This is a Friday Fictioneer story. That is a weekly writing prompt where you have to write a 100-word story based on a picture. The moderator, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields posts it on her site every Wednesday. Here is this week’s picture.
The Tourist
Through long wanderings in time and space, she at last made her way, inexorably, home to Aleppo.
Drained, she sank to the street and watched Bronze Age merchants jostle past, unseeing.
She jumped, centuries flicking by. The city grew, was destroyed, rose again.
Stop. No further.
But then she was there—her time.
Bombed buildings. Rubble-choked avenues.
Memories poured in. Her heartrate spiked.
Was that birdsong? Or—
—the whistle of the mortar—
—falling—
The VR helmet was yanked off. The heart monitor was screaming.
“Sorry.” The technician tucked the blanket around her useless limbs. “That’s enough travel recreation for today.”
The Green-Walled Treehouse 
Nicely done, David. I like what you did with the photo background in red. 🙂
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Thanks, Bill. I try to do a feature image for each post so I like to experiment with something to make it stand out.
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Ouch! that was an ending and a half. Well done, David.
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Thanks, Sandra. I appreciate your reading and commenting. Have a good week.
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All reduced to sensation, Cleverly done, David
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Thanks, Neil!
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If only it just existed in VR and not RL. Good one.
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Yes, if only. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Perhaps there are some experience that should never be revisited.
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Yes, to be sure. It’s those experiences that we try to block out but keep coming back which are the hardest to get rid of.
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what a twist at the end. totally unexpected. :).
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She had a close call by the sound of it. The reality she was visiting was bad enough, but it seems even the VR wasn’t without danger. Not the kind of ‘travel recreation’ to be recommended. Very cleverly told.
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Thanks, Margaret. Yes, just because it was meant to be relaxing doesn’t mean it’s without dangers for someone with trauma. Thanks for reading.
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Very nicely constructed, David, with multiple layers. Imaginative; ingenious; engrossing.
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Thanks, Penny! I’m glad you liked it.
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Dear David,
Wow! I have whiplash from that twist at the end. Love it. Always happy when you visit us from youur green-walled treehouse. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle. Glad you liked it and good to be back. I’ll try to stick around more regularly from now on.
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David, I like the upgrade on your blog appearance, looks wonderful! Also a very good story with a successful twist. I think this kind of device will be here in the not too distant future.
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Thanks! It’s a different blog from the one I had before, this one aimed more at teenagers, although it’s for everyone, of course. I just went on yours today and smiled when I remembered we share the same theme. Makes it feel like home. 🙂
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David, that’s exactly what I thought when I visited your story today 🙂
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p.s. Great title also.
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