A few very short stories

Every month there's a new host of twitter's vss365, which is very short story 365 days a year.  Each day, the host offers a prompt word and participants write a one-tweet story using that day's word.  I started doing these as a discipline to write daily, write concisely, and let my imagination wander (but not too far) just from getting a spark from any given word.

On the weekend, another prompt is given on satsplat.

These are some of my favorites so far:

#vss365

1. Violet saved up all year for the black glass #vase in Shubert's Artisan store. She felt kin with the dark feminine proportions. Her brother toppled it over, splintering off a shard of glass. At dawn, light poured through the imperfect crack, like the human spirit.
2. 
   
3. Mama's #voice soothed my upset tummy. She sang made up songs & my favorite was "Brown Sugar Girl" at bedtime.Her dream of singing opera lingered after saying "I do," until at last it vanished into the mist. Never a fan of soprano, now I miss her trill in the silence.
4. 
   
5. He lay in my arms outside. "What's beyond? I'm afraid." "#Frame it differently," I say. "Imagine the sky painted like a baby's nursery." I cradle him as his eyes glaze over and close for the last time. No longer my frail, dying father, but a babe about to reenter heaven.
6. 
   
7. "Slip off your dress, nice and slow, and use your mouth," he said, his enormous and hairy navel poking out of his jogging jacket. "Mr. President is a pretentious #pseudonym, don't you think?" "You're a real buzzkill." "*I'm* the buzzkill? I gotta go."
8. 
   
9. Why do you hold back from me when you know how much I love you?" Fair question. "Because if I let my love out in full force, it would #magnify to the point of devouring you, leaving no trace of your existence." Understandably, he left in the dead of night while I slept.
10. 
    
11. She wrote elegant and elaborate #riddles so she'd know friend from traitor. 4 days later, back home from the hospital, she uncovered her journal to see her writings were unintelligible. "So that's what I do when I'm manic, huh? Self awareness is its own tragic comedy."
12. 
    
13. "Didn't Ted invite you to prom?" "Yeah, so?" "He really likes you. Why don't you go with him?" "I don't want to, Mom. The feeling isn't #mutual." "He's cute." "So's my hamster."
14. 
    
15. Every morning since my love died, I've sat in nature to #sketch. I seek to capture butterflies, wings, hues, nuances, petals reaching skyward for freedom. Every evening is the same. I've sketched only your corpse, eyes wide open. Please stop asking me why.
16. 
    
17. No one hated Patty more than Loretta. Patty's win at the county pie bake- off w/ Loretta's recipe drove her into a rage. For her birthday, she gleefully #sabotaged Patty's brakes. When Patty's husband plowed her car into a tree, Loretta lost her only son and taste for pie.
18. 
    
19. I surrendered my body to him, loved him with everything in me. Shock stole my breath, as he stood before me, under the dull glow of streetlights. "I don't love you." Losing his affection cut me to the #quick. I looked down. He cut me open to take everything I had in me.
20.  
21. Tommy sat in the tiny booth. The curtain suddenly pulled back and the priest said the famous words, "Please confess your sin." "I have a #question. Eddie says priests are atheists, so why confess to you?" "In the absence of God, only I can forgive you, you little shit."
22. 
    
23. The seat of power could have been his for the asking, but today he'd just take it. The Americans' elaborate scanners #verified a dead man's gouged-out iris and severed finger. The impostor entered the Pentagon. He'd become the most famous suicide bomber of all time.
24. 
    
25. "Tell us about the incident. Who was the #victim?" I shudder at the cop's question. "It wasn't supposed to go this way. She's my sister. Please don't tell my mom!" "What happened?" "It was just an April Fool's prank." "I see. The dr said she may wake up, maybe not. Hmph."
26. 
    
27. I stood before him & slipped out of my flannel #robe. No Spanx, push up bra, fake eyelashes, or eyeliner. Me-naked, sagging where I once was buoyant, flat where I wished for curve, dimpled where I'd rather be smooth. "Come to me," he said. "I've never loved you more."
28. 
    
29. His 1st line felt like a warm hand on my shoulder
30. The 2nd like a shimmer 
31. His words worked their magic through my body 
32. And christened me in heat 
33. His last line glittered like his eyes 
34. He finished reciting on stage, & I knew him at last 
35. My husband, the open-mic #poet
36. 
    
37. Jermaine kept disembodied hands tickling the ivories of an electric piano & crystal balls projecting holographic prophesies. I grinned; a kindred spirit! The projection showed him installing me in his #collection of curiosities. A lock clicked and the hands played faster.

#SatSplat

The queen's stony face revealed nothing, her eyes barren. She signaled, and the guillotine dropped, but the blade was dull. The 2nd hoist made the corners of her mouth curl invisibly to all but her father. Queens don't tolerate #betrayal, especially from their mothers.