BOB THURBER: Early Morning Hike (Another Misadventure of the Broken Boys)

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

On the slope to the river a deer leapt across their path. Barely ten feet in front. Everyone froze. A big buck. Graceful, nimble, terrifyingly quick.

Some of the boys lost their breath. They had all seen. Yet nearly half didn’t believe.

Very often the forest dreamed its own dreams.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, though legally blind, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

ED N WHITE: The Message

Adventure, Amusing, Submissions, , ,

The bottle was half-buried in the sand, its neck protruding at an angle, a cylinder of clouded and pitted sea glass.

The cork stopper had a thick wax overlay, showing its age.

The message inside was disturbing:

If you found this bottle, I know who you are. Be very afraid.

Ed N. White is a writer of Mysteries. A teller of Tales. A graduate of the University of Iowa with an M.A. from the University of Rhode Island, and a former faculty member there. A New Englander trapped on the Suncoast of Florida hoping for some snow.

ESZTER MOLNAR: I Thought This Day Would Never Come

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

She looks just as good as she did back in school. Slick. Smart.

I glance at my worn trainers as the bus lurches forward. She hasn’t seen me.

I can still hear her vicious words, feel her pulling my hair.

I tap on her shoulder. She turns around.

“Remember me?”

Eszter Molnar is a former teacher who lives by the windswept British seaside with her partner and two children. She has been published in one of the UK’s biggest subscription magazines for children. By day she cleans up after preschoolers; by night she writes picture books and Middle Grade fiction.

ISLA ELIZABETH: Create

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , , ,

Create a universe. Twist a hand and just let the galaxies flow through your fingertips. Obsess over tiny details: the colour of a flower, that specific shade of orange in the evening sky. Scatter moons into orbit like grains of sand.

That is what it means to be a God.

Isla is a fourteen-year-old aspiring author doing her very best to get her ideas across. Hopefully after exams she’ll have more time to write!

JUDI MacKENZIE: Unfinished

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , , ,

This relationship feels hopeless,
Unadulterated frustration.

Yet…

To abandon now? Impossible.
Too much time invested.

Amazing highs,
But oh, those lows.
Sometimes unbearable.

“Walk away!” an inner voice screams.
But I can’t. I’m in too deep.

So with a cleansing breath and renewed resolve,
I pull out the half-finished manuscript.

Judi MacKenzie is a writer whose unfinished works are actually starting to growl from inside the filing cabinet.

JACKIE HEWITT: Double

Adventure, Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , , ,

He hadn’t planned it,
at least not consciously.
They were twins, after all,
each incomplete without the other.

He could not be a failure
without his brother’s disproportionate success.

It was a wild night of shared mayhem,
careening, crescendoing
to the perfect finale:
matching death dates.

Twins to the end.

Jackie reads 50-Word Stories and writes religiously. She has never submitted her work, save to this site.

MANDIRA PATTNAIK: Like Raindrops, Faces

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , ,

Columns of raindrops
trailing from the parapet
They skip
and dance
into oblivion
Like faces in the crowd.

I scan
the busy sidewalk
For that one face

Him
Who meant the world
I’ve lost forever

My
Chronicler of pain
Exultations, ecstasy
Melted to the soil.

Faces stare back
Hollow, disconcerted.

Mandira Pattnaik writes in India. Her work has appeared in The Times of India, Editor’s Pick Juggernaut Publishing, Microfiction Monday, Paragraph Planet, FewerThan500 and (Mac) ro (mic).

RON. LAVALETTE: Not the Warmest Greeting

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

He was quite sure they’d met before. Her smile, though noncommittal, seemed at least familiar, and somewhat welcoming.

It faded, though, as he approached her and sat down beside her on the subway.

He knew that he’d mistaken her as soon as she pressed the button on the Mace canister.

Ron. Lavalette has been widely published in both print and pixel forms. His first chapbook, Fallen Away, is now available from Finishing Line Press, and a reasonable sample of his work can be found at Eggs Over Tokyo.

JO WITHERS: Emergency Procedures

Amusing, Submissions, , , , , , ,

In the event of:
1. Flood – Assemble food and first aid kit. Be ready to evacuate.
2. Fire – Leave immediately. Once out, call emergency services.
3. Earthquake – Stay indoors. Prepare for cracks to appear in foundations. Do not involve passers-by. Subsidence is inevitable.
4. Marriage – Follow procedure in step 3.

Jo Withers writes micros, flash, and poetry from her home in South Australia. Recent work has appeared in Molotov Cocktail, Ellipsis Zine, Flashback Fiction, Spelk, 24 Unread Messages, and Mythic Picnic.