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 © DALE ROGERSON
No way back
The Christmas Market was in full swing. Anne glanced up from the savoury delights of the delicatessen and saw Charles. She stiffened and held her head high. She wasn’t going to approach him, not after last night.
Neither would she hide. She strutted past him, cutting him dead.
“Anne. Anne!”
The voice pursued her.
There was a flurry of feet, and there he was. She stopped.
“I’m sorry for last night, I really am. I was nervous. I drank too much…” He dropped to one knee. “Will you marry me, Anne?”
Anne fingered her bruised cheek.
“No way,” she said.
Autumn Leaves 
She is quite right to reject him. I love how you’ve conveyed such a huge story in so few words, Penny.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Thank you for the lovely compliment, Susan. I agree she’s right to reject him.
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Good for her. If he’d done it once, he’d do it thrice. She’s far better off keeping her distance. Well done!
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Absolutely! Thank you for the kind comment.
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For sure! So important to raise awareness to these realities, in every way possible. And that’s a good way! 🙂
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They’re always sorry afterwards, Until the next time. This is a happy ending
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You’re right, Neil, it is a happy ending. It’s the first day of the rest of her life. Thank you for the thoughtful comment.
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Great story, Penny. I thought this was going to be a true romance. The startling ending made me appreciate all the more the strength of the woman in this tale. She’s wise to walk away. Too many, unfortunately, lack that fortitude and deceive themselves.
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Thank you for such a detailed comment. I’m glad the story seemed at first to be a romance; that was what I intended, but you’re never quite sure unless somebody says so, are you?
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❤️
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And quite right too, that would be a terrible start to a marriage and it would only get worse.
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Thanks for the comment, Iain. It would have got worse. I wonder whether she had a friend who’d warned her about abuse?
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Smart girl. How like an abuser to knock her around one night and ask her to marry him the next. Just say you’re sorry and it all goes away. No. It doesn’.t
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Thank you, Linda. No, it doesn’t go away. I think Anne may have had a BFF who warned her about abuse.
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She made the right decision. I thought he had stood her up but the touching of the cheek made me realize that what happened between was far more serious and would only get worse if she had married him. Good for her for turning him down. It probably saved her life.
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Thank you for the insightful comment. As you say, it probably saved her life. It certainly gives her a chance of happiness.
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You’re welcome 🙂 And now she had a change for happiness with a better man.
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Wise woman! She chose well
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She certainly did! Life with an abuser is awful.
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i guess her bruished cheek was a reality check. time to move on.
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Yes, you should never stay with someone who abuses you. Anne won’t be dating him again!
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Very glad she said no. A well-written story.
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You’re very kind. Thank you for the comment.
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No way. Incidentally, the police want a word…
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Thank you for the comment, Ali. The police will want a word? That’ll be the day!
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Dear Penny,
She’s a wise woman. If a man will do that to a woman he’s dating, he’ll be worse once he has her in the clutches of matrimony. No number of apologies will negate that kind of abuse. Well done in so few words.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle
Thank you for your kind words. “Friday Fictioneers” is a wonderful challenge; thank you so much for organising it!
Shalom
Penny
xx
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I’m surprised he even asked. Time for her to move on.
Here’s mine!
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Don’t you think there’s a certain type of man who believes he’s irresistible? I’ve met one or two…You’re right it’s time for her to move on.
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Right answer. What a heartbreaker for her, but a batterer never hits just once and the violence often escalates. Doesn’t even begin to address verbal, psychological and all the rest that goes with it.
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Yes, I agree. I saw it with a friend once. Terribly hard to escape once you’ve been snared…Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
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You’re welcome.
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Oh dear, not quite the right moment and I expect there will never be one now. “Last night regrets,” the evil of all fools.
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Thank you for the comment, James. Not quite the right moment, indeed. No second chances for men who hit women!
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He gets zero chances. Good for Anne!
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Yeah, one strike and you’re out. Breaking up must have hurt, but the alternative would have been worse. And Anne now has a chance to find someone better.
Thank you for the supportive comment!
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Yes. To many times the “I’m so sorry, I was drunk” happens AFTER the “I do’s”… she managed to escape a situation far more difficult to get away from.
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Applause for Anne! What a big story in so few words as always. Well done!
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Thank you for your kind comment. Friday Fictioneers is such a good challenge, isn’t it?
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Nicely told, Penny. She’s right to reject him, there’s no argument really.
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Thank you for the kind comment, Michael. You’re right; there’s no argument for his behaviour. If he’d been horrified immediately and repented in dust and ashes (so to speak) – well, maybe. But coming back with a ring and a proposal is far too manipulative.
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