“Toby still hasn’t returned home from work yet!”
“I’m sure he’s just helping clean up the store like usual. No need to worry.”
“I’ll call him if he isn’t back in an hour.”
Toby was indeed helping clean the store.
All his coworkers had left, but he wasn’t there alone…
Madalyn is a grade 11 student at Charlottetown Rural High School. Everyone in her writing class was assigned the task of creating a fifty word short story.
She stared deeply into his blue eyes and admired every flaw on his face. A smile grew across her face and her stomach filled vigorously with butterflies. He was her entire world.
Her heart was racing while she waited for his response.
Finally he whispered quietly, “I love you, too.”
Hannah is a 16 year old female who lives on Prince Edward Island. She is a grade eleven student at CRHS. She loves creative writing; it is her favorite class of the day. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She is a hard worker when she wants to be. She thinks that this is one of her best pieces of work.
He loves me, he loves me not.
He loves me, he loves me not.
She was tearing the tiny petals violently, leaving the flowers bare.
He loves me, was all I could hear before her voice faded in the distance, as we both kept marching through the Gardens of Oblivion.
Still water runs deep. That’s Jana.
My hand rested on the top of my Colt Dragoon, fingers wavering over the white vinyl grip.
Being a cheating scoundrel, he’d draw at two. They always did. Which meant I’d have to draw and fire at one.
I tipped my hat in his direction.
“On the count of three…”
Maxwell is a 9th grade student who has problems understanding tablets so sticks to books and his 2002 flip phone.
I stood there looking at her. Sad, exhausted, broken, and alone. A look in her eyes that shimmered off a reflection of regret.
I tried to look away, but couldn’t convince myself. I moved in a little closer to the mirror. I couldn’t resist.
Was this really what I’d become?
Tricia Parker wrote this story.
My friend Lisa is scared of mirrors. She heard that mirrors were gateways to evil, alternate worlds. She feared her evil self would pull her through, take her place and no one would ever know.
I hoped she would.
Lisa hadn’t noticed when I took her friend’s place, after all.
Robyn Smith is a young writer currently working on a series of novels while attending Charlottetown Rural High School.
I watched from the doorway as she tossed around in our bed.
Her hair was tousled, and cheeks stained with tears.
I learned long ago that when she lost herself, I inevitably would lose her, too. But I wasn’t prepared for this losing battle with the demons inside her head.
Brittany Young wrote this story.
In the end nothing would remain. Faerie and all it had ever been would now seep into the soil and the streams, filtering down over rocks into the villages below.
Its ether would become something foreign to men. They would call it imagination, but we would always call it magic.
David recently won a competition and then another and now he’s gonna be a Dad… He needs a drink.
Check out this contest, which has a 50-word stories connection via judge Bob Thurber, who is a member of the 50WS Hall of Fame!
Pulp Literature “Hummingbird Prize for Flash Fiction” Contest
Got something short, sharp and snappy to tell? Wow us with 1000 words of your economical and brilliant storytelling. Final contest judge is flash fiction master, Bob Thurber. Entry fee is $10 until May 14, then $15. Prize is $300 and publication in Pulp Literature Issue 9.
More Details:
Want feedback on your story? Get a professional critique from one of the Pulp Literature editors for only $15 more.
Contest opens: 1 May 2015
Deadline: 15 June 2015
Winners notified: 15 July 2015
Winners published in: Pulp Literature Issue 9, Winter 2016
First Prize: $300
Runner up: $75
Judge: Bob Thurber
Entry fee: $15
Editorial Critique: $15
Early Bird fee (before 15 May): $10
Read more about the contest on the Pulp Literature blog.
The Story of the Week for April 27 to May 1 is…
The Week the Circus Came to Town by Bob Thurber
I had to appeal to my wife to break a tie for this week (Vlad Barbu penned the runner up, for what it’s worth). Bob’s combination of surrealism, humour, and edginess took the cake, though!