PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz “She may never speak,” intoned Dr. Francis. John and Libby walked out of the specialist’s office with Merry toddling between them, silent, containing. When Merry was safely snuggled in dreamland with Tam, the teddy bear, they agreed that doctors’ egos made them monsters. When John and Libby took Merry to…

PHOTO PROMPT © Bradley Harris “It’s the same each time. I’m standing at the top of a green hill, scanning sky and water. I sense the endless emptiness in it, but I have to run towards it or I will be dead from whatever is crashing through the underbrush behind me. I plunge down the…

Every night’s the same, curled in too-rough sheets and too-thin blankets, falling into sleep to moans and screams. We dream behind locked doors. Worse are the prisons of our own minds, which keep us hostage to the whims of institutions. I am out first each morning at the click of the door. My slippered feet…

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson Harriet’s likeness plasters across multi-media. Dull red surveillance bubbles glow like holiday lights with promises of detection. Capture. Torture. How will we effect an escape for our guiding beacon? “Mama always says, ‘Hide in plain sight’ “ Harriet leads with old wisdom. We hatch a plan. Our pigeons spread word….

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Each summer the Riordans flew to Cork, Ireland. While parents, Clancy and Mary, did detector-led archeological forays, ten-year-old twins, Sally and Conor, explored on their own. Mr. & Mrs. Riordan found varied baubles over the years; one of them now rests on velvet in a museum. The twins stumbled upon…

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Claire Fuller He maneuvered quietly, willing her not to awake. “Goddamit, Gil, you just can’t let me sleep in, can you! Go make the coffee!” Gil cringed, knowing he’d suffer castigation until he got outside of the front door. Chill December morning brought frosted breath, windshield scraping, and stinging bare…