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
Category: fiction
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
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
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
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
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
Mr. Bojangles
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 21 “We got another two reports, like yesterday, Sheriff,” Suzy says. “Give me a second here, Suz. I’m not even in the door yet,” I say, shaking the snow off my coat. There go my dreams for a slow, uneventful day. This town is nothing once the college kids… Continue reading Mr. Bojangles
Monolith 5 – Wendy’s Well Part 2
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 20 Other monolith stories I’ve written: Monolith Monolith 2 Monolith 3 – Tammy’s Choice Monolith 4 – Many Miles Away Monolith 5 – Wendy’s Well Part 1 (the prequel to this story) “Yes, sir, the stairs just sort of went away. I can’t explain it any better, Sheriff. I’m… Continue reading Monolith 5 – Wendy’s Well Part 2
A Tea Party in Hell
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 19 This is the third story in a series. Charlie Bennett SIRIRI The prince of the third level of hell preferred to hold his tea parties in a different place. That was why today, he was on the second level. The screaming and agonizing and endless complaints from the tortured made… Continue reading A Tea Party in Hell
Cuando el Sol y Luna Eran Amantes
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 18 Even after all this time The sun never says to the earth “You owe me” Look what happens with a love like that It lights the whole sky Hafiz The Karankawa people had a legend, one of the greatest love stories ever told; they called it “Cuando el… Continue reading Cuando el Sol y Luna Eran Amantes
Amina’s Birth-Tattoo
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 17 February 28, 2195 Ultimately everyone on station Magellan had to pull a tour of duty on earth. During the lottery, Amina drew an eighteen-month assignment to NorCon Station 7. Situated in Antarctica, Station 7 sat at one of the harshest climates on earth. When she got her job… Continue reading Amina’s Birth-Tattoo
Amina
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 17 February 28, 2195 Ultimately everyone on Magellan had to pull a tour of duty somewhere on earth. The administrators liked to pretend that it wasn’t mandatory, but it was. During the annual lottery, Amina drew an eighteen lunar cycle stint at NorCon Station 7. Situated in Antarctica, Station… Continue reading Amina
Gerald
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 16 Dazed, Gerald exits his cabin by breaking the window in the loft then dropping into the snow. “It must have been Maude’s table that saved me, ugly battleship thing. Oh, and the table is no beauty either,” he cackles to himself. Maude was Gerald’s ex-mother-in-law. The table was… Continue reading Gerald
The In Betweeners
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 15 The problem with disguising interdimensional portals as a door or window is eventually some busybody will try to pass through it. Then the gig is, as they theatrically say, up. T. S. Livingstone, Memoirs of a Traveller Margaux and Philippe were thrilled with their new house. She was his mother;… Continue reading The In Betweeners
Mirrors 3
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 13 Hold it up sternly! See this it sends back! (Who is it? Is it you?) Walt Whitman, A Hand-Mirror At first, it was just a campaign of rumors. At least that’s what most folks told themselves. Some misinformation spread for some reason or another. But then, after enough… Continue reading Mirrors 3
Stories by Shawn 