Flash Fiction Magazine

By Emily Fluckiger

“She will never see you again.”

“Never?” Lydia asked

The fairy shook her head. Her long white curls rolled from one side to another. The hair’s movement mesmerized the child. Lydia chewed on her thumb, gnawing the nail to a nub. A shriek loud enough to slice through the rumblings of the storm pricked Lydia’s ears. She recognized the sound coming from the small house. Her mother’s scream still made her jump after all these years. Nine years and four deaths. Each baby born still.

[Read more…] about Just a Daughter

By Madison Salters

We were standing in the parking lot of Rock ‘n’ Bowl, discussing spontaneous combustion.

Spontaneous combustion is just one of those topics that heave into conversations naturally, when two people want to argue about something they only know about vaguely from cartoon reruns and garish daytime radio call-ins. Just like the local Rock ‘n’ Bowl was one of those things that people naturally did on barren weeknights when there were no better options. A 50s throwback with squealing gym floors, reeking of lane conditioner and fry grease, a scent that lingered on clothing and perfumed the night air around us with the intensity of bug spray.

[Read more…] about The Wick Effect

By Emily Moran

The mosquitos made their way in through the rolled down windows and landed softly on their sweaty skin to grab a snack before they continued buzzing around in the Virginia humidity. It was early July, and Michael and Emma laid in the backseat of his pale blue sedan, playing cards and wishing for a better place to hang out, but since the only two stores in this town were both run down gas stations, they settled for the car. The sun began to set, and with his head sticking to her chest, they watched as the light began fading into the tree line until it completely disappeared into the ground; this had been their routine all summer long, but something strange came over him that evening.

“We could run away, you know,” Michael said, half awake.

“That would be nice,” replied Emma, “but you know we can’t.”

[Read more…] about It’s a Toss

By Rayner Bray

You have reached the voicemail of Thaddeus Applecore. I regret not being able to bother with you at the moment, but please leave a message after the beep.

Beep!

“Hello Mr. Applecore,

This is Mortimer from Fairyland Pest Control. We completed the job and wanted to let ya know it was with minimal destruction to your property. You will recall the extra fine print in our contract about not being held liable for any work related damage? Ahem.

[Read more…] about Pest Control

By Brandon Daily

Agatha takes the net from where it rests against the wall and then picks up the basket and heads out the door. The voices inside are still loud as she walks away from the house. After a while, she turns back and looks at the small, square shack made of logs piled one on top of the other. It sits on the edge of the field, and in the early morning darkness the shack blends into the line of trees behind it. To a passerby, the place would not be noticed, save the whispering voices that carry from it.

She smiles sadly and then readjusts the basket in her hand. The meadow is a mile and a half away, through trees and over a small creek of water icy to the touch. Like every other morning, Agatha walks slowly, a quiet tune escaping her whistling lips. The walk to the meadow takes forty-five minutes, and with each shuffled step forward, through the airy music that comes from her mouth, she thinks of her life as it had been. Those she loved. And those she lost. Her husband, dead now eighteen years. Her children, all five of them, scattered across the country in places whose names she cannot recall.

[Read more…] about Words

By Cedric Tan

I made sure to adjust my hat before I entered. The brass bell hanging above the door sounded my arrival, and the gray-haired shopkeeper looked up from behind the counter with a jovial smile.

“Top o’ the morning!” he called.

“Morning to you, too.”

When I smiled in return, the shopkeeper’s eyes widened in recognition. “Ah, it’s you again. How was the Phlegm-Be-Gone Potion, sir?”

[Read more…] about The Potion Shop