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 on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!
Photo Prompt © Roger Bultot
Shuttered
After that first time, Binyamin knew better than to tell his father how he felt about Asher. He shuttered his face and kept his tears for the dark hours of night, alone in his bedroom. Besides, what good would tears do? His father had moved the family across the continent to give them a chance of a better life. How could he argue against that? If only he could speak to Asher occasionally, or even just speak about him to his family…
Day by day his face grew harder.
Day by day his joy diminished.
The shutters rusted solid.
Autumn Leaves 
Nice use of the shutter metaphor, Penny
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Dear Neil
Thank you for reading and for your kind comment.
With very best wishes
Penny
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This is a poignant piece, Penny.
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Dear Josh
Thank you for reading and for your kind comment. I’m glad you found the story poignant.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Dear Penny,
I imagine if Benyamin’s father knew he’d have chanted the Kaddish for him. Well written.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle
Thank you for reading and commenting so thoughtfully.
Shalom
Penny
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Clever use of the prompt, Penny. I liked the shuttered implications.
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Dear Sandra
Thank you for reading and for your kind comments. The prompt stimulated me. The building, although plainly no longer used, has a brooding power about it.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Lots of layers here. You always do a superb job of telling just enough of a story to make us wonder what Benyamin became as the years hardened his face and his heart. Well done, Penny.
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Dear Linda
Thank you for reading, and for your lovely comments. It’s great to know that the story prompted you to wonder about what happened to Benyamin – thank you for letting me know!
With very best wishes
Penny
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Wonderfully done, Penny… you say so much without saying a word. The use of shutters is brilliant.
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Dear Dale
Thank you for reading and for your very kind comments. I’m delighted that you like the shutter metaphor. The shutters were the first thing I noticed about the photoprompt.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Poor kid. Moving that far away from family and friends must be difficult. Too bad he didn’t open up and let the sunlight and laughter in.
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Dear Russell
Thank you for reading and commenting. You’re right – moving away from close friends can be very hard. It would have helped Binyamin if his family had helped him to grieve for the loss and then let go.
With very best wishes
Penny
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An apt metaphor Penny. I hope those shutters haven’t rusted shut for good.
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Dear Iain
Thank you for reading and commenting. The good thing about humans is that with appropriate help we can recover from most traumas. I think those shutters will open if Binyamin experiences a warm, loving environment.
With very best wishes
Penny
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I feel bad for the kid. Not allowed to talk about his love left behind would tend to harden a person towards family at least. I hope he finds his way back to the light of his life.
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Dear Jade
Thank you for reading and commenting. While I expect Binyamin recovered, the loss may well have affected the whole of his subsequent life.
With best wishes
Penny
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You are very welcome, Penny.
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Such emotion. Bottled emotion is never good.
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Dear Tannille
Thank you for reading and commenting. You’re right; grief that’s bottled up can be very damaging.
With best wishes
Penny
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Seems I’m not the only who found your use of the shutters most effective! A sorrowful story indeed.
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Dear Keith
Thank you for reading and for your kind comment. I felt the force of those shutters immediately I looked at the prompt.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Poor Benyamin he is really missing Asher. Is such a love proscribed in their society that he cannot even discuss within his own family?
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Dear Abhijit
Thank you for reading and commenting. You’re right; Binyamin is missing Asher dreadfully.
There are many places and cultures where Binyamin couldn’t admit to being gay. However, I was thinking of a period about 50 years ago for the story setting, and back then very few parents would have encouraged a gay child. Most would have tried to coerce the child into being ‘normal’. But, of course, there are many families even today in the UK and the USA who don’t accept gay or trans children.
With very best wishes
Penny
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True. It is everywhere. Mindset needs change.
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Lost love, whether straight or gay, is a painful experience.
Well described, Penny
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Dear CE
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comment. As you say, lost love is painful, and a teenager like Binyamin is not necessarily equipped emotionally to deal with it.
With very best wishes
Penny
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And so his father’s intolerance hardens his heart, perhaps to the point where he’ll never find love. Very sad.
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Dear Ali
Thank you for reading and commenting so thoughtfully. You’re right; there is a real risk that he will never find fulfilling adult love.
With very best wishes
Penny
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in due time, he’ll be old enough to decide for himself. hopefully, it won’t be too late by then.
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Dear Plaridel
Thank you for reading and commenting. I agree with you in hoping that he won’t be too late in being able to make his own decisions as to who he spends his life with. However, there is a real risk that he has been damaged for life by the pain of the experience. Also, some cultures make the family the centre of their life. I knew of one Jewish transwoman in the UK who was threatened with exclusion from the family if she was open about her gender. She couldn’t face that and lived her life as a man; and was very unfulfilled.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Oh, Penny, that’s a heartbreaking tale. So brief but so vivid in its representation of love lost and turned to bitterness. Tragic
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Dear Lynn
Thank you for reading and for your kind comments. I’m glad you found the story vivid.
With very best wishes
Penny
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A lifetime of heart break in 100 words – no mean feat, Penny!
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Deep love can never be forgotten but still be like rusted shutters, especially forbidden love.
A great story of about heartbreak.
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Dear James
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad my story rang true for you.
With best wishes
Penny
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How sad. The last line sums up the story perfectly.
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Dear Mags
Thank you for reading and commenting. Sad, yes, but unfortunately it still happens even today.
With best wishes
Penny
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That was some secret he kept hidden! Well told.
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Dear Liz
Thank you for reading and commenting. Families can put a great deal of pressure on children who don’t fit the norm, especially those who are gay or trans. Binyamin had little choice but to keep his secret, I’m afraid.
With best wishes
Penny
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Lingers in the mind…So much created in so few words. And I do love a metaphor!
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Dear Miranda
Thank you for reading and for your very kind comment. I’m delighted that you found that the story lingered in your mind.
With very best wishes
Penny
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I wonder if Benyamin will ever enjoy the riches in his new home with a shuttered heart
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Dear Bjorn
Thank you for reading and commenting. You ask a good question. I suspect Benyamin will resent the riches until he learns to forgive his father.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Oh how sad. Great use of the building boards. I hope as he gets older they find a way to see each other
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Many kids go through this emotional shutdown simply because they don’t feel free to express them to their parents. It is a shame. And like the others have mentioned, what kind of man did he become later in life? Nice use of the shutter metaphor.
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