Welcome to episode 44 of Flash Fiction Friday with AB Frank.
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The writing prompt for this week:
Object: River
Action: Holiday
Genre: Weird
Object Word Association: Flow, water, canoe, weir, culvert, run-off, water wheel.
Action Word Association: Break, travel, hotel, new places, visiting, activities.
Enjoy!
The engineer worked tirelessly with his team to complete the dig to redirect water from the Violshire River. The channel would be fed from rising water levels thanks to the weir. The new flow would turn a water wheel to power a large mill.
The project was behind schedule. The deadline for completion came and went and all holidays were cancelled.
The dig uncovered some old stoneworks laid out in a peculiar configuration. The team had to stop work while an archaeological investigation went ahead. The results of which were inconclusive, making the discovery even more confusing. But work was allowed to continue. The mill was only thirty feet away from where the digging was delayed again.
‘Stop digging!’ yelled a navvy that was digging into new ground. The men nearest him gathered around. ‘Look,’ he pointed at the earth where his shovel had just been. The soil seemed to be sinking like grains of sand falling through an hourglass. A small hole opened. He stepped forwards for a closer look. The hole got wider and wider the more material the fell in. The earth stopped crumbling and he peered over the edge. He was amazed to find a shallow hole that revealed more stonework arrangements.
In a flash, the navvy was pulled into the hole by some unseen force. The team of workers gasped and cautiously approached.
‘Don’t get too close,’ someone said.
The navvy that had fallen was halfway into the soil wall of the hole. He was being dragged by something. A shoe was peeled from his foot as the last of his body disappeared forever.
THE END
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