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As always, please be considerate of your fellow Fictioneers and keep your stories to 100 words. (Title is not included in the word count.) Many thanks.
The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100
FOOTPRINTS
The uniformed matron smiled. “Take off your shoes and tie the laces together so you can find them more quickly after your shower.”
The doors clanked shut behind the child. No cleansing water sprayed from the nozzles.
Cold tile chilled his bare feet. Naked, he shivered and gasped his final breaths.
“Mama! Mama!”
His desperate, silenced voice rattles my soul.
Could he have been another Einstein?
Perhaps he’d have been a storyteller whose words delighted thousands.
The shoe is crumpled and the eyelets are rusted. It fits the palms of my hands—the only evidence of a candle snuffed aborning.
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