It was just sequins and stardust and rust that sputtered from the dead singer’s mouth. No more words. Twenty-seven and finally ticking the last cliche off the checklist before heading to the great gig in the sky.
Dead on stage for the world to see. Dead on stage for the tik-tok instakids screaming Shea Stadium style from the front row. Dead on stage in HD, 4K, and lossless Dolby.
Dead on stage but the band played on.
Sure there had been stunts. He’d faked his death on stage, live. He was the boy who cried wolf. But what could have caused this.
Twenty-seven and tea-total. The gin bottles filled with water. The cigarettes were props. The boy who cried wolf lived clean and slept a full eight hours each night.
Twenty-seven and in fine mental health. His paranoid agent who’d lost the last star had always insisted he got the best support. No clinal depression. No cynical obsession. No trauma. No stress. Just sequins, stardust, and rust.
But how did this star fall?
It’s been a while since I wrote any writing prompts, and it’s been even longer since I tried writing any flash fiction. My creativity appears to have been locked down elsewhere, and I’ve been struggling with my mental health. My aim is to get back into both of these as soon as life settles down again.
I’ve been thinking back to my 30 Day Writing Challenge from last September and I think I might try and do something similar again soon. You set the challenge- I write the piece. Who fancies setting me some challenges? Add them to the comments if you do!!
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Honestly this was amazing and a true treat to read. Endnotes also helpful. Thanks for the visit and thanks for sharing. 💛 and thanks for such awesome writing.
Thank you so much! 🙂
Peter it’s difficult to get creative during this apausalypse. Many creatives are finding themselves stuck. So I think it’s really normal. Thanks for visiting my blog. I enjoyed reading this.
I’ve been sending artist, makers, musicians and writers #artistprompts during Covid19 lockdown as a counter point to all of it #plenty2share let me know if you’d like one.
yes please! Send me one !! 🙂 Also, I love the term “apausalypse” it does feel like we’re on pause!
Peter it’s a snail 🐌 mail project so please send me your postal address – you’ll find me @creativedynamix on twitter my DMs are open there 😀
Done:) thank you!!
Love this piece Peter! I’ve been on extended hiatus since November due to mental health issues. Great to read a great contemporary piece. Where’s the rest? 😉 Nat
The rest is in your imagination. Though maybe I can write it 😉
I was wondering where you’d been. Glad to see you’re back I hope you’re feeling better and that lockdown is treating you ok.
It’s definitely difficult to get in a creative mood these days. Are you up for any collabs, do you think?
As for a writing challenge, how about a prompt: “This will ruin everything.” I think it would work well with short fiction, but I’m excited to see what you come up with 🙂
I think it might be a few weeks before I get to the collab stage again- but you can always email me one and I’ll get on it when I can….I need to go back through my emails because I think there may be a few there that I didn’t get around to !!! I’ll try and squeeze your prompt into part three of this Sequins, Stardust and Rust piece!!
No rush on anything 🙂 I’ll email you something soon…
I used your prompt by the way–see my post titled “dead stars become black holes”
Awesome– thanks for letting me know!