By far the best age is seven, when the summer grass grows around splayed fingers and each winter breath forms little clouds that morph into animals and pirate ships. When your older cousins watch with barely masked envy as sparks fly from your fingertips and pigtails as you spin. You show off for the little … Continue reading Seven by Sarah Krenicki
Contest is now CLOSED. Fall is my favorite season. I look forward to it from the moment it ends, winter descending, until the first real cold snap overnight in August, signaling imminent fiery return. For me, fall is often a brief season, and feels as if its glory is expansive, intensified as a result of … Continue reading Fall Flash Contest – CLOSED
Such a long, important day you had, sweet Tony. Your birthday. You’ve had cake, ice cream, and wishes. The presents are open, pretty wrappers shredded and tossed. Many people love you, Tony. Didn’t you like my present? Didn’t notice it? Of course you wouldn’t. What with the bike and the game system, the piles of … Continue reading Nine Little Rabbits, All in a Row by Donna J. W. Munro
He sits in darkness on his steps made of log rounds and flickers his flashlight. His light illuminates the orbs at the edge of the forest, like wicks waiting for a flame. Some burn blue, some white, some green. He remembers why they glow as he remembers the touch of paper and leather, of binding … Continue reading Dusk by Becca Borawski Jenkins
My sister is here again, standing at my graveside in those killer heels. They must be six inches at least. Why does she keep on coming back? Today she’s wearing a tasteful little designer dress, black silk probably, cut to flatter her non-existent curves. The pearl necklace is a nice touch, very Jackie O. (verging … Continue reading Sisters by Anne Lawrence Bradshaw
I am suppressed, ill-formed, unwhole, a cruel afterthought of Nature. I am a trick played on us by Her. With three limbs to your four, I am more than appendage, but less than man. My grotesqueness emerges from your loins, miniature replicas of your head, arms, and sinister leg, yet the part that makes me … Continue reading I am Lazarus by Christina Dalcher
You Will Fall in Love With Another Funambulist His name will be Emil and he will walk the highwire as if he is one with it, swaying to a rhythm no spectator can feel, oblivious to the gasps and intakes of breath fluttering through the house. You will meet when you are a First of … Continue reading Balancing Act: Or, Things They Don’t Teach You in Circus School by Christina Dalcher
Like most of John’s projects, the compost bin became mine to maintain almost as soon as he started it. I put a bucket on the counter and filled it with acceptable scraps. Coffee was a good source of nitrogen. Depending on what blog I read, citrus was iffy. Meat? A definite no-no. Not long after … Continue reading How Does Your Garden Grow? by Georgene Smith Goodin
The mailman stopped short before the enormous work boot, and looked again at the letter in his hand. It was addressed to Mrs. Mungo Oliphant, Size 99 1’2 EEE, on Drury Lane. It was a pretty big boot, the largest he’d ever seen. In the front of the toe he found a brass mail slot, just below … Continue reading There Was an Old Woman by Elizabeth Archer
You are fifteen, and you are wearing your tightest dress. You’re dancing with a guy who is probably called Mike. You don’t actually know if that’s his name because the pop music is so loud the sticky floor is vibrating, but he made a “Mike”ish kind of shape with his mouth when he said it. … Continue reading The Pure of Heart by Abi Hynes