Friday Fictioneers: The Other House

Posted on by Louise Bunting

This is my entry for this week’s Friday Fictioneers Challenge run by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The challenge is to write a story within 100 words.

watching-photo-by-rochelle-wisoff-fields
Copyright – Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

The Other House

Mary sighed. She liked this property but… it didn’t speak to her. Her gaze strayed from the garden and quiet streets towards the house opposite.

“If you’re interested,” the estate agent said, “that’s for sale as well.”

“Hmm?” She examined the elegant lines and fine windows. It was charming, glowing enticingly in the sunlight.

“It’s a fixer-upper but a good price. The old gent hasn’t made repairs in decades.”

Blinking, her vision shifting, Mary saw peeling paintwork, boarded windows and missing roof-tiles. It had a general run-down air.

Make me beautiful again, a voice whispered.

Yes, Mary replied. “How much?”

Word Count: 100

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40 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers: The Other House”

  5. Love the pattern that those shadows impose on your photo … very telling. Really, all of your chosen elements work very well together. This would have been a good subject for ‘scale’ with that house lingering in the background. Sadly for your story, you chose the wrong front porch to portray a house in need of repair. LOL .. this porch is beautiful. … or is it an ‘after’ shot? 🙂

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    1. Thanks for commenting, Orples, but the picture’s not actually mine. That’s the prompt provided by Rochelle for the Friday Fictioneers. And the house in disrepair is the house opposite. What she’s ‘seeing’ (i.e. the picture) as she looks out is the potential, or maybe the past state, of the other house. It wants her to make it beautiful again. 🙂

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    1. Thanks for visiting, Keith. This Mary loves the challenge of an old house in need of attention.
      I visited your post last night but it didn’t seem to want to accept my comment, so: good story. Intriguingly strange! I spent quite some time trying to figure out whether it was ghosts, alternate universes or something else equally bizarre going on. 🙂

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      1. haha–sorry! I wasn’t thinking about our differences across the pond! Yes, I like “Fixer Upper” and “Rehab Addict” about bringing old homes back to life. Your story has that excitement to it.

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  18. Count me as a latecomer, too.
    That house just told her how much fun and the many sweet memories awaited her if she let her heart rule the day. Let the bargaining begin! Nice! Real nice. Have you been in the Chocolate again/

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