Well here we are, week 4 of our series, Building A Short Story, and we are now sitting on 440 words. This instalment will be the next to last step before we start plunging into the official short story realm.

In case you haven’t been following along, we started the series in an effort to demonstrate how a 55 word fiction piece can be used as a springboard to create, at the very least, a fully fledged short story.

The process is simple:  we started with a 55 worder and have rewritten the story every week by doubling the word count.  To make this interesting, we started by writing the tale on the fly and really haven’t had much discussion about it until this week.

Why this week? Because we are getting close to Carrie’s forté of the short story and she took the reins on the 220 words we wrote last week  and added this week’s rewrite, so we needed to make for a nearly seamless fit.

She did a damn fine job too

The Heart of the Hound

The night air was whisking away the sounds of an ambulance as I stood inside of Detective Denny Samson’s brick ranch. Getting inside the living room where Denny was sitting on the couch was made easier by the front door being torn from the hinges.

Broken furniture, memories and blood littered the pale blue carpet and off white walls.

Denny’s hands were covered with blood and shards of flesh.

“Did you see it?”

“Detective?”

“The Hound. Blazing eyes, heart shaped patch of deep red hair on its chest.”

Crazy, just like the Bentley chick. “Nora’s fine, but you killed the attacker.”

Denny replied with fear, “No. Not me. The beast,” and then he looked up shakily at me, “There’s more. I don’t think the hound was alone.”

Knowing that fear and adrenalin can combine for powerful hallucinations during moments of intense stress, and also knowing that my brother in arms and one of my best friends over the last decade needed some calming, I asked him,” Do you think you can recount what happened? Or would you rather wait until you’ve calmed down?”

“I don’t think I can,” cradling a now blood smeared face in his hands.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his rights would most likely be read to him before he told the whole story.

It turned out he knew; knew how things looked and knew I was only doing my job. But I could still see the treachery in his eyes.

I couldn’t blame him for that. I could feel the strength of my convictions bubbling up inside me and it weren’t pretty.

Sitting there in front of me, with the blood on his hands beginning to dry and flake off, he didn’t look like the Denny I knew any more. There was something else…Something more than the betrayal he’d shown me earlier. Only this wasn’t a look or a sense, this was a knowing.

Denny had changed.

Thinking back to when he was sitting in his living room, I’d taken his arm to guide him gently towards my issue car. I’d needed to take him down to the station for questioning but I already knew that he was going to describe a thing;  something I could never hope to bring to trial. He’d stumbled then, on the way to the car, but his reaction to his impending fall had been quick. Too quick.

It was afterwards as I was driving, that I had felt that sensation of  ‘knowing’ for the first time. It had frightened me then.

Now, with a look that would haunt me for the rest of my life, he began…

Carrie gives a deeper relationship between the two cops as well as introducing a bit more of the mystery surrounding the hound. But, most importantly, there was another element that a deeper step was taken towards, and I ain’t about to reveal that one yet.

Join us next week as we take this thing to 880 words, our last instalment in the world of flash fiction. Also, if you are trying this trick at home, let us know, we’ll be more than happy to provide a link to your supreme efforts at the bottom of these posts.

Enjoy!

© 2010, Alex Crabtree. All rights reserved.

Years ago I started writing Flash Fiction for just the sheer enjoyment of writing, and now it has turned into a full blown addiction. I can't quit the horse, man! Another dirty little secret about me is my ability to write all kinds of web content. SEO content, articles, blog posts, manifests; you name it, I'll write it. Looking for some help? My gun hangs at r.alex.crabtree@gmail.com

Alex Crabtree

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Tags: 55 word fiction, Building A Short Story, creative writing, Flash Fiction

This entry was posted on June 11, 2010 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Building A Short Story, Featured, Series, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.