Here is my entry for my March Writing Challenge:
Sacrifices
I should have listened with both ears instead of one but the door was thick and I had to press one ear hard against it to hear the conversation beyond.
Four voices.
“It must be done.”
“You volunteering?”
A snorting laugh. A wheezing cough.
“Lottery?”
“Too public.” A voice like worms crawling.
“I think–”
Didn’t hear the rest. Someone grabbed me.
I spun around. “Let go!”
Martin Baker. My breath caught. A flush rose in my face.
Martin looked at me, eyes flat.
My heart began to race.
He shoved me through the door.
Four gathered around a table. Uncle Norris, Constable Wayne, Mr Baker and Mrs Byers.
“Son?”
“Found her eavesdropping, Pa.” Martin shook me.
I’d only ever touched him once before. His hands were warm.
Mrs. Byers wheezed.
Mr. Baker. Blue eyes like Martin. “Well, Missy?”
Opened my mouth. No words came out. I shrugged.
Mr. Baker looked at Uncle Norris. Uncle dropped his eyes.
My legs went loose.
Mrs. Byers looked up at me. Bright, clear eyes in a deeply line face. “A solution, gentlemen.”
Martin chuckled.
I found my voice. “What’s going on?”
She came towards me, leaning on her cane, smelling faintly of spoiled milk, and the others stepped back. “We all make sacrifices, girl, for the good of others.” She waved her hand and turned her back.
“What the–”
No one listened as Martin pulled me from the room.
Sonia G Medeiros 
Reminds me of “The Lottery.” This reads like a great opening chapter for a book.
Ooh. I haven’t read The Lottery. Is it a novel or short story? I’m intrigued.
Short story. Read when I was in high school. Pretty good stuff.
I definitely want to check it out. I’ll look it up. I love a good short story. One of my favorites from high school is The Scarlet Ibis. Thanks!
Intriguing story, all the more impressive as it’s only 250 words.
Punchy, I enjoyed the rhythm.
Fabulous! Love how you were able to imply such strong connections between the characters in such a small textual space.
lovely!
Thanks for the love! These writing challenges are so much fun and stimulating. They really encourage me to write more and more. Especially when I have to keep the stories tighter. Definitely challenges me in a good way.
Nice job – and I love the new look!
Thank you and thank you! I was finally able to find a layout that’s flexible enough to satisfy my need to rearrange every once in awhile and has better font size. Yay!
I agree with the first comment. It reads like a first chapter that really grabs you. I just wanted to keep reading. Great job!
Thank you so much! It might just become part of a bigger story!
Well done – haven’t tried your challenge yet, but think I will. 🙂
Yes! Please do!
I agree this could be the opening to a novel. Very powerful 250 words. I’m a long winded writer so writing short stories are extremely difficult for me but you write them beautifully.
Thank you! I tend to be long winded too. These exercises are definitely showing me how to be more ruthless in cutting.
I sheepishly admit that because of time constraints I’m unable to keep up well with all the blogs I like on WordPress. What exercises are you referring to? Have you talked about them on your blog. If they’ve helped you with cutting I should give them a try.
Cafe Muravyets is where I found the first 50-word story I tried. It was really challenging, but I loved it. It taught me a lot about cutting down a story to make it stronger. Cafe Muravyets has another challenge for March (my entry was The Reply). I highly recommend it trying it out for yourself. It’s fun and educational. 😉