Friday Flash Fiction - week 20!

Confessions

When I married a woman with a child by another man, I never expected it to turn out like this. Karen was twenty-eight when we married and her daughter, Sophia, three and a half. Sophia’s father, a sea captain for a big container shipping company had never seen his daughter. 

The first few years of our marriage were stressful. We bought a house and had two more children, both boys, all in the space of three years. Sophia, used to her mother’s sole attention, seemed to adapt well to the changes and thrived at school. Until, that was, she went to secondary school. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Tanner, please sit down.” The teacher was young, with short blond hair and piercing green eyes. I figured it wouldn’t be long before some girl would coax a wedding ring onto his hand. 
“Sophia is causing quite a stir, I’m afraid.” 
“But I don’t understand,” Karen blurted. “She’s always loved school.” 
I put my left hand on her knee. “Darling, let Mr. Thomas finish.” 
“She’s bright, that much is obvious, but she’s not interested. I’ve tried everything. Consulted more experienced colleagues,” a reddish hue appeared on his cheeks, “but everyone else is having the same problems.” 
“Why did no-one contact us before?” I ventured. 
“We’re only a few weeks into the new term. I wanted to see if she’d settled down. Starting at a new school can be quite stressful.” 
“I see,” I said. “What can we do?”
“Talk to her. Find out what’s going on. The more we can work together the better.” 

Driving home the sleet was bashing at the front windows of the car. Karen was staring out of the passenger window, and I noticed the silent tears run down her face. 
“We’ll sort it out,” I said.  

After dinner we asked Sophia to stay behind. 
“We’ve just been to the school,” I said. 
The colour from her face seeped away. “And?” 
“And what do you think?” Karen said, too loudly. 
I looked at Karen, then continued. “What your mother is trying to say is: the teachers think you’re struggling.”
“Well, I’m not.” The reply came quick and sharp. 
“They’re worried you,” I continued.   
“They said that?”
“Yes, and we’re worried too.” 
Sophia burst into tears. “I’ve…I haven’t got any friends.” 
“Why not?” Karen put her arms around her daughter. 
“They told me Dad isn’t my real dad, so I got into a fight with them and now they don’t talk to me anymore.” 
I had always wondered when the right time would be for this conversation, but this is certainly not how I’d envisioned it.

L. Besley

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Flash Fiction diary

I've reached over 10,000 hits on my blog - thanks to everyone for your continuing support! 

I took part in the Wednesday Write-in at CAKE.shortandsweet again this week. We were given 5 prompts (benefit, lollipop, grip, hardwood, glaze) and you could use as many as you like, or just take inspiration from them, and write a piece of flash fiction. Click here for On Foreign Shores. 

I had my second article published on the The Unofficial Blog for Brit Writers and Writers Everywhere! Click here to read Social Media - Friend or Foe? 

I've also stepped, rather gingerly, into the 21st century and have set up a twitter account! If you'd like to follow me, I can be found bumbling my way through this technology @laurabesley 
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Flash Fiction is short enough to read whilst you're waiting for the kettle to boil. It's fairly quick to write too, but with it being so short, every word has to count. 

On 4th May 2012 I decided to embark on a project: to write a piece of Flash Fiction every day. I'm hoping this will keep the creative juices flowing and ultimately help me hone my craft. Every Friday I'll be posting 'the best of the week' onto my blog for you to read. If you have anything to say (good or 'constructive'!), I'm open to comments.  

Thanks, as always, for reading.