November Flash Club Contest

[Anonymous]

By the time they arrived at the car, Charlotte was gone.

 

[Anonymous]

By the time they arrived at the car, Charlotte was gone.

By the time they arrived back at the car, Charlotte was gone.

 

[Anonymous]

Born in nearby Sheffield, Charlotte had spent most of her childhood wandering these winding Grenoside Woods trails and knew them well.

 

[Anonymous]

Bob approached, sniggering. “Hope Charl’s wearing running shoes. Listen to that howling!” He flicked the lighter on and off. “Lemuria map, you said. How much?”

 

[Anonymous]

The dragon egg had been under the floorboards for two centuries. Only furnace heat could hatch it. As the cottage burned, the shell cracked.

 

[Anonymous]

Howling became baying as the pack closed in. Charlotte dashed into the church, then up the vertical bell-tower ladder. She rang wildly and non-stop.

 

[Anonymous]

She didn't expect to summon a dragon! It alighted on the circular ledge of the bell-tower window and cocked its head at her.

 

[Anonymous]

“Oh, those bells!” Gabby gasped.
“The bells of St Eusabius, dragon slayer,” Daniel said. “You know what that means: somewhere dragon spawn is hatching again!”

 

[Anonymous]

Bob nervously shivered as he studied the sky above them, "So, what's our plan? Lemuria?"

 

[Anonymous]

“We don’t need the map,” said Gabby.
“We don’t?” Bob and Dan exclaimed together.
“It’s been right under your noses... I’m Lemurian. So let’s go.”

 

[Anonymous]

The threesome climbed into the old Volkswagon.

 

[Anonymous]

Then came a loud bump, and the roof sank down, pinning them inside.

 

[Anonymous]

Charlotte smiled at the dragon.
“You’re very small,” she whispered. Could carry me away from these wild dogs?”
“Probably not. But my mother can. Look.”

 

[Anonymous]

As she jumped onto the dragon’s mother’s back, she plunged through air. And in an instant of terrifying clarity, she was no longer tripping balls.

 

[Anonymous]

"Where are we going?" Charlotte asked the little dragon, beside her.
"Lemuria. My mother confiscated the map from the cottage when she supervised my hatching."

 

[Anonymous]

'Is that on the outskirts of Sheffield?’ asked Charlotte.
'No,’ said Mother Dragon, ‘the Pacific Ocean. The dolphins are waiting. Can you read a map?

 

[Anonymous]

“Gabby, do Lemurians have super-powers?” Daniel asked desperately.
“Like... levitation?” She snapped her fingers and the car roof uncrumpled and rose. The car itself followed.

 

[Anonymous]

An engine noise behind them. Charlotte glanced over her shoulder. Then stared. "No! How can that be possible? Volkswagons can't fly."

 

[Anonymous]

"Shi*!" said Daniel, as the volkswagon spiralled in stomach-lurching freefall.
"Sorry," said Gabby. "Something's blocking my Lemurian magnetism."
Below, dolphins awaited with inscrutable grins.

 

[Anonymous]

The car turned turtle and blood throbbed behind Daniel's eyes.
Bob screamed curses.
The approaching ocean boiled.
"A bubble net," exclaimed Gabby. "You clever dolphins."

 

[Anonymous]

Even dragons could not outfly a bubble net. Everyone was quickly captured by the Lemurian guard.
"What's so funny?" Charlotte growled at the nearest dolphin.

 

[Catherine Le Bars]

The dolphin tossed its head and squealed.
"Don't encourage him," said Gabby.
Charlotte gaped at her. "You speak, um, dolphinineum?"
"Lemurian." Gabby looked embarrassed.

 

[Anonymous]

oops where's the edit button?

 

[Anonymous]

"So the map was yours?" Charlotte asked. "Why the Hell didn't you just say instead of stalking us like that?"

 

[Anonymous]

'Stalking?!! Stupid girl.' Gabby wound her window right down with a sneer. 'I've never stopped seeing my Daniel. We're still lovers.'

 

[Anonymous]

Charlotte leaned forward, whispered to her steed, 'Do you breathe fire?'
'Hatched from it,' mother dragon said, 'don't create it.'
'Damn.'

 

[Anonymous]

"Can we backtrack?" said Daniel, climbing from the upturned car. "Put aside our differences and make a plan."
Bob snorted and lit a cigarette.

 

[Anonymous]

"Backtrack!" Charlotte hissed through gritted teeth. But they were surrounded by dolphins, and a confused swirling of small fish. And only Gabby spoke Lemurian.

 

[Anonymous]

"Plan?" Bob tossed his sodden cigarette, to a disgusted glance from a passing turtle. "YOU—" he pointed fiercely at Gabby —"didn't tell him, did you?"

 

[Anonymous]

“Of course I didn’t.”
Gabby waited until Bob had exhaled with relief, then winked behind his back at Daniel and said: “But you did.”