Short stories, flash fiction, social network for writers and story lovers

8

Survivor

Clam Beach County Park

Running at full tilt, all out

8

vote

verbal

Clockwork

Perhaps clocks weren’t misbehaving. Perhaps time was.

Clocks had a way of misbehaving in the house. Clocks often misbehave, particularly mechanical ones. The clock in the car that is two or three minutes slower than the clock last spied before leaving the house. The clock on the oven timer that never quite matches up with the always correct digital clock on the iPad being consulted for a recipe. The unused coffee-maker clock forever...Read On

6

vote

fangirlwriter

The Wind

Winds of Change

I remember a nice fall evening. My husband and I were enjoying a nice quiet time together and we eventually fell asleep. Somewhere in the middle of the night, I was woken up by the sound of a hurricane wind blowing outside! I listened for a while it was so loud that you could hear branches cracking from the force of the wind and you could hear things being tossed around like lawn chairs,...Read On

3

vote

FrustratedSpeaker

Desire Of The Samurai Chapter 1

5

vote

Mendalla

Night of the Wind

A mysterious traveller heralds a strange evening in a small town

The rider came swiftly towards Eversham. Keeping his horse at a fast trot, he reached the cluster of buildings that stood beyond the town’s West gate. Those buildings stood mostly empty and boarded up now that winter had arrived. During the summer, though, they were home to hundreds when trade caravans passed through en route to the mountain passes. Dev Jackelbury, Warden of Eversham, stood...Read On

11

vote

Ping

Under Taken

When well-intentioned but selfish parenting goes terribly wrong...

“I should have kept my damn mouth shut,” the man berated himself. “Who’s the adult here anyway? What the hell is wrong with me?” He knew better than to criticize her selections. After all, it’s her life. Boyfriend of the week or not. She was old enough to make her own decisions, even if he felt that she wasn’t yet experienced enough to make the right ones. After all, if given a choice,...Read On

7

vote

ladysharon

Closing Time

A bartender and a photojournalist talk

“Excuse me. Is the bar still open?” I look up from cleaning to see an older male with an overly patched burlap messenger bag that has seen better days. I motion for the man to sit down at a table that doesn’t have its chairs upturned. “The bar is closed for the night, but I can get you something. What would you like?” I asked. “A dirty martini,” he replied. “Extra gritty, double olives?”...Read On

4

vote

AriesDragon

A Dirty Weekend in the Congo

Do you like being damp for several hours, people touching your butt and grabbing you, until you find yourself eye to eye with a most magnificently handsome male? “Fancy a dirty weekend in the Congo?” he asked. “I have an extra space if you want to join me. I know you’ll be in Bwindi next week so you can pop across the border with me as there is space on the charter”. I couldn’t...Read On

4

vote

EyeOfTheBeholder

God’s Tears (Part One)

Forgivness is just a decision away

God’s Tears (Part One) Long after the sticky drab of an all day late August rain, the trees still spit on me. The fog rolls in, like a thick blanket, smothering the hustle and din I’ve grown accustom to. Only the expectancy of a passing cop car can cut the smothering. There is more than just the eerie quiet that shakes me to my core. Can you feel the dank air, eating you from within, like...Read On

10

vote

fuzzy1954

Promise Kept

Today is going to be tough on me as I collect Marcie's clothes. All of my local friends say it's time, and I keep telling myself to donate so others will get needed clothes and coats. They asked if I needed friends to help, but foolish me said, "No, I'm good." Really, I'm good?? Starting in our upstairs bedroom, yes ours. Opening her dresser. Stacking clothes on the bed. Our bed. Casper...Read On

13

vote

verbal

Mother of Glass, Mother of Tears

Mirrors are a kind of window.

“You’re fat,” the little girl inside the mirror said to Em. It was long past midnight. Em’s parents and sister were in bed. Em was standing in front of the closed door of her room, where her Dad had hung the full length mirror. She regarded the reflection. The person in the mirror looked just like Em. She wasn’t Em, though. She wasn’t even a little girl, though she looked like one. She...Read On

8

vote

Wordpusher715

My Waterman Roller Ball

A man's tools reflect his life

Sometimes one hesitates to tell a personal story because it exposes the authenticity of a person. If you’re a member of my family, or a colleague of mine, you’ve heard me tell parts of this story in person. You’ll know my secret identity when you read this and you’ll hold secrets to my other stories that my pseudonym disguises. And I will not know who you are and that’s unsettling to me....Read On

11

vote

COMP

Circle_Something

How Many Potatoes?

Just a little absurd story.

Four hundred and twenty potatoes. A client asked me to take a picture of that on my Exacta 66 camera. I contemplated as I sipped my dirty martini. I do get a lot of absurd requests, but this takes the cake. Speaking of cake, let’s get baked. I forgot what I was going to say now. Whatever, just saying... ...Read On

11

vote

magnificent1rascal

Dream Vacation

Sipping dirty martinis Watching girls in bikinis And strumming on my Les Paul Albert King ambles through Riffs ‘I’ll Play the Blues for You’ Man, I really got it all CHORUS It’s a dream vacation No place I’d rather be Yeah, a dream vacation Not sure where I’m at But it suits me Checking out pics From my Exakta 66 Can’t believe what I see Don’t remember all those Sometimes, that’s how it goes...Read On

4

vote

AnnaMayZing

Kindred Spirits, Distant Hearts. Chapter 30

“Is everything all right, Ma'am?” he asked her. “It's not safe to be out at night alone.”

Tripoli. October 23 rd 1942 Maria awoke with a start. Something had disturbed her and she knew immediately what... Rain! The summer had been relentless and no rain had fallen for some four months but now, it was beating against her window and she felt a huge sense of relief flood through her. She checked her watch and saw that it was almost time to get up anyway so she pulled...Read On

5

vote

fangirlwriter

Time Slip

Time Slip

Waking up one morning there wasn't too much out of the ordinary, except that I realized something very odd had happened during the night. When I woke up, three hours had passed. I knew three hours had passed since I had gone to bed because I keep a close eye on when I go to bed and when I am up. Somewhat of an insomniac at times, I do tend to keep a close eye on those things. Well,...Read On

10

vote

AriesDragon

The Smell Of The Rain

She sat back, headphones on, pressed play and closed her eyes. As she listened to the music she heard the distant rumbling of thunder, it was getting louder, closer. She smiled. Soon the rains would be here. Looking around, taking in the dry harsh plains, the cracked white earth pierced by the odd clump of long crisp parched grass, she breathed in, filling her lungs with the hot air. A...Read On

12

vote

Dreamcatcher

My America

I hate what has happened to my America. Where a rancid political system works for the few and not for the many. Where a foul media keeps coloring the news instead of just reporting it. Where class distinctions are proudly touted to divide society even more. America has become a "me first" nation where honor and integrity are second to "what's in it for me." We use suffering as a battering...Read On

6

vote

fangirlwriter

The Ghostly Face

White Mist

Have you really actually SEEN a real live ghost? Maybe you have seen something but are not sure what it was you saw! Well, let me share with you a time in my life where I was scared out of my skin! It was late in the evening, I was alone in the living room. The window where the computer sat, was not open but the curtains were not closed yet. I had just come across the room and looked at...Read On

6

vote

fangirlwriter

Paralyzing Beam

Lucid Dream

It was the end of a long day. We had been driving over 14 hours that day in hopes of getting back home soon. We had run out of finances and had to call in for a family member to help us out so we could make the last part of the journey. We stopped at a restaurant that was closed, the parking lot empty, to have a little snooze so that we could keep going without falling asleep at the wheel....Read On

16

vote

verbal

Lodgers

Houses sometimes held onto what happened inside them.

The house stood at the entrance to the block, dwarfing all the other houses. John and Alice learned a bit of the history of the house from the previous owner, who was a bit of an amateur historian. The original owner of the house, a Mr. Reginald Bowens--the man who built it, gave it life, brought it into the world--was a railroad scion for C&S Railways. The smaller houses in the...Read On

20

vote

COMP

Paperboy

The Right Tonic

As his band stepped onto the stage, Tyrone stole a moment to sip his dirty martini. He ran his tongue along his upper lip as he admired the glass, savoring the lingering taste of the alcohol. With a contented sigh, he got up and walked onto the stage. During his break, the din of the bar had swelled to a jumbled murmur. The restless audience had taken to chattering over clinking glasses...Read On

18

vote

COMP

Wordpusher715

Of a Toke and a Time

Nostalgia offers a surprise sometimes

24

vote

COMP

DenimAngel

The Penguin says...

Live your dreams

2

vote

Adagio

High Cane Drifter-EC Rated

I was borned into this world seventy-six years ago. "Maw was touched by an anvil." Later In life I graduated from the Burger King school of cuisine with an autograph diploma of Buck Owens. Mom was proud as Blue Ribbon butter beans. Frozen fries never tasted better. Between semesters and entres, I met Chlorine. My girl friend. Who lives at a retirement home for old dwarfs and fools. Up until...Read On

5

vote

Ping

Indomitable Spirit

This is a near verbatim re-telling of a lucid dream sequence I awoke from this morning...

Queue the X-Files music. It was a cold but sunny mid-winter’s Sunday morning. The unclouded sky was blue and the ice crystals sparkled in the snow like a blanket of diamonds. I stood in my kitchen with my back to the sink’s window and faced the white Amana refrigerator. I was enjoying a freshly brewed cup of coffee, lots of heavy cream, lots of sugar, just the way I like it. The kids had...Read On

3

vote

BowTied

The Bride

What started out as a little event turned into much more!

Linda, a friend of mine with whom I worked some years back had told me about a friend of hers who was TG and whose biggest dream was to be a bride. Linda thought I might be able to help. Since I'm pretty much daily in suits and bow ties, she figured I'd make an ideal bridegroom . The plan was, initially, for the bride to wear a wedding dress and me to wear my tuxedo for what would amount...Read On

19

vote

COMP

gypsy

Letter to a Friend

"Nothing is, but what is not" - Shakespeare, Macbeth. "Whatever... just sayin'..." - Dirty Martini

Dear Alan, It's been a while since I wrote to you. Did you know there's a story competition in your name? I had an idea for it, started to write something. It was clever, funny, titled Jankowski's Lost'n'Found . The story got lost, but it goes something like this: Jankowski and Al were old friends, co-owners of a cab they took turns driving. They had a flat rate, 4.20, due to the...Read On

3

vote

Adagio

Housed Inn Trees

Where have the trees gone Once majestic and proud Where elves housed in trees Now, so silent the woods Where stumps are ghost And pines cones are orphans While fungus strangles the light As evil covers the earth Beneath a veil of contempt And the landscape turns mellow Where elves housed in trees ...Read On

9

vote

curvygalore

The Waking Dream

John Polidori (1795-1821) was personal physician to Lord Byron during the fateful summer of 1816...

London, Spring 1816 He clearly remembered when he first became aware of a hint of unease; a sense of otherworldly darkness. Before then in his life, of course, he had moments of disquiet in terms of worry and fretting, but they were normal daylight concerns. He remembered as if from a great distance his medical training in the cool grey light of Edinburgh, his careful studies on...Read On

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Latest Stories

Clam Beach County Park

Clockwork

The Wind

Desire Of The Samurai Chapter 1

Night of the Wind

Under Taken

Closing Time

A Dirty Weekend in the Congo

God’s Tears (Part One)

Promise Kept

Mother of Glass, Mother of Tears

My Waterman Roller Ball

How Many Potatoes?

Dream Vacation

Kindred Spirits, Distant Hearts. Chapter 30

Time Slip

The Smell Of The Rain

My America

The Ghostly Face

Paralyzing Beam

Lodgers

The Right Tonic

Of a Toke and a Time

The Penguin says...

High Cane Drifter-EC Rated

Indomitable Spirit

The Bride

Letter to a Friend

Housed Inn Trees

The Waking Dream