Written for Sunday Whirl Wordle. Our host is
Brenda Warren; her prompt words for this week are
shown below. Here’s where the prompts took me.
colony, rattling, still, lose, crunch, life,
fits, hunch, scan, packages, grasping, and chains
The chains of duty bound every soul from birth. No one questioned it. Life within the commune demanded total obedience.
Kai moved through the tunnels at dawn, her body grasping the weight of three packages, each one as heavy as herself. Around her, the work crew labored busily in the same rattling rhythm, a mechanical pulse that never slowed. To lose focus meant disaster. Everyone knew it.
Kai paused to scan the chamber above. Something felt wrong. A hunch, maybe …. the kind that fits between your ribs like a splinter.
The ceiling groaned. Still, she didn’t move.
CRUNCH.
Ahead, a section collapsed followed by screams. Kai dropped her packages and surged forward, pulling two young workers free before the debris swallowed the corridor whole.
Queen Rani would not mourn the lost tunnel. The colony would rebuild as it always did. That was the law of the underground: keep moving, keep carrying, keep living.
Kai hoisted her packages again, antennae twitching, and disappeared back into the dark.
Above the hill, the summer sun beat down on hundreds of tiny mounds and the six-legged citizens who called them home.
NAR©2026
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This is “Back On The Chain Gang” by The Pretenders
Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.
The Elephant's Trunk 