This post is in response to the prompt at ‘100 Word Challenge for grown-ups’ here. (You’ll also find a list of links to the other responses.) The brief, as you will see, was to include the concept of an ‘orange spot’ in a composition of 100 words. I couldn’t think of anything original, and then something reminded me of what it must have been like for people who witnessed the destruction of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but were far enough away not to be immediately killed or injured. What follows is fictitious, but there are true accounts that are similar.
We had started work early that day, as we always did during the war. The news had reached us, of course, that Germany had surrendered. We’d been told it made no difference to us. Anyway, I just chanced to look up from my paperwork and out of the window. Looking across the city, I suddenly saw a bright flash, and then, after a second or two, an orange spot that grew larger. As a massive plume of smoke formed above it, the noise reached us. It was an awful, terrifying roar like some wild, angry monster as the city died…
It's kind to share!
Chilling. Excellent writing in that you didn’t need to explain where or what.
Fabulous writing. Really gets under your skin
Great take on the prompt. A wild, angry monster, indeed – good last sentence.
This made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. You captured the feelings eloquently.
Very strong indeed. and the laste sentense really was the most chilling.
Birdy birdy in the sky, why did you do that on Hiroshima? I guess your protagonist survived too!