Danger From Above

Prompt for 101212
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Photo by Jan Morrill
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Click on the photo to see a larger picture.

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DANGER FROM ABOVE

 “Danger comes from above.” Asa looked up from the tattered and stained scrap of paper. Nothing was up there; only blue skies. She passed a threshold and pressed herself flat against the door anyway, thankful for once to have a less than curvaceous profile.

A dense shadow swept down the length of the narrow white-washed alley. It stretched from the top of one windowsill, blanketed the ground and across to the other side. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath. Now as she let it out she willed her heart rate to slow.

Crisis averted, thanks to another random message.
***



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65 thoughts on “Danger From Above”

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  4. sustainabilitea

    There’s no one sentence that I could pick out that is praiseworthy above the rest, but all that you wrote works perfectly together and leads me to want to know “the rest of the story”; what is the shadow, where are the random messages coming from, what’s next? I can identify with Asa as I have a “less than curvaceous profile” as well. It’s never helped me hide from danger but was a great help in stealing bases and sliding in softball or running track. :-)

    Reply ↓
    1. Madison Woods Post author

      Thank you Janet. I’m glad it makes you want to know more :) Haha, yes, there are times when being less than curvaceous is helpful.

      Reply ↓

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  10. rgayer55

    I don’t know how she got the message, but it’s a good thing she has a guardian angel. I loved the line about holding her breath. It made it very real for me.

    Reply ↓
    1. Madison Woods Post author

      On a less dramatic scale, and maybe on even dramatic scales, I think we do get messages like this all the time. Acting on them requires too much faith, so no one pays them much attention.

      Reply ↓
  12. bridgesareforburning

    Hi Madison,
    Where do you pick up those scraps of paper that warn you about impendng disaster? I could really use that. Your MC seems like a strong survivor. Wonder who the model was for this character? Ron

    Reply ↓
    1. Madison Woods Post author

      It would be nice if such messages came when we needed them… but how many of us would notice and act?

      Reply ↓

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  22. Parul

    Ooh!
    Chilling Madison! I loved the way you described how the shadow swept the alleyway! I didn’t even notice the shadow in the prompt! Good eyes! :)

    As a side note, there’s a fair chance your protagonist would be following whatever is written on any scrap of paper she gets a hold of, thinking of it as another random message! :)
    There are a few combinations of random messages that could be rather comical.
    For example – “Stand on your head”, “Balance a clay-pot with one hand”, “Finely chop onions and beat ‘em with the egg white”.

    Oh silly…silly me!
    Hope you don’t mind my nonsense :)

    Great work as always!

    Reply ↓

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  33. elmowrites

    Some fantastic description here, Madison. I love the sinister feel of the shadow and the amount of character you give Asa in this little piece.
    If I could pick one thing to change, it would be the sentence: “thankful for a less than curvaceous profile for once.” The placing of “for once” at the end suggests that she has this profile for once (as opposed to her usual buxom profile), which only works if the character is a shapeshifter. Unless she is a shapeshifter – quite possible in your stories, in which case I can only apologise! – you should associate the for once with the thankfulness, hence: “thankful, for once, for a less than curvaceous profile.”
    Hope that makes sense.
    J

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  43. brudberg

    Hi Madison, I got through this page through a couple of friends I know. Anyway, I have wrtitten my first entry. Let us see how often I will participate. I am left puzzled (in a good way) by your entry. Filling in the gap with your own fantasy change one story into many. Thank you.

    Reply ↓

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  46. rich

    i don’t see how that was a random message that saved her. it seems it was very well timed and accurate. i must have missed something. grrr!

    Reply ↓

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    1. Madison Woods Post author

      Rich, when I go to the bottom of her comments, right beneath the last one there’s a link to post a comment. It’s ahead of the line that says “Links to this Post”. Is that what you’re clicking and getting a popup from? It doesn’t do that to me… it just goes to the comment form. On that form, you either have to scroll down to the bottom or hit the link that says “Jump to comment form”. Do you get that far before the popup happens to you?

      Reply ↓
  50. rich

    when i click on “post a comment” the screen goes gray except for a box that asks me to choose from something like adobe, wordpress, and a few other programs or apps. i think it might be something connected to my browser, google chrome. i’ll try with another browser and see what happens.

    Reply ↓
    1. rich

      just tried in microsoft explorer and got something that asked me to subscribe to a feed in order to leave a comment. i’m not smart enough to know what that means, meaning will i start getting e-mails for all the other comments, which i don’t want. hmmpff.

      Reply ↓
    2. Madison Woods Post author

      Well that’s strange. I’ll email her about it, maybe it’s a setting or maybe she’s not aware it’s happening to some. But if it doesn’t happen to everyone, that might be hard to identify for a fix.

      Reply ↓

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  53. shakira

    I love reading what you see..your description is very vivid and indeed I want to know more…very provoking and a bit scary too…Mine is here
    Have you a ROCKING AND BLESSED WEEK!!!
    hugs
    shakira

    Reply ↓

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