AMENDED! As a result of my mixing up files, I have added and subtracted some of the shortlist. APOLOGIES

Congratulations to everybody who submitted an entry!

It takes courage to enter a writing competition, so well done! If you haven’t made the shortlist don’t be disappointed. Keep trying! Entering competitions is a great way to improve your skills.

HERE ARE THE STORIES THAT MADE IT

CHOSEN FOR ORIGINALITY, skill and above all, for the ability shown by the Writer to synthesise and encapsulate complex emotions and/or events. A Megasaga is very different to any other form, except, perhaps, poetry. With the added constraint of having to stick to 100 words, each of which must have its place and power. Similar, perhaps, to a haiku, a sonnet or even a limerick. It’s very skilled as I’m sure all of you found!

SO here they are! Comments very much welcomed. Which do YOU think work best? The Judges will be deliberating, and the final result will be announced MID AUGUST

1)

I
 
I am magnificent.  It is dusk and there are no frolickers disturbing my waves. 
A woman watches me.  Wait – is she admiring me, or the mediocre horizon? I am far more beautiful, much more worthy of her mesmerized gaze!

I send giggling ripples to tease her ankles.   Yes! It works…she walks into my depths until my sand no longer feels her feet. My swells gently carry her beauty away from the beach. I am delighted because I want to keep her. I have many creatures but I have never had such a pretty one, all dressed in white.

2)

Home

The tip-tap of his white cane preceded his familiar silhouette. The beggar had endeared himself to the ladies with his joke that a cheese grater he had found was the most violent book he had ever read.
    He felt warm coffee placed in his hand, a soft kiss on his scarred face. He liked this street…some fatal stabbings, but the victims were bad men, so who cared?  This was home.
    Clutching his faithful bowie knife, he shared a crooked smile with the crescent moon.  He crouched under his warm blankets and settled down for the night to keep watch

3)

Judgement Day

The judge stares at me, I cannot read her expression. The prosecutor is running her mouth so viciously I can barely make out her ramblings. My lawyer hushes the thoughts in my head with a few comforting words. The typist is bashing away at the keyboard – sensory overload. I’ve committed a heinous crime. I didn’t say goodbye. 

So I switch off the recording button, I don’t need the judge’s glare. I take all the pills to kill the prosecutors blare and I turn up the volume of my lawyer to the last song you played before you died.

4)

Mimicked Me

Perched upon my windowsill, underneath a serene dawn, glimpses of my tombstones peek at me through Willow trees. Each one bares my name. Underneath? Everyone I used to be. Below the gated area lay my emotions, no tombstones, I intricately stitched together masks that resembled these instead. My best work. Startled by my alarm clock, I remember this special day, it requires I smile. The voices within me begin to weep “dig up joy!” they cry. I scream and they fade. To my left, all my perfectly mounted masks and I Whisper “The mimicked me, it will be.” 

5)

Fireheart 

She was the girl that wore baggy shirts and sneakers. She would pull her long wispy hair into a bun. She fixed cars instead of baking cakes. Fire ran through her veins, like water through a hose. 

Yet, when she wanted to pursue her dream of becoming a firefighter, she was rejected, because women simply couldn’t fight fires. 

She believed that men are hard-headed hypocrites and she refused to let a stone-age system stop her from doing a “man’s” job. 

She became the change she wanted to see! 

[6 months later] – “Congratulations to South Africa’s first female firefighter! 

6)

THE STRENGTH IN ME

I have been doing a lot of cleaning lately in my life. I can say I’ve been cleaning my closet. Getting rid of all the stuff that is not useful. I thought they were important but now I realise they were just taking up space making it hard for me to welcome the new. There are people in my life I thought were really for me but they never cared for me. It took me courage to finally let go of them. I was scared at first but doing that showed me how strong I am.

7)

“I have come here to die,” she tells me, smiling sadly. 

At 81, she feels as invincible as she was the day she turned 21. 

But she’s been made to leave her home, husband and pets for this cold town. 

She loves good cheese and Egypt. 

She feels deeply misunderstood. 

I listen in silence as she tells me of her full life, of all she’s accomplished and still wishes to do. 

I wish I had an answer for her, I wish I could take her loneliness away. 

But all I can do is smile and nod. 

– old age home 

8)

Occupy your Heart with Love 

There once was a campaign called  Occupy.  It was composed of activists who would meet to raise awareness of social and environmental issues.

    One woman went to Occupy St Paul’s, at the steps of 

St Paul’s Cathedral, where a group were camping. She was in the environmental and peace groups.

    When the occupation was disbanding she wrote a song:

‘I wanna occupy my head with good things, 

 I wanna occupy my heart with love.

 I wanna occupy my heart with good feelings 

 For the people that we want to take care of ….’

It went viral!

9)

A True South African Tale

The community lived together in gentle peace and harmony. They were comforted by the helpfulness of their neighbours. They were warmed by the sense of belonging and being able to trade and sell their wares to survive the harshness that had befallen them. Yet, a darkness lurked and made them afraid of what would be next. Their life-giving water supply dried up and their candles burned to nothing. Was the control out of their hands or could they take it back? No more, they said…… we will quench our thirst and light our own way.

10)

BATTLE OF LAING’S NEK. 28 JANUARY 1881. 

Caught in a deadly crossfire, Tom Baker’s 3rd Battalion was being decimated by the unrelenting accuracy of the Boer rifle fire. Knowing he had but seconds to live, Tom saw a British soldier waving from a trench twenty feet away. Fear lent wings to his feet and five seconds later he dived into the hole. As he turned to thank his saviour, Tom felt a bayonet slam into his stomach, ripping him open.

“Why?” he gasped as the light faded away.

Jack smiled. “I’m practicing for when I get home.”

11)

PAID IN FULL

The old man’s terrible sins haunted his dreams. He’d tried to unburden his soul, but each time he’d entered the confessional the unmistakable stench of Auschwitz had assaulted his nostrils and his stumbling words had turned to ash. Now, as stared into the barrel of an unforgiving revolver, he knew his time was up.

“I beg you all for forgiveness!” he cried, but his plea had no effect on the long lines of grim shadows gathered before him. He could feel their cold, eager fingers pressing on his as they cocked the weapon and pulled the trigger.

12)

Corona

From its beastly home, one day it escaped. New hosts! Bigger! More mobile! Hurray. Stalking through the town it leapt from person to person, intruding into lungs with a polite ‘by your leave, do let me in’ and there it sat, replicating. Catharsis! Destroy, destroy! Until the Host, suffocating and strangled by the joyful dance in their chests, dies.

From the town to the world. Invade! Attack! Kill! Destroy! What joy. World domination by stealth. Until the realisation finally dawns: by killing its hosts it too will die. The progeny then, modify, and sit, replicating from lung to lung…

13)

THE DARK STREET

The street was darker, with every step I took my heart pounded even harder. I could not shake the feeling of fear of me, as I watched at the dark figure approaching me. I prayed to god that let this be my savior and not the perpetrator of my end. I slowly took steps towards the little glimmer of light and as soon as I locked eyes with this figure, a woman I could see the look of relief on her face, her face filled with assurance knowing that she is safe for another moment, to live.

COMMENT! CHEER! Which is your favourite and why???

I still love you all….