What I love about our writing exercises is that they give me the opportunity to try different types of stories. The three words for our latest are:

• Blackness
• Coy
• Halt

I stared into the blackness of the pond hoping to find a glimmer of life, but there was none. It used to be teeming with coy, but they had all died suddenly as if a plague had swept through them. It had all started here. The death, the evil and tonight I would restore the balance of life and death. I looked around once more to make sure that I was alone then took out a leather pouch and untied the string. The contents sparkled in the moonlight. Once I threw this in there was no going back, but it was the only way. I took a steadying breath as I moved to drop the ashes into the water when I heard someone yell, “halt!”

Want to read more responses? Here is the link. Have fun!