Picture This (1st Place)

On a clear day in the month of May, a yellow-rumped warbler sang in a tall lodgepole pine atop a snow-topped Rocky mountain. A babbling mountain stream wended amongst the sand and cracked metamorphic rock. Several deposits of iron ore lined the sides of the small crevice that the water trickled through as it cascaded down a steep slope and into a clear pool.

The sun’s rays danced upon the clear water as the wind tickled its shimmering surface. The ripples glided across its sky-mirrored face and lapped upon the slick mossy stones. A mountain pine beetle scurried across the stones in route to its burrow. A black-billed magpie swooped down and snatched the beetle right before it entered the safe haven.

The magpie flew high in the clean crisp air. The wind pushed upon its wings as the bird dove and flitted through the branches to a nest, nestled in an old white birch. The beetle became lunch to its young, as a cocoon several branches down began to writhe in the morning sun.

The sparkle of the sun shone through leaves and created a rainbow effect on the cocoon as it glistened and swayed to the rhythm of life inside. After a few minutes, the butterfly within, cracked open the cocoon and emerged to perch on the underside of a protective leaf. Its wings dried in the wind that carried the strong scent of a bighorn sheep, lumbering past.

The sheep meandered through the forest and stopped at the edge of a glass-like lake and took a long drink. A trout leaped high in the air and splashed headlong into the watery deep which it called home.

This all happened on a clear day in May, with no one present to see it…

…except now, for you.


300 Words
Flash Fiction Must contain: Sparkle, Sand, Iron