Iain Kelly

Another boat trip, thought Marcus, as he slumped into a window seat.

‘Come on, this is a great way to see the town. There’s so much history,’ his mother said. Marcus looked at her pointedly as he placed the headphones into his ears and turned on music – loud.

One more summer and he would be old enough to go on his own holidays with his friends – sun, sand and the rest – instead of being dragged round on dull sightseeing trips of British towns.

The tour guide began droning on about some historical building as they moved down the river. Marcus couldn’t hear the detail over his music.

Gradually he realised the guide had stopped speaking and was staring out the side of the boat, looking pale and shocked. So was everyone else. Marcus glanced over and saw the police divers hauling the naked, dead body out of the water, a red slit across her throat.

Finally he had an interesting story to tell about his holiday when he got back to school.

Written as part of Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. The challenge is to write a flash fiction story, in around 150 words based on the weekly photo prompt. For more information visit HERE.

To read other stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.