Second Campaign Challenge

I took up Rachael Harrie's dare. Please go to her linky page and LIKE me (Number 71) if you like my entry. The entries at the top have many likes already, and the ones near the (current) bottom are falling flat although many are really good. So, please, please go and read entries and vote for those you really like.

Here's the challenge:

Write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should include the word "imago" in the title, and include the following words: "miasma," "lacuna," "oscitate," "synchronicity". If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional and included in the word count), make reference to a mirror in your post. For those who want an even greater challenge (optional), make your post 200 words EXACTLY!

Of course as a German, I had to look up all the obligatory words (except Imago; I'm a forester and I have had more experience with those than I care for), and it took my quite a while to figure out that 'oscitate' means 'to yawn'. Well, why use a simple word when a difficult one will do.

Here's my entry (crossposted from my homepage blog). I hope you like it. It's got all the requirements (obligatory words, mirror, and 200 word restriction). This time, it's more or less non-fiction (albeit with a little added imagination).

The winged Imago

Slumber receded. Light registered on her brain. She oscitated. Was it time to wake already? If she opened her cell too early, the miasma of the breeding pond would kill her. If she left it too late, her strength might not suffice. She twisted and stretched. The cell was awfully tight, and her back itched. She rubbed it against the upper side of her confinement. Yes, that helped.

A tear in the fabric of her cell. Oh dear. She stopped moving. Was it safe? Her ears listened to the slightest sounds from outside. Birdsong – far away, thank the Mighty Blue. Not a single frog croaked below – didn't mean there weren’t any.

She couldn't stay in here forever. Did she dare? Carefully as not to disturb the world outside, she left her cell. It proved harder than she had expected. She arched her back, pulled out one dainty leg after the other, and stood there – waiting – listening. The lacuna she had left, an empty shell beside her. A hunger pang shot though her abdomen. She needed to hunt as soon as her body hardened. In perfect synchronicity, the dragon-fly spread her wings and soared over the blue mirror of her kingdom.