I reach forward and shut the music off before the calliope crashes to the ground again. I’ve been sitting here in my car, stalled, for almost an hour, listening to and pausing this crazy song over and over. This used to cheer me, an impossibly nonsensical koan. Merry-go-rounds, sneezing, wheezing, and tripping. Yet despite my… Continue reading Ready for Freddy?
Category: supernatural
Dogface Hamlet
A dog beyond fences story. The figure appears at the mouth of the alley. Again. He walks the lane repeatedly. Something in him won’t let him stop this unsolicited patrol. He misses the dogs the most. Oh, how he had enjoyed their unconditional love, their unrestrained joy over his presence. Him! His physical appearance left… Continue reading Dogface Hamlet
Lou Cypher
June 2022 Flash Challenge, Day 12 The first thing I noticed about him was that he dressed impeccably in a black silk suit, the whitest shirt I’ve ever seen, and a red silk pocket square. His beard was salt and pepper but neatly maintained, and he carried himself with crazy confidence. His eyes were friendly… Continue reading Lou Cypher
Blythe
June 2022 Flash Challenge, Day 6 It is surprising how much misinformation the media and books have regarding monsters. The idea that the only way to kill a werewolf is with a silver bullet? Laughable nonsense. Or that vampires can’t go out in the sunlight? Silly and baseless. Most of them don’t like being in… Continue reading Blythe
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
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
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
Asylum
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 5 We were supposed to have four solid days of good weather. We got about twelve hours, then the snowstorm hit, and for two hours, we sat hunkering down in one of the shelters along the Appalachian Trail designed for the thru and section hikers. Taylor’s smartphone finally got… Continue reading Asylum
Henry’s Heart
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 90 Again, the hooded figure beside me raises his right hand, spins his index finger furiously fast, and reality goes away for several seconds. I can feel myself sliding sideways through space and time. I am like Ebeneezer. But, unlike Dickens’s curmudgeon, my sin hadn’t been greed.… Continue reading Henry’s Heart
Frank
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 62 I loved my new studio; It had vaulted ceilings, a fireplace, and a freestanding wall that was open on both sides but created a pleasant sense of separation from the rest of the apartment. It also had a patio. It only looked out on the parking lot below… Continue reading Frank
The Elders; A Creation Myth of String and Feathers
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 55 The elders had made the birds. They had traveled from inconceivably great distances through space and time to return to Gaia. With their careful plans and almost joyful, patient experimenting, they created the birds. Human creation myths consistently get that wrong. The evolutionists were and have always got… Continue reading The Elders; A Creation Myth of String and Feathers
My Shin-jury
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 48 “Hold still, you big baby, or I’ll spray it with alcohol,” Tammy says to me as she outlines my open wound with a sharpie marker. Her thinking, such that it is, is she can gauge if the infection is getting worse if it crosses the black line she’s… Continue reading My Shin-jury
Possession
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 45 It started with the damn tea! I’m sure of it. I’ve not felt the same since I drank the mysterious tea at the Chinese restaurant two weeks ago. Now maybe the two things are not causally related, but I seriously doubt it! I drink the strange tasting tea… Continue reading Possession
Brittany
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 34 My alarm goes off, but it’s different this morning. It’s not coming from my trusted android; it’s coming from an alarmingly bedazzled iPhone X with a Hello Kitty phone cover. Oh no, it’s happened again. I throw back the quilt, get to my feet. My body feels lighter,… Continue reading Brittany
Doppelgänger
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 33 The driver behind me tries to make it seem they aren’t following me, but they fail in achieving that goal. For an instant, I had thought to turn left. I was in the turn lane, but then I remembered the veterinarian’s office would already be closed for the… Continue reading Doppelgänger
Stories by Shawn 