And The Winner Is... Flash Fiction Style

I hosted my very first Flash Fiction Contest. To sweeten the deal, I'm giving away a $25 Amazon.com gift card. It's time to announce the winner and share their flash fiction with you.

I enjoyed reading them all and appreciate those who entered. You all did a fabulous job and are talented writers. Unfortunetely, I can only choose one person.

So the winner is...

Patricia Marquez 

Congrats!!! I'll contact you with details on how you'll get the gift card.

This short story seaped into my blood, causing my chest to become heavy and my breath to slow. I felt like the world had faded away, leaving me alone in the thick of the words.

Without further adieu, I share it here:

Hunter's Moon by Patricia Marquez

Once upon a time the citadel had been a place of life. High marble arches, winding roads filled with stalls and every fruit under the sun a sweet scent in the air. The cherry blossom trees had peeked from above the tall walls that sealed its citizens safely within.

But the Hunter's moon changed all of that.
 

They'd watched their protector, the knights. They'd all been lined up along the great wall, ready to become the final barrier into their city, if she didn't make it.

But it was all for show. If it got past her, that would be it. The end. They knew it. She knew it.

Her cape, the vermillion that only one of her station wore, had covered her small frame. As always, she looked deceptively small, vulnerable even. But not her companions. They stood at her side, yellow eyes and snarling mouths, tamed by nothing but a touch of her hand, bodies alert and waiting just like Little Red.

Under the moon, a pale, pearl like globe in the night, the Shadow had stretched up and up, covering the forest in black, determined this time, to finally wipe out the spark of wilful strength that defeated it over and over.

But not tonight.

It was under the Hunter's moon that Little Red and her army walked into the shadowy lines of the trees, her head held high, wisps of golden hair escaping her hood. Her most trusted friend was at her side, always at her side, predatory tread matched to her steps, the others following just a little behind.

That was the night Little Red didn't return from the battle.

That was the night the darkness hooked her heart, a sinuous thread of poisonous malediction that infected her.

And Little Red said yes.

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Congrats again! Patricia, I will contact you shortly!

Writing. Jewels.