"Girls v Monsters" by Jeanette Greaves

Will you find her?

Will you find her in time?

Will you find her before the monsters get to her?

There are monsters on the bus. There are monsters at the school gates. There are monsters in the school yard.

She is wild, and stubborn, and wears grey. She holds fast against the call for her to paint her face, and pierce her flesh. She is the wild child who looks like a good child.

She is fury, and life, and fierce intelligence, and the monsters want her. They want to dress her in pink and white, and paint her face with pretty.

She can hide, for a while, in a book. She can be a child locked in a room to lie on a bed to consider her sins. She can be a child running free on the riverbank. She can be the captain of a spaceship. She can be the spaceship.

In one day, she has fought dragons and loved dragons. She has watched civilisations rise and fall. And in all this, she has been quiet, and grey, and wild, and stubborn. To say yes to all the wonders, she has to say no to the monsters.

She can battle the monsters in the stories, but the monsters in the school yard are insidious, and call themselves her friends.

Will you find her?

FlashFlood is brought to you by National Flash-Fiction Day UK, happening this year on 27th June 2015.

In the build up to the day we have now launched our Micro-Fiction Competition (stories up to 100 words) and also our annual Anthology (stories up to 500 words).  So if you have enjoyed FlashFlood, why not send us your stories?

More information about these and the Day itself available at nationalflashfictionday.co.uk.

More information about these and the Day itself available at nationalflashfictionday.co.uk.