It was noon; the sun was high overhead, the skies were cooling, and the immigrant carpenters worked building the new houses; the ground in the new subdivision was a brown, cracked field of jigsaw pieces, the few shadows about pointed into the earth. The dog pulls at the leash, smelling something on the… Continue reading Yellow Bird
Author: singram1028
Werewolves Anonymous
A teenager seeking help, settles for dinner “Hi, my name is Anastasia, and I’m a werewolf.” “Hi, Anastasia,” the room booms back, welcoming the newest attendee at Werewolves Anonymous Plano. The newest member looks bored. She doesn’t believe this type of talk therapy in a “kumbaya, isn’t this wonderful, see I’m just as… Continue reading Werewolves Anonymous
Valerie
A man seeks revenge for the death of his brother The world spins and threatens to go away as the crater that was my right hip fills again with pain. I feel myself slipping towards unconsciousness; I steady myself against the dashboard, will the dizziness to pass. I got to focus. I am… Continue reading Valerie
Leaving the Cul-de-Sac
Escaping my sanctuary I glance out the window by my reading chair and my eye floats to the end of the street where the long flatbed truck lays on its side and to the ruined minivan that sits flush against it, gently touching bumpers and the sun sparkling on the dewy grass and… Continue reading Leaving the Cul-de-Sac
Walking to the Moon
A troubled brother’s trek to find peace The thief left it behind: the moon at my window.” Ryokan Of course, Hugh would choose the Mojave Desert for ending his twenty-plus year trek. Who ends such an endeavor in the least accessible parts of the country? I’ll tell you who: the man who… Continue reading Walking to the Moon
My Bully
An individual pays the ultimate price for revenge If I had to guess, I would say there is maybe a two percent chance the paramedics might save his life, that he might still return to his body. I just killed two men; he was the first. I see him considering my corpse again,… Continue reading My Bully
Becca’s Bag of Phones
Becca could not remember where she picked up the canvas bag. It was at least two years ago. It had been white at one point, white and perfect. Now it was a road map of stains, rips, tears, discolorations marking her life on the streets since that pandemic business started three years ago.… Continue reading Becca’s Bag of Phones
Becoming Proust
Reflections on living three fifths a century But old age, to begin with, has something in common with death. Some face it with indifference, not because they have more courage than others, but because they have less imagination.“ Marcel Proust, Time Regained – I am slowly turning into Marcel Proust. Okay, that may… Continue reading Becoming Proust
Banished Man
On loving the unavailable He remembers their early times together. How, at times, she would send him away with her terse instructions: Go work on yourself, and the classic if inscrutable, Get your shit together. What could he do? Banished, he did as she asked, he went away. He would make some token… Continue reading Banished Man
Descartes Conundrum
The limits of thinking I wave my hands in front of the Daniel-thing’s face again. Nothing. Its eyes are open, but it’s not seeing me, not seeing anything. I thought he’d had a seizure; when I checked for a pulse or breathing I found neither. And then there was the stuff with my… Continue reading Descartes Conundrum
An Ugly Chair
Ordinary horror in the mundane The chair sits awkwardly in the shallow corner between the fireplace and the patio door (it’s a small apartment), shrouded under an ugly brown, queen-sized blanket I bought years ago on my way to a meditation retreat. That year we had a bitterly cold winter, and the retreat center was old… Continue reading An Ugly Chair
Henry and the Snoots
An older man helping lost souls in his town The older man in the green Volvo smiles at the woman turning left in the Subaru. It was his smile, he thinks, not for the first time, that finally led to his success in his liberation ministry. He had been unaware that as a… Continue reading Henry and the Snoots
The Twenty
For my sister on her 51st birthday The afternoon sun was high and hot overhead. The two of them, the mother and her favorite child, the sweetest by a country mile, her daughter, walked along the road. They intended to spend a few simple minutes engaged in retail therapy, shopping at the dime store that… Continue reading The Twenty
A Note to COVID Long-Haulers
Hungry ghosts, branching universes, and day-drinking Psst! Do you want to know a secret? I know why you feel so bad. Physically and mentally. You think you have lingering effects from your bout of COVID-19, and you likely do, but perhaps there’s something else at play here. When you remember it, you recall two phases.… Continue reading A Note to COVID Long-Haulers
Desert Highway
In the end, the most surprising thing about the video was how no two people ever remembered it the same; it was a modern-day Rorschach test. It was only three minutes twelve seconds long, but people saw different things when they recounted what they had watched. One thing almost everyone agreed upon was the video… Continue reading Desert Highway
No-Hitter
A Terryn and Shawn Story 2:10 PM I’m trying to put it out of my mind. At first, I didn’t believe the front desk was calling my clients. So on number three, I made Tobias make the call on speakerphone. Sure enough, it rolled to voicemail just like the other two. Weird. A… Continue reading No-Hitter
On Writing; A Series of Essays
Essays I’ve written on writing. On Writing – Part 1 On Writing – Part 2 On Writing – Part 3 On Writing – Part 4 On Writing – Part 5
On Writing – Part 5
How I Write Short Stories Whenever anyone tells me they’ve been married longer than 10 years, I tell them they are qualified to write a book on “how-to-stay-married.” There’s a similar idea for anyone who’s written over 200 short stories. Now, I’m nowhere near ready to tell anyone how they should write their… Continue reading On Writing – Part 5
Inflatable Santa
Horror Flash Fiction The neighborhood was quieter now. Folks felt guilty when they accidentally found themselves enjoying the calm. Eleven in three weeks. That’s how many children had disappeared. The inflatable Santa, magically moving from yard to yard, each morning in a different place. A prank. One that Larry or possibly Eileen had started years… Continue reading Inflatable Santa
Influence
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 30 “The left, no. The right,” I say to the street performer. I’m sure the white pawn is in his right hand. He got lucky the other times, but I think I’ve figured out what he’s doing. “Are you quite sure?” he says to me. He asks this every… Continue reading Influence
Stories by Shawn 