Thread: A Picture Inspires A Thousand Words Challenge

Just thought this one up. I post a photograph, the next poster writes a little story on what the photo inspires to them, the little story they see in that photo. Then they post their own photo for the NEXT poster.

Rules are:
1) You may ONLY post a photo YOU have taken to ensure no copyright infringements
2) You may post as often as you like but you can't write for your own photo

So, who's game?

Here's the very first picture - I am keen to see what the first poster writes about it

She rubbed her chest, taking deep breaths as she felt a constant weight on her lungs. She looked up to the large horse.

Why didn't that kill me? Did it... did it CONTROL how hard it hit me?

"Did'ya girl? Were you just warning me?"

The young woman moved away from the mare's leg, which she had appeared to have been limping on for some time. Instead, she moved up to the creature's mane. She softly rubbed the horse's mane, feeling the strong, stringy hairs beneath her fingers. She could pinpoint every single hair, as dominant and as individual as every single other. So powerful, so strong, yet so soft.

She looked into the horse's eyes. Black, like a sharks, yet so sympathising and kind. The mare knew her strength and power, and even knew her dominance over her 'owner', yet understood the woman's curiosity and her fragile frame, almost like a child, and she constantly guided the woman into how to treat the mare - and sometimes even life - very subtly, letting her find her own feet.

The woman looked out over the horse's mane. Behind her the sun found it's own feet in the deep sky, still rising from it's slumber. The rise threw out an orange that none could capture, yet seemed so familiar. The orange light cast great shadows along the grass. The grass itself could not hide it's naked water, as every droplet of rain was clearly visible, yet did not seem unappealing.

The woman dropped down, stunned. Her behind hit the ground hard, but the grass cushioned the fall. Water was thrown away from it's blade of grass to a new. The woman fell forwards, still staring at the sky, until she was hugging the mare's leg.

It was a time she would never forget. She truly felt like a child discovering the World as she stared at the ancient sky in the presence of such a beautiful, graceful creature.



Next Picture:



[Copyrighted to http://www.crainium.net/jdjArchives/CuteDog.jpg]

Yo! Bro, how did you ever end up this way? It all started back in that day, so long away when our ma give birth. Would have thought that when you arrived on earth that she would have had the drive to not be cursed by God.

He gave her a dog and now my bro is a mutt. I should really shut up and not diss my ma but how can I miss having Bruno as my sibling. It's the real thing now, bullied at school. Not looking cool. Not having a clue why my brother is an animal.

It's a living hell and the insults hurt. Call him a bitch, kick me down in the dirt. A nappy can't hold the shit they create. It makes me wonder who was my ma's mate.


(next picture)

Acrid smell of smoke and burning, sparks shoot like fireflies, spilled petrol makes rainbow puddles on the asphalt. The muggy air and the crackling flames take me somewhere. if I close my eyes I could be around the bonfire in summer, chanting and dancing and laughing with a crown of flowers in my hair. I could be stoking coals and roasting chicken. I could have china plates with willow patterns laid out on the dewy grass, and lemonade. The chicken might explain the smell of burning flesh.
I open my eyes, salty tears spill. His hand is crushing mine, like a trapped bird. I flutter it's wings, try to break free. I win, and grab his wrist. "We have to run!" I choke. The screaming and chanting is getting closer now. The sound makes me think of tropical tribes and painted bodies. I think of stamping feet and trances, sacrifices. I pull him harder. "We have to go!" I scream. He wont move, just stares at the fire, flames curling in smoky spirals. I beat at his solid body with my fists, but I am helpless. I cant move him, he's twice my size. I am hysterical. They're getting closer. Finally, retching with repressed sobs, i leave him there and run. I run and run, stumbling and blinded by tears.

There's no new picture, so I'll use the one Amber Leaf put up.

It always amazes me how quickly things can change. One second you're surrounded by hundreds just like you. Standing together. One voice. One fist. Fighting the same fight, chanting the same chant. One rally. One cause. One voice.

But within minutes it's all torn away. Things get too heated. Someone from the Other Side antagonizes the crowd. Things get violent.

And within seconds, the cops appear. The stinging, searing pain tears through the crowd as water shoots out from the high-pressure fire-fighting hoses. Cops are screaming. Warning shots ring out. And the damn water keeps on spraying. #1 form of crowd control, right?

Families split up, trying to escape the flow. Children are screaming. Mothers shrieking. Cops take advantage of this opportunity as they do any other, arresting any man they can grab. Chaos ensues.

And, just as always, this rally is broken up. As the label "violent outcome" is slapped onto the incident, the stereotypes are once again reinforced. The cause forgotten. The powerful voice--the fist of power that ruled and united the crowd for barely a split-second is once again buried away. Hidden behind The System.
---
New picture:

There was nothing so sweet as that first bite of a fresh apple. Nothing so pure as the sound of peaceful silence, blessedly free of gunfire and heat and fear. Nothing quite so wonderful as standing together, safe for the first time.

The pain of parents lost, of friends fates unknown was pushed into the background just for that minute. Finally there could be smiles, could be hope.

Two brothers and two sisters had fled together, had got each other through. They chose not to reflect on the journey but on the destination.

Just for that moment, there was celebration.

Next photo:

helpless creature frozen in the headlights eyes wide adrenaline pumping wants to run but too scared, too scared, resigned to whats coming, its happened before, and deep down theres a part of it that knows it deserves to be punished in gross and humiliating ways. my heart beats too fast to count as i await my fate at the hands of strangers.

sorry i dont have a picture.