I’m excited to be joining in with The Indie Exchange’s #FlashFiveFriday event. The premise is very simple: five minutes flash blogging or flash fiction based on a prompt set by The Indie Exchange each week. This week the prompt is Dog.

The Guidelines

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes
2) No upper or lower word limits
3) You must write something new
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky (found at The Indie Exchange) you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support

 

#FlashFiveFriday: Dog

 

#FlashFiveFriday - Dog

Dog had been lying at the foot of Justine’s bed for hours. Justine ruffled her ears, tugged on her collar. Dog lifted her head, yawning.

‘Go for a walk, puppy?’ Justine cooed and patted the mattress.

Dog hobbled off the bed. Justine stroked Dog’s head, and holding her collar, pulled her gently toward the steps. It wasn’t fair that animals had such a short lifespan. Parakeets lived only five or six years, goldfish just a few months. Even horses had a shorter lifespan than people. When they were little, Justine and Leah had hamsters. Their parents bought the hamsters all sorts of paraphernalia:  mirrors and tunnels and exercise balls. They even bought a rubber mouse, so the hamsters would think they had friends. That made no difference. The hamsters kept dying and Justine’s father kept buying new ones. One day, their mother insisted he stop.

‘This is too hard on Justine,’ her mom said. ‘She gets too attached.’

To be honest, Justine wasn’t all that fond of the hamsters. She’d cried because crying, she thought, was expected. Justine scratched the old Lab’s ear and Dog bounded down the stairs after her.

Dog was different. Dog was her friend.