Fading
by vawendy

Comment:
Poignant, but I think the watch is a bit distracting.

The cousins Red and Green Anjou
by clickodak

Comment:
Travesty. This is by far the best photo.

Fountains Abbey
by DistantColours

Comment:
If you get a chance to visit over Christmas, they sometimes light this area with coloured lights.

My corner of freedom
by Alex_Petrini

Comment:
"I'm in the money..." Kevin could not believe his luck.Just 2 weeks after losing his job and a month after his divorce was completed he'd hit the jackpot. He had no idea he even had an uncle in Africa and to find out by email he'd been left $32m had truly changed his life. All he had to do now was send the solicitor $15,000 to cover the legal expenses and wait for his big fat cheque to arrive next week. He didn't have $15,000, but a short-term loan from Joey the local loan-shark seemed like a great way to get the funds, even if Joey had a strict 'pay-up-or-die' policy. "I'm in the money..."

Timeless Simplicity
by jagar

Comment:
Doris used to go shoplifting in dark colours to help her blend into the background, but over time she got more and more of a thrill from 'lifting in increasingly garish outfits. Today she had acquired a copy of Vogue Magazine, a kitchen clock and some laptop batteries. She didn't need any of it but she couldn't resist the rush of adrenalin she felt whenever a shop assistant turned their back. Tomorrow she'd return for another 'shopping' spree in an even more colourful outfit with a matching cowboy hat and boots. If they didn't catch her soon her small flat would be completely full of things she didn't need or want.

Forgotten
by pamb

Comment:
David Blaine's '57 naked years in an empty box' was set to be his epic career-defining stunt. The first 3 years were the hardest; waving to spectators and trying to keep his morale high by humming show tunes to himself. But the massed crowds got bored and slowly wandered off, the TV crews found other events to cover and the newspapers found more interesting and more important stories to cover. After 6 years Blaine started to cheat by leaving the box at night and occasionally sleeping in a nearby hotel, booked under a pseudonym, from where he stole soap and shampoo. He slowly realised that all his 'stunts' were actually pointless and after 7 years never went back to the box and took a job at Amazon, ironically, boxing presents.

Grumpy Cat
by Lydia

Comment:
The only entry in the top 10 that meets the challenge.

The Portal
by Cuttooth

Comment:
Nobody could remember when the portal had arrived. Some of the old timers seemed to remember a time when there was a clear horizon, but now everybody was used to its dominance of the skyline and had ceased to even notice it anymore. Until now. The gentle, almost inperceivable, hum had grown over a period of weeks until crowds had started to gather, and then the glow. Orange, into yellow, green and finally blue. Bright neon blue like St Elmo's fire reaching up to the clouds, through the clouds and beyond. Nobody knew it yet, but it was down this energy that 'they' would come. Tomorrow, they would come.

Fierce
by JulietNN

Comment:
The Queen of Darkness, Doris, materialised in the hinterworld to address her minions.

"Fellow Evil," she bellowed, "in these dark and disfunctional times there are opportunities to spread our malice and hate, to turn man against man, country against country. We must grasp the opportunity to overthrow the established structures and fulfill our destiny. The first 2 phases of hate have reaped rewards, phase 3 will see us elevated to power. First we must.......oh, hang on. I think I've left the iron on. Back in a minute..."

When Doris got home she thought she'd check her emails and then got sucked into surfing the internet and forgot about her address to the hinterworld. Phase 3 was put on hold.

Clean
by DistantColours

Comment:
The recycled water filter line took used water from the sump on level 7 and removed large objects before they reached the recycling pump. Without the filter, the pump would seize, and the precious water could not reach the recycling assembly. Without clean water they would die before they reached Mars or the re-supply vessel they could intercept in an emergency. The only other pump, on level 3, failed 2 weeks ago, and the level 7 pump was beginning to make suspicious noises.

It was Dave's job to change the recycling pump filters, but he'd never known where they were or how to change them. He'd slept through that part of the brief.