Categotry Archives: Flash Fiction 55
Tick Tock
Time melts tick tick tick away. Urgent tick tick taking with it last chances to hug, to love, to write. tick tick tick I see the sands of my life flowing down tick and yet tick tick tick I sit and stare doing nothing with this moment for fear tick tick of the next. This is another tribute to The Walking Man, whose poetry often inspires me. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story […]
Candles on Shore
Beautiful moon hidden from the wooded path can not light the way. Shade trees cast midnight shadows. Dark water moving slow like molasses in the night, sluggish and dark where daylight had shown clear but deep. Wading across seems longer now. So easy to be turned around, lost, Until a friend arrives with a candle. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Click on the badge to go to the […]
Mama Earth
While she slept we plundered. Clever children, we thought. We are getting away with murder. She stirred in her sleep, sending up earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and drought. Did the dinosaurs know this fear? or even those before, that she didn’t bother to record? Mama Earth can take care of herself. It is only we who will die. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Click on the badge to go […]
After the Affair
She rose from the ashes of her dismay a phoenix made new for a life far above her original dreams taking to the air in a fiery show of determined self confidence. She will not be laughed at anymore. She will leave behind all the ants who thought to take away her best parts and make them their own. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Click on the badge […]
20 Years Later
If I hadn’t done it, I could be a grandmother now, she thought. That family over there – grandmother, son, and grandson; I could have had that. Or maybe it would have been a girl. No. I’m sure that lump of protoplasm would have been a boy. A son. He might have made me proud, if I hadn’t done it. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Click on the […]
Stage Fright
“What’s wrong? You’ve done this a hundred times before. You were fine during last night’s show? How can you have stage fright now?” “Last night I didn’t know I wasn’t any good. I’d never seen myself sing until you showed me the video. Now I realize I have to do it differently.” “Relax. It’s just a stage you’re going through.” “That’s what scares me.” Think you can write a story in 55 words? Go visit the G-man to see those […]
Tossing and Turning
He groaned, rolled over, punched the pillow. Shouldn’t have yelled at the boss. Should tell his wife, no more paycheck. Unable to sleep, he sat up. “Everything all right?” His wife reached out in the dark. Couldn’t let her down. Have to get a new job in the morning. “Yeah,” he lied. “Everything’s fine.” Think you can write a story in 55 words? Go visit the G-man to see those who did.
Shikigami Paper Doll
Paper man Made by a child Found on the floor Wadded up Thrown away When no one is looking Unfolds himself Runs across carpet To a neglected door Slipping through When the child Works her magic Wiggles a finger Calls him back To play Slave The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in 55 words. Click on the emblem to go to G-man’s site and hook up with other people who did this.
Band Aide
Cutting corners, making do. Enough, but never extra. One day I cut myself. Reached for a Band Aide. Fancy, with shaped corners and special glue I have to remind myself It’s leftover, bought on sale, okay to use. I can stop looking and bleeding Counting the cost against the need. I deserve this Band Aide. Click on the image to go to hub at G-man’s blog.
An FBI Agent Opens a Car Door on Lover’s Lane
Continuing from where we left off last week. A limp hand fell through the gap as Drew opened the door, the same hand that had been on the glass moments before. The woman gasped. The man glowered. Neither covered their nakedness. “Excuse me,” Drew said. The other car fell deathly silent. Groaning, Drew opened that door too. Blood. Cover blown, Drew made the arrest. Next week it’s back to poetry for me. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, […]
Between the Right and the Left
So many of you asked me to continue where I left off a couple of weeks ago with Lover’s Lane that I felt obliged. The deal would be going down in fifteen minutes. If Drew wasn’t there before the snitch, his cover would be blown. Half way between a car rocking with noisy lovers and a car with a hand on the glass, a quiet moan that could be love or death, he stopped. The Lover’s Lane stalker? Or the […]
Good Bye Wise Friend
He walks slowly into a shroud, lingering, lingering, Talking to those walking behind, Giving his brave monologue of experience In simple words made vast by insight. I would call to him, plead, Please stay. Don’t leave us. But I know the futility. He does not realize his feet aren’t moving. What closes the distance is the shroud. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Click on the badge to go […]
Lover’s Lane
Walking between two cars, Drew ignored the noisy love of a shallow woman. She screamed, she moaned, she panted in uneven rhythms matching the rocking of the car. Cheap diva. A furtive movement came from the other car, then a hand pressed against the glass followed by a suppressed moan. His every nerve lit up. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Click on the badge to go to the […]
Trigvey in the Rain
Trigvey stood outside the hospital, looking up into a rainy sky. Water ran off his face, dripping down the back of his scrubs and drenching the front. “Dr. Taylor, we need you,” the nurse called from inside. “Yes, I know.” But he didn’t move. He should go home to his empty apartment. It least there he would make no mistakes. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Click on the […]
Walking Away
For generations the family worked the land, lived and died in the house. Each child learned the ways of the rocks and fields, the water and the sun. Each generation lost souls to the city until only one remained. He’d never loved this place, but as he handed over the key, he faced regret. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words.
