Photo copyright Kent Bonham
She had trailed her quarry carefully through the raucous throngs, but in a moment of distraction he had slipped from sight. Estrella was terrified—her safety depended on shadowing his every move. Anxiously, she scanned the crowd from the cover of a building that also seemed masked for Carnival. Her costume camouflaged her among the revelers; could he still find her?
Familiar cologne penetrated her fear just as a strong arm snaked around her waist. Estrella struggled mightily in the vise-like grip, loosing herself just enough to twist and throw her arms around her captor’s neck.
“Papá, there you are!”
After a couple weeks off, it feels good to be back in the swing of Friday Fictioneers, trying to capture a story inspired by the week’s photo prompt in only 100 words!
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Posts I commented on today:
A Roof with a View (anelephantcant) new blog of the day
3 May 2013 (Rochelle Wisoff-Fields–Addicted to Purple)
Handling Rejection (castelsarrasin)
Things I See and Know 
AnElephantCant
May 3, 2013 at 1:11 PM
Clever tale, nicely done.
But AnElephantCant find your comment on his post. Do you have a different name?
dreaminofobx
May 3, 2013 at 2:21 PM
Thank you for stopping by! I double checked to be sure I hadn’t closed out my comment on your post without publishing it, and it is there under dreaminofobx.
Sandra
May 3, 2013 at 2:02 PM
Phew! The relief of it…. Nice work.
troy P.
May 3, 2013 at 2:23 PM
Hitting the 100 word mark was difficult with this one, wasn’t it? Nicely done with yours!
Christopher Schuck
May 3, 2013 at 4:41 PM
Cute! That was a really fun twist. Filled with suspense but having a happy ending, and of course being written well, always makes a great story.
Anne Orchard
May 3, 2013 at 7:42 PM
That’s a great ending. You built up the tension and then it all turned loving.
Janet domino
May 3, 2013 at 8:25 PM
Good job!
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
May 3, 2013 at 9:53 PM
Dear Michelle,
A stellar story for sure. 😉 I love the way you misled me through the crowd and then made me grin.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Lora Mitchell
May 4, 2013 at 7:36 AM
I walked thru the fear with her…ah…relief .. Papa’s here. Well done.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg)
May 4, 2013 at 2:16 PM
A deceiveing your reader is the best one, I love it. Though it could still be sinister in yet a way…
sustainabilitea
May 4, 2013 at 3:17 PM
I enjoyed the suspense and then the letting-go of it.
janet
neenslewy
May 5, 2013 at 11:54 AM
I agree with Bjorn, I am left with that feeling that something is about to happen and all is not as rosy as it seems!
patrickprinsloo
May 5, 2013 at 1:49 PM
I liked this. You had me panicking for a while, but then all is okay.