Flash Fiction - First Line Inspiration

Dress like an animal. The first line in the book closest to me, The Never King by James Abbott, and the inspiration for today's flash fiction.

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The invitation was sparse in detail. It had the time and date, 4pm on Saturday, and the place, Grenvale Forest. The only other instruction was Dress like an animal. But Marie had no idea why. Or who sent the invitation in the first place. There was no stamp on the envelope so it had obviously been hand delivered. The invitation paper was thick and creamy, the ink an unusual greeny, brown colour which seemed to change shade as Marie moved the invite around in the light. She tucked it into her bag, unsure yet whether she was going to share the information at school or not. She'd learnt it was important to follow the crowd and not stand out. If someone else mentioned getting one, she'd speak up. Feeling pleased with her plan, Marie hurried to the end of her road to catch the bus to school. 

Absolutely everyone was talking about the invitations. Not everyone had received one. Boys, girls, older and younger, different races and religions - there didn't seem to be any pattern. The only similarity was that none of the adults had received an invitation. Most of the discussion in the playground seemed to be whether people were going to go or not. It was in the daytime so no-one thought it would be dangerous. And there were about twenty children invited so everyone felt there would be safety in numbers. The other thing everyone agreed on was that there was no way they were dressing up as a lame animal.

The most popular girl, Charlotte, was going to wear her designer jeans whilst the most popular boy, Marco, had decided to wear his favourite football strip. Others had decided on various party dresses and scruffy jeans with t-shirt ensembles. The only person who was excited to dress like an animal was Freddie. But then Freddie was touched. Simple in the head the teachers called it. The headmaster let him attend lessons but no-one expected him to ever learn anything. The small town of Grenvale only had one school and no alternative childcare options. Letting Freddie go to school where more than fifty pairs of eyes could look out for him was better than leaving him at home with his deaf and partially blind Grandma.

He was telling anyone who would listen that he was dressing up as a rabbit. He already had the ears and the pompom tail. It made Marie smile to lesson to his enthusiasm. So much so that she decided she would dress up as well. She had two days to put together a costume and with a little help from her Great-Aunt Ethel's dusty loft boxes, she managed to fashion a luxurious foxy red tail from a magnificently fluffy, if not a little moth-eaten, red fur coat. For all she knew, the coat might well be real fox fur but Marie tried not to think about that. She dipped her fur tail into white paint and let it dry whilst cutting out some cardboard ears for a headband and then painting them red. 

By Saturday morning she was excited. By lunchtime, she was too nervous to eat and instead put her costume on with some red leggings and a red t-shirt. Some borrowed make-up from her older sister gave her a brown nose and whiskers. All that was left was to clock watch until 3.50pm when it was time to leave. There was excited chattering all the way down the main street to the beginning of Grenvale Forest. Someone had strung fairy lights through the trees, lighting the way so the children followed the lights and began to walk through the forest in their finery. Marie found herself at the back with Freddie who was hopping like a real rabbit. She felt sorry for him and decided to stay back with him. Consequently, they were a little late to the party clearing. They found tables with delicious treats laid out and music played from some hidden sound system. Balloons floated gently across the forest floor and there were two wrapped gifts on the stump of a large oak tree. 

Marie walked cautiously forwards, trying to find a glimpse of some of the other children. But there was no-one there. Freddie ran forwards and yelled in excitement at the presents. 'It has an F. F is for Freddie. Is it for me?' 

Marie came closer and read the label. It did indeed say Freddie so she nodded and smiled as he ripped open the paper to reveal the gift within. It was a bright red football. He was so happy he hugged it tightly. Marie opened hers to reveal a large, blank notebook. On the first leaf, in the same ink as the invite, were the words - For your stories.

The two children waited for the others to appear but they never did. They ate some cake and played with Freddie's football until the daylight became dusky and it was time to go home. The local police questioned the two children for hours but their story never changed. And the other children never came back.

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Her latest novel, The Gaia Project, is out now! Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.