I participate in the NYC Midnight challenges because the totally random assignments force me out of my comfortable genres and patterns. Sometimes I forget to submit my entry, and sometimes I submit and do not advance, and sometimes I submit and advance. For the 2021 NYC Midnight Microfiction Challenge (100 words), I remembered to submit and I get to advance. Here’s the round 1 story:
Genre: Action/Adventure
Action: Hanging laundry
Word: Start
Take It
“Please?”
“Take something,” she said, eyeing us to see if we were in danger or if we were the danger. She clipped damp clothing to the line, creating a billowy wall between where we were and where we were going. We ducked under a sheet and ran our hands across the shirts most likely to fit. “We can’t leave these here,” I tugged on my uniform. “They’ll recognize them.”
I pulled a tunic over my head and shoved my uniform in the backpack, on top of that awful metal box. “Let’s start.” They had to be ten minutes away.
Melissa Sharpe 