The Red Tomb – JK.Leahy short stories
Mondays Finish the Story is a flash fiction challenge by Barbara W. Beacham. The story requires 100-150 words (excluding the first sentence). Here is my short story for this week’s prompt based on the first sentence below and the picture.
The Red Tomb – short story
“Where did they go?”
The two owls following her seemingly disappeared. Together yesterday, they watched the horizon quickly swallow the sun. Now they’re gone.
The mud on her feet lifted a coat of ochre from the red track. Dusk soaked and chilled her body, while blood from cuts drawn on her bare arms and legs marked her run through the arid country in search of the Red Tomb.
Tia stopped. The wind tapped her silky hair gently against her waist. Beyond the treetops, the sun stretched the shadows of the peaks, reaching to clutch her.
At last, she had reached the Red Tomb. She must borrow from her ancestors to save her five-year-old daughter.
“Go to the Red Tomb. Collect red dust from your ancestors’ graves. Their spirits will travel with you. When I bath Luhana in that dust, she will return to us”, the witch doctor whispered, before Tia left her dying child.
……………………………
(Click on short story category to read my other stories)
Tribalmystic Stories 
Lovely story, Jocelyn, with some great imagery.
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Thank you – oh great storyteller. I’m glad you liked that.
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Not sure I match up to that title (!) but yes, I loved your story. 🙂
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Excellent story Jocelin! I loved this and want to read more! 🙂 Thanks for writing again for the challenge and be well… ^..^
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Thank you very much!
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Beautifully written. Trust me you can be a song writer.
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Hahaha – thank you very much Joel. I hope you are enjoying your day.
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This is brilliant. Love the idea of how she would save her child. The images and descriptions are beautiful.
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Thank you so much.
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very intriguing
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Thank you very much Eric.
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I love this! I love that she is doing this to save her child. Wonderful images in the story. Nicely done! (Sorry, I thought I had already read this and hadn’t).
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Thank you very much PJ. I’m glad you enjoyed that. I wrote this on Monday, but had other posts. It was good to return and re-work the plot before I posted it tonight. I have four versions now. LOL.
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Well, I really like this version! I thought it was wonderful!
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