. I think there’s a whole series of stories to be done about the worst places to travel back in time to!
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Unfortunate time travel adventure. I liked that one could have an ‘oopsie’ moment and choose again.
Ellespeth
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‘Oopsie’ – love it!
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that is what it must have felt like to be in the middle of a war zone or battle in progress…deft and precise description yet very emotional…lovely take on the prompt.
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Thanks for your kind comment, glad you enjoyed it.
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That was not a good time for him to land in! I hope the time travel watch takes him away before a bullet finds him. Great story. 🙂
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I wouldn’t want to be there either. I hope his next trip through time took him to a better place.
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Great story to tell his grandkids in the future.. “Well you know sonny, back then when I was still young, I was into time travel. And the watch sent me back to D-Day! Right smack in the middle of a grenade and a rifle! So, before I give you the watch, promise me you won’t be time travelling to Vietnam anytime soon ok?”
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