Archive for Flash Fiction

Keys Down the Hall

macro photography of piano

After the phone call, Elliott gathered his books and hefted his backpack over his shoulder. He walked across the seminary campus to the chapel, but he stopped before it and did not enter. Inside were the stained glass windows and the altar and the cross lifted high. He felt a…

Read More

Lawful Evil

Upon descending the crumbling steps that led down into the subterranean lair of Mulnok the Necromancer, Percival found a large desk with a large sign that read “Information.” A young woman sat at the desk, dressed rather scandalously in well-fitted pants and blouse. She scribbled at a piece of parchment…

Read More

The Ultimate Weapon

grayscale photo of trees and body of water

Theo stumbled, caught himself, and continued to sprint down the incline, breathless, falling more than running, narrowly avoiding the dark trunks in the twilight, branches smacking him, leaves and logs tripping him, racing down like a boulder as the land became still steeper. Crashes and breaking and hateful screams followed…

Read More

The Happiness Paradox

black wooden bench on green grass

“The Happiness Equation, did you really have it worked out?”

Kill Thyself

books and lamp on bedside table in hotel room

You wake and stare at the window where the early morning light filters through the blinds and you try not to think of the knife on the nightstand.  You could rise and eat breakfast and brush your teeth and ignore the presence of the knife. You could snooze for another…

Read More

A Moment of Light

cityscape against cloudy sky

You can see it from miles away, sunlight gleaming off its silver exterior. It resembles a rocket from a black-and-white movie, sleek and upright and poised to launch effortlessly into regions unknown. It is not the tallest structure in the world, but it is close.  Some call it one of…

Read More

The God-King

photo of person standing on a famous temple

Ada had walked up the seven thousand steps unaccompanied and now she stood before the wall. It towered above her, white marble glittering in the morning light. She stood in awe of the structure, the fear that had hovered about her during her dark ascent settling upon her, soaking into…

Read More

Crack in the Wall

textured surface of old shabby white wall

They told me I’m sick. They ran the wand over me and it beeped. I protested, but they led me away, into one of their wards, where we sick people are stacked in cubicles and told to wait until we recover or we die. My room is a white, with…

Read More

Like the Movies

summer girl women portrait

Here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll get through graduation then–boom! I’m outta here. I’m heading west. No destination, no plan, just the road and me and a trunkful of Bangs.

To Dust

He lay as if alive. It seemed that if they waited just a little longer, he would open his eyes. He would sit up. He would smile at them – their firstborn, with his mother’s nose and build and his father’s way of pausing before he spoke, of losing himself…

Read More

Relief

woman employee standing behind front desk

“I need to talk to the person who saw me yesterday. I think her name was Kristin. Yes, it was Kristin. I need to talk to her now.”  The woman at the counter was firm, her anger restrained. The receptionist tried to explain that Kristin was with another client at…

Read More

The Eye Examination

grayscale photography of folded eyeglasses

Anne sat, shoulder-hunched, in the lobby of the Eye Doctor. Tall and lanky, she seemed folded in on herself like a deck chair, her big eyes roving the gentle gray and blue islands of empty chairs and side tables. She had never been to the Eye Doctor before. It had…

Read More