It made me mad that I couldn’t hide my sadness from them.
As the sun transformed my smile and let me age prematurely, I couldn’t forgive them for already moving on.
My last thought when my coal eyes hit the ground? “You little rascals will know the feeling soon enough!”
Originally from Germany, Tine moved to California about a year ago. Since then she has become a full-time mom taking care of a four-year-old chatterbox, which makes the fifty-word story a perfect format for her.
“Oh man, I am in so much trouble,” he gasped.
He thought he’d slept in past his wedding ceremony. It was the worst feeling of his life.
“Don’t worry,” said his fiancée when he called her. “You didn’t ruin the wedding. I found a replacement groom. You’re off the hook.”
Endless golden sands; a beautiful horizon. The sound of the bus trundling through the desert is as entrancing as it is monotonous.
The bus is boiling. Bill wipes sweat from his glistening brow, his orange hair sticking to his forehead.
Only the thought of his mum can keep him going.
Carmen “Checky Girl” Cousens sent in this story in response to a call for Desert Bus-themed stories during Desert Bus For Hope 2010, a fundraiser for Child’s Play.
He let the stresses of life bleed off and burn away, leaving behind only his inner self.
Trapped inside his shell, life was difficult, but that was why, once a week, he removed his bodiless brain from his metal-and-plastic body, soaked in some formaldehyde, and just relaxed for a while.
I consider this story an informal companion to Like Inside-Out Acupuncture.
The clear plastic umbrella lay broken on the side of the road, twisted and forlorn. It looked so sad. Unloved.
And it wasn’t exactly keeping the rain off any more–cold rain that drove in at an angle.
Never mind; it’s not mine, I thought, as the bus pulled away.
Chrissey started writing seriously in May. She now has a second draft novel and material for four sequels. She is part of an online writers’ groups at http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/forum, and recently challenged her group to come up with some 50-word stories.
As a robot, he was made of technology. He wasn’t really a fan of the stuff: when he wasn’t upgrading his operating system, he was patching his peripherals or flashing his BIOS.
But every now and then he got to update his firmware, and on those days, life was good.
It was a dark and stormy night.
The meteorologists were all very confused. They had anticipated darkness (because the first lesson of Meteorology 100 is that it’s always dark at night, which tended to confuse the Alaskans), but most of them had only predicted light showers.
Actually, none of them cared.
Dad and Junior built a kite together. It was a great kite: tough, resilient, sturdy, high-flying, easy to handle, resourceful, loyal, hard-working, unselfish, sensitive, kind, even-handed, quick on its feet, pleasant, honest, stoic, self-aware, intelligent, shrewd, heavily armed, delicious, not-from-concentrate, and mostly harmless.
It was a metaphor for their relationship.
Mouse hid in the dark corner. The piece of bread laying on the floor looked like a complete meal to the starving mammal.
Fear set aside, ready to jump into the world feet first, he blindly took his chance.
Cat had its dinner, slurping the tail like a spaghetti noodle.
Sabrina Hicks has a passion for writing and animal rights. Besides writing she donates time at animal shelters and now owns three dogs, one cat, and a bird.
Henderson Michaelthromp knew a lot of facts. He read encyclopedias, record books, travel brochures, even Hansards.
No one ever seemed impressed, even when he knew the average lifespan of a diabetic macaw.
Then one day Henderson knew just the right facts to save a little girl’s life. And he did.