Flash Fiction #18 - Beautiful Wooded Wilderness
- Jacob RD Johnson
- Oct 11, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 12, 2025
Picture Prompt
Photo Credit:
300-500-word Flash Fiction
Post # 18
Week Ending: 10/10/2025
Genre: Drama
Title: Beautiful Wooded Wilderness
Sandra missed her old friends. She had arrived with her parents in Bristol, Connecticut, having moved there because of her dad's job. After living her first eight years in Madison, Maine, she had made a few really good friends. Jenny, Dana, and Becca had been the best. People knew, if they saw one, they saw all four of them together.
Bristol was different. Sandra's first month at school she had only been picked on, ostracized, and left feeling lonely.
On this early Saturday morning, in late September, she felt restless; she couldn't sit alone in her room for another day. There was a beautiful wooded wilderness just off their new backyard.
Sandra loved the outdoors and all living creatures. She had never been allowed to have pets, so she found her own, out in the wild, whenever she could. Near their previous home in Maine, she had even befriended a snowshoe hare that would go to her and eat directly from her hand.
Sandra set off to explore the new Connecticut backwoods and immerse herself into the joys of nature. She was only a half-mile in when she caught a speck of orange contrasting against a bright green leaf. She was delighted to see a ladybug perched there.
As though the ladybug had been waiting just for Sandra, it flew to her, landed on her arm momentarily, and then took off deeper into the woods. Sandra followed her. “Wait! Come back,” she called while running to catch up.
She didn't know how far she had been chasing after this cute critter, but it felt like miles. Finally, the ladybug parked itself on a tree. Sandra stopped, bent over, and put her hands on her knees in an attempt to catch her breath. As her chest heaved, she thought she could hear her heartbeat thumping. But then she realized that the rhythmic sounds were accompanied by the crunches of footfalls.
It wasn't her heart, it was somebody else running and the steps were moving in Sandra’s direction. Her senses heightened, reaching out to assess whether she was in danger. Eyes wide, searching for movement; ears discerning what kind of feet could be impacting the ground. From around a thicket of bushes emerged another girl who appeared to be chasing something as well. As the girl and her quarry drew near, Sandra could see that it was another ladybug. It passed right by Sandra and joined her ladybug on the tree trunk.
The new girl stopped, wide-eyed, seeming to struggle to reconcile the scene before her. She looked as surprised to see Sandra as Sandra was to see her. The girl was breathing heavily.
Sandra managed to shake off her shock. “Hi, I'm Sandra.”
When the girl could finally speak, she replied, “Huh? Oh, hi. I'm Laura.”
Sandra looked into Laura’s eyes and knew this was no coincidence; she had found her new best friend, or perhaps her new best friend had found her.
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