Daily Flash Fiction Stories
By Bonnie Thompson
The young queen had many lovers, in the time before she made her kingdom great. But all of them left her.
Instead she devoted herself to her subjects, who built the city for her. When the first raid shattered their sovereignty, they fought bravely. They repelled the foreigners, but at the cost of many of their fiercest warriors, whose bodies lay strewn across the barren land outside the walls.
[Read more…] about StrongholdBy JP Lor
It was our first and last time hugging. The newspaper photographer said it was one of his best candid shots. I had no idea what that meant, only that he’d taken a photo of Sandy, my school secretary, squeezing me, a sixth-grader, for winning a local art competition. We were front-page news. I was proud of my painting—I painted her in space behind the Earth, star freckles shimmering on her cheeks, and dancing stars in her brown hair. Below, next to Mars, Saturn, a giant No. 2 pencil, a Trapper Keeper, and the words World’s Greatest Secretary burning on a comet. It took an entire night and skipping my math homework to finish it.
[Read more…] about Front OfficeLearn More About Our Contest Here
“This one.” Mother Anna lifts the history from the shelf and places it in the customer’s arms. “As fine as any I’ve ever sold.”
The history squirms, waves its single, furred tentacle as though seeking escape, then settles, as they all do. I have seen the mother prescribe thousands of histories, and she has never miscalculated.
[Read more…] about The History ShopBy Megan Peterson
Owen is six years old when he steals for the first time.
It is almost too easy. Swallowed up in a faded blue bean bag, he feels hidden away from the rest of the classroom. All the other kids are pretending to read their books for silent reading time, glazed eyes flicking over pages way too fast. Owen’s first-grade teacher, Ms. Flores, doesn’t even notice as his hand sneaks out of the beanbag and snags one of her many clear mason jars from the nearby shelf. The jar is full of small erasers. This one specifically holds the round, yellow smiley face erasers, and when he sticks his fingers inside, it reminds him of Winnie the Pooh’s hunny pot.
[Read more…] about Little ThiefBy C.A. Coffing
He came to town on a Harley-Davidson. He said his name was Wolf. He wore fringed leather and in the dark braid that hung down his back was a feather. He said he was Shoshone, from Idaho land. He met the Armenian Woman and moved in with her. She said when he slept, he muttered indistinguishable words. “Shoshone words,” he told her. The Armenian Woman loved him, and when she and Wolf walked through town, eyes followed him with admiration.
[Read more…] about Harley-Davidson PonyBy Jeremy Nathan Marks
Chanukah typically falls in December, the same month as Christmas. I love looking at tiny lights during a dark season, so I decorate our front window with a small electric menorah. But my taste in illumination, the glimmer I seek at this time of year, is overshadowed by the display across the street.
For years, our neighbors piled lights on top of lights and displayed them from Halloween until the New Year. We gaped at the amplitude of their display and invested in thick black drapes. Every December, they hired an electrician to find them more power. The birds, dazed by the departure of darkness, did not sleep, and bounced off cars.
[Read more…] about MenorahBy Shekina Rose
She can’t remember how old she was when she started to give away pieces of her body. Maybe it was when she was five and lost her first tooth. Everyone was excited about her becoming a big girl. She placed the tooth under her pillow, and the next day it was gone—the tooth fairy had taken it, swapped it with a fifty-pence piece.
[Read more…] about Pieces of Her Body