June 2022 Flash Challenge, Day 2 I decide to leave the doctor’s report in the car. If I bring it inside I will not stop reading it. I need some space from it. Then I’m outside the car. I don’t remember getting out of the car, but here I am. Then I’m on the stairs… Continue reading The Ladder in the Box (a dream)
Author: singram1028
Gamer
June 2022 Flash Challenge, Day 1 I glance again at the poster on the front wall. It hangs above the third of five large-screen monitors. Each gamer has a second screen that mirrors what is on their monitor. I swivel behind me and see three cameras sitting at the back of the room. If it… Continue reading Gamer
Finding Harry
An addict returns home. My most recent overdose triggered mom’s stroke and death. I’ve been gone almost nine years, but now I’m back at the farm with Dad. I will stay here a bit, try to find my legs, figure out what’s next for me. I’ve struggled with the black dogs of depression my… Continue reading Finding Harry
My Dead Dad and I Talk Technology
I really ought to be able to explain this better. I used to be an engineer for chrissakes. But that was a long time ago. Since then, I migrated to computer programming. Now I’m no longer in the technology field at all. I’m a massage therapist. I can’t believe he’s here. He died in 92.… Continue reading My Dead Dad and I Talk Technology
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
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
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
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
List for Friends, Vol 2
For my more genteel, discerning friends A friend of mine keeps suggesting that I share my stories with various mutual friends. That idea, honestly, disturbs me. Most of our mutual friends are smarter than I am. As such, I would be embarrassed for them to read my bizarre tales of horror, science-fiction, and speculative thought.… Continue reading List for Friends, Vol 2
List for Friends, Vol 1
For my more genteel, discerning friends A friend of mine keeps suggesting that I share my stories with various mutual friends. That idea, honestly, disturbs me. Most of our mutual friends are smarter than I am. As such, I would be embarrassed for them to read my bizarre tales of horror, science-fiction, and speculative thought.… Continue reading List for Friends, Vol 1
A Life in Review
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 28 I can feel my legs give out, and I’m falling. The trip to the ground seems to stretch on for an eternity. Some part of me senses the cyclists detected some note of distress and have doubled back towards me. The thing I find most surprising is how… Continue reading A Life in Review
Brian Finds a Journal
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 24 June 1, 2021 It was a Tuesday, and I was running late. The subway broke, so it wasn’t really my fault, except that it was, and it had happened before. My manager and I agreed (more she than I) that I would allow for such happenings by showing… Continue reading Brian Finds a Journal
Buster’s Business
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 23 At first, I had thought gravity stopped working. Slowly the details of what had happened come into focus. I was driving, and then my truck became airborne; I remember screams, pumping the brakes, then landing with a crash, and then? I must have blacked out. When I came to, I… Continue reading Buster’s Business
Same Old Dance
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 22 The thing is, I could tell what she was thinking the whole time, from her first spontaneous hug, to how she responded to my touch when we traded massages, how I responded to hers. I swore I wanted to; no needed to touch her every week. What would… Continue reading Same Old Dance
Stories by Shawn 