Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz (‘Join the Party’) on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!
PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz
Infidelity
It was dark in the wings. I should have been in the Green Room but I wanted to watch the performance.
A strong arm slipped around my waist. It felt so right that I couldn’t help myself. I turned towards Frank, tilting my face up to his. He kissed me. I yielded, as I would have done for Jim, and then thought, ‘No, I don’t need to pretend…’ and kissed back enthusiastically.
How long is eternity? Two seconds? Three seconds? That is how long the kiss lasted, but it brought its own sort of eternity.
And then it was over.
Autumn Leaves 
Over so quickly, she’ll be able to pretend to herself it never happened. Except ……
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dear Neil
Thank you for reading and commenting. Your comment suggests you must have read the 300 word version as well… 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’s a 300 word version?
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is indeed! I could post if you liked…
LikeLike
Here’s the 300 word version, Neil, just in case you’re interested!
Penny
LikeLike
300 word version? Where! Wanna read…
I love the sensuality of this, a brief moment of surrender to temptation, exciting and titillating. And then it was over. Perfect last line. Gets the imagination going.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Gabi
Thank you for reading and for your very kind comments. I’m glad the last line got your imagination going. The story is a scene from a partially complete novel, which I’m not working on any more. It must wait until I’ve properly completed “The Owl on the Pergola” and tried to find an agent for it.
There is indeed a 300 word version!
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Gabi
Here is the 300 word version. Enjoy!
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much Penny, I’m going to comment there. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great story. Over too soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Josh
Thank you for reading and for your very kind comment. There is a 300 word version here https://pennygadd51.wordpress.com/2019/06/26/infidelity-300-word-version/
I hope you enjoy it!
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
A magical moment
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Iain
Thank you for reading and commenting. Magical indeed. I think that for a brief time, paradise beckoned.
With best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’s underlying sadness here. I popped over and read the longer version, too, and the sense of impending loss is very strong. For Jim. I think he’s going to be shocked.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Linda
Thank you for reading and commenting. You are very astute to pick up on the underlying sadness. Liz was indeed sad at the time. She had a first class degree in mathematics and had worked as a teacher until she had a child. Life as a housewife was not very fulfilling.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sad…but a slice of real life.
My take on the photo: https://dbmcnicol.com/friday-fictioneers-freshly-boxed/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Donna
Thank you for reading and commenting. Infidelity is certainly commonplace in real life.
With best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Penny,
I could taste that stolen kiss. Sweet and kept a secret afterward. 😉 Sweetly, discretely written.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Rochelle
Thank you for your lovely comment. ‘Stolen kisses taste the sweetest,’ they say!
Shalom
Penny
LikeLike
This was wonderfully written, Penny. You do stolen sensuality quite well. And I loved the 300-word version as well!
LikeLike
Dear Dale
Thank you for reading and commenting so kindly. I enjoyed mixing up the emotions in these stories, especially the longer one.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
Like a scene from a movie! Delightful Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Keith
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you enjoyed the story!
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad I read the 300 word version. It’s not easy to convey that hidden thrill, the one you have to disguise, overcome and then perhaps succumb to. You did that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Sandra
Thank you for the lovely comment. I’m glad you read both versions too! I find inner emotional conflict a fascinating topic for writing about. I am absolutely delighted that you feel I succeeded in this story – I admire your writing a great deal, and value your comments highly.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
That sounds like quite the kiss!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Ali
Thank you for reading and commenting. It was the first truly sensual kiss Liz had enjoyed, and so it was very special.
With best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
How good was the kiss if she was counting the seconds. Kind of like work when the seconds are eternity? And Jim, can help but question if she is over him?
Great scene.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Tannille
Thank you for reading and commenting. Some moments live with you forever, staying fresh and vibrant in your memory throughout life. That is a sort of eternity, I think. This kiss was a moment like that.
With best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
A kiss is just a kiss.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Shirley
Thank you for reading and commenting. Often a kiss is just a kiss. Sometimes it is adultery. And sometimes it is a shattering explosion laying waste lives.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
at least, she enjoyed it while it lasted. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Plaridel
Thank you for reading and commenting. She certainly enjoyed the kiss; in fact it affected her whole life.
With best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
If you lost track of time, it must be a great and enjoyable kiss. Why confuse mind with ideas like infidelity?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Abhijit
Thank you for reading and commenting. You pose a profound question. My answer – for this story, and not generally – is that Liz took her marriage vows very seriously. She knew perfectly well that if she and Frank had been somewhere private the kiss would have gone much further, and she would have broken her vows. Knowing this, she knew that she had already in her heart committed adultery with Frank.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
The funny thing about eternity is that there can be more than one. She left her memories in the old one and began to live again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Jade
Thank you for reading and commenting. People rarely make complete breaks with the past, don’t you think? Our memories are so much part of who we are.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed the 300 word version where she steps away from guilt and uncertainty to fully embracing her infidelity, and how that decision changes everything. Those things she pretended not to mind about Jim will become intolerable. Well-written, Penny!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Brenda
Thank you for reading and commenting in detail. It’s always really helpful to receive such feedback on a story!
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love all that’s unsaid in this – the former submission and pretence contrasts so movingly with her wholehearted participation in this encounter, that ‘felt so right’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Margaret
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you found the contrast between pretence and wholehearted participation was moving.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
When you are young such moments matter and take on a feeling of estactic eternity. It was dark in the wings, was she sure it was Frank?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear James
Thank you for reading and commenting. You are right that such moments are more frequent in young people. Yes, she was sure it was Frank, despite the darkness.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
I believe we can all think of moments in our lives that have their “own sort of eternity”. A thrilling, mysterious piece that leaves the reader wondering.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Magarisa
Thank you for reading and for your very kind comment. I agree that we can all think of moments in our lives that have their “own sort of eternity”. I’m delighted you found the piece’thrilling’.
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome.
LikeLike
A heart-stopping moment as good sense unravels. Could be wrong but I have an idea she might be complicating her life a great deal by falling for her leading man and their onstage kisses are going to be a lot more authentic from now on. Lovely story, Penny.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Jilly
Thank you for reading and commenting kindly. ‘Good sense unravels’ is an excellent description for what’s going on in that kiss – but what an alluring unravelling! You’re absolutely right; Liz’s life becomes much more complicated – in fact, the repercussions are lifelong…
I’m glad you enjoyed the story!
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
” I don’t need to pretend”… How sad those words are. So much said in this story, particularly how infidelity has so many root causes, that are often within the unfaithful person, than within the relationship. Her sense of liberation from the everyday masks she has to wear is palpable in that kiss.
LikeLike
Dear Fatima
Thank you for reading and commenting so thoughtfully. I’m glad the sadness of Liz’s lack of fulfilment came across to you. “Her sense of liberation from the everyday masks she has to wear is palpable in that kiss.” That’s a very good way of describing what’s going on, and it’s prompted all sorts of thoughts for other stories – thank you so much!
With very best wishes
Penny
LikeLike
I hope there are more kisses in store for her! 🙂
LikeLike
I liked the longer version too. It sounds like Liz wanted the same kind of passion she had with Frank with Jim. This is a truly sad situation which will greatly impact three lives. I feel sorry for all three.
LikeLike