Written for the Friday Fictioneers. A story, about a building that no one ever buys, begins after photo.
Genre: Urban Fantasy.
Photo by: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
The Purchase
Jacob climbed the stairs with the elderly realtor, Mr. Toussaint. Jacob said, “It’s bit beat up. Still, I’m surprised it’s gone unsold for so long.”
Toussaint frowned disappointedly. “Most of the time, buyers just disappear while I’m showing it.”
Jacob opened a random door. Inside, he saw a sunrise over beautiful rolling hills. He shut it, and blinked. He opened a different door and saw amazing tropical islands. Another door revealed a view from a space station.
Shaking a little, he said, “Ever look in these doors?”
Toussaint shook his head. “Why bother? Nobody wants the place.”
Jacob grinned. “I’ll buy it.”
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Each week, the Friday Fictioneers meet to write 100 words of flash fiction from a photo prompt. Join us and write! Here’s this week’s writing prompt: http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/21-march-2014/
EagleAye
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Ooh, yeah – I think I would, too. 😀
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Some purchase. I’d buy it too.
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Yup. I was a pretty easy decision. 😉 Thanks for stopping in!
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Sounds like a bargain 🙂
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Yep. I think he got for cheap. 😉
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They say buyer beware but in this case seller know what you are letting go.
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No doubt! Too bad he didn’t investigate his ‘missing’ clients.
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Dear Eric,
Do I detect a bit of Narnia? Looks like Jacob’s in for a good time. Nice.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Eh? What’s Narnia? 😉 Oh, just a tad, actually. I think he’ll be entertained for many years to come. Thanks for commenting and stopping in, Rochelle!
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Oh, that was excellent! I love this one … definitely a favorite for the week.
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Thank you, Judah! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. 🙂
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Oh. If he does take it I will! Great twist.
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Thanks Chandra. Who would pass that up? Thanks for stopping in. 🙂
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What fun. May I come over for tea some afternoon? LOL!
I would love to see the space room. 🙂
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Me too! Come on over anytime. We’ll have tea beside the pyramids, or perhaps at the Ganges river. Thanks for stopping in!
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What fun it will be to have parties there, although I hope no one steps through a door and gets lost. Sounds quite exciting and beautiful. Unique take (and I mean that in only the best way.)
janet
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Thanks Janet! Parties there would be awesome! You could go almost anywhere and meet fascinating people. You probably wouldn’t need to invite anyone, just open a door and join whoever is there. Thanks so much for stopping in and reading. 🙂
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Now this is a wicked cool take on the prompt! A house with different parts of the world in different rooms- isn’t that superb? Jacob must also be really brave though, because there doesn’t seem to be any guarantee that he’ll return from any adventure he embarks upon… but then perhaps he bought the place planning to get rid of certain people, too… that would be thrilling 😀
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Well now, that’s an interesting angle. I might have to explore that idea in a longer piece. In any event, It would be so awesome to explore the world this way if you could do it safely. It’s hard to say you could return. Remember Toussaint said people “disappeared” while he was showing it. Is it because they didn’t want to come back or they couldn’t? Could be fun to examine that. Thanks much for sharing your thoughts! 🙂
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😀
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Excellent story, who wouldn’t want to buy such a fascinating house but why buyers disappeared? Smelling something fishy.
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Indeed, that’s the question. I’m glad you bring it up. The reason could be very good (they wanted to stay), or very bad. Thanks so much for visiting and sharing your interpretations.
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I would love another story on why they disappeared. You come up with a new idea every time.
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I think I will. It’s an interesting idea that deserves exploring more deeply. Keep a look out for one. 😉
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what a bargain! maybe the place was just waiting for the right owner. great fantasy piece 🙂
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I think you’re right. Someone who could appreciate it most. Thanks for your comments and for stopping in! 🙂
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Such a lot of potential in this story-line. Full marks for originality.
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Thank you, Sandra! I love to receive high marks. Thanks for stopping to visit!
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Loved that ,”Toussaint frowned disappointedly. “Most of the time, buyers just disappear while I’m showing it.”Tee!hee!Well Jacob definitely has got a good deal-now wonder if he plans to start a tourism business or join hands with the police,helping them in executing successful and safe witness protection program or maybe he will join Mafia-take money from them to make people disappear for ever and take money from the “victims” too promising them their dream destination?Ah,.my mind boggles at the umpteen possibilities 😀 And he better buy some fool proof door stoppers-just in case… unless he gets bored or is in trouble and can do a disappearing act himself !What a fantastic take on the prompt Eric-can you see that I loved it? 😉
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Haha! Yes indeed, you could go many directions with an idea like this. I haven’t spent enough time with Jacob yet to know what he’ll do. He’s a pretty nice guy, so he’ll probably do something constructive with it. On the other hand, he’s savvy enough to not just walk into the attractive paradises he saw. That’s probably why other folks disappeared. Maybe they didn’t investigate enough to know how to get back. I’ll have to think on it, and yeah, door-stoppers are a brilliant idea! I love to see you loved the story, Atreyee. Thanks so much!
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Why did buyers shy away from this place? Do tell, nice fic.
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Oh, they didn’t shy away. They saw the beautiful places inside the doors and walked straight in. It’s unsure if they got lost or maybe they didn’t want to come back. I’ll have to explore this in another, longer piece. Thanks for stopping in and commenting. 🙂
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Good story. A creative take on the prompt. I’ve got to admit I was concerned about the “disappeared” part also. If I were to go to any of those places, I’d want to be sure I could get back. You’d probably have to be able to find the exact place you entered and that could be tricky.
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That’s the thing I couldn’t decide on. I kinda imagined super-amazing places, so wonderful people might not choose to come back. Maybe they would lose track of time and forget to come back. Perhaps, as soon as the door closes, the location resets, and they cannot return. I’m kinda leaving that up to the readers imagination. My thought was generally positive. It was so great they had no interest in returning, but it could go any way you imagine. Thanks so much for reading Patricia. I really do appreciate your thoughts.
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Me too!
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Yup. You could have a lot of fun there. Thanks for stopping in.
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I wonder if he knows what he’s taking on? I guess the question is, did the previous prospective buyers find a door hiding something that was so great they wanted to stay, or did the doors lure them in with these amazing scenes like some sort of Siren?
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It could be any of those things. It seems this idea of mine has really got people thinking. I like that. I think I’ll pursue this in a longer piece so that some questions get answered. For now, the answer is up to your imagination. Thanks for visiting!
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I’m afraid there’s a hitch somewhere… tempting to buy.. but there’s always something in the small-print..
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Hehe. There always is. At this point, it’s hard to be sure what the catch to all of this is. It could be many things, but to receive something so nice, there must be a balance. Thanks for stopping in and visiting!
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It pays to be curious and not take things at face value, no?
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Yup. Still, I think he’ll be very careful about exploring the doorways.
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Just wait until he opens up the wardrobe in the spare room…
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Haha! Perhaps he’ll find that extremely scary thing that has magicked the doors? 😉
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So now, which door will he choose?
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Well, they cycle through the locations, so I guess he’ll keep opening them until he finds one he likes. Me, I think I’d go with the space station. 😉
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See now I am thinking…how can I make money off of this…??
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Haha! Well, whole buildings don’t come cheap. A profit must be made somehow. 😉
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I’ll gladly cut you in 😉
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Wow, I would buy that place in a second too. 🙂 Just shows there’s more on the inside than the outside.
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So true! With that place you could do a lot of traveling and never leave the building. Thanks for visiting, David!
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Hey EagleAye – this is awesome – and I’ll take it! How very interesting and it’s a great story! What happens next? Thanks, Nan 🙂
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Thank you, Nan! I’m glad you had fun with the story. I don’t know what happens next, yet. I plan to investigate in another, longer post. Stay tuned. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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WOW, what a bargain that was.. Lovely story. Do come up with its Part 2.
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Certainly is. I will definitely add on to the story later on. Stay tuned, and thanks for stopping in!
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I would buy it too. You can easily travel from one place to another. 🙂
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You’d never need a travel agent!
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