At the pinnacle of the mountain peak, looking down, she felt the fear take her over. Vertigo hits hard when you’re over fifty.
Her life had disintegrated with the death of her only son.
The decision filled her mind: the path down, or the fall?
Sighing, she took the path.
Lisa is a writer, traveler, former vent Mom. She recently published her first book See You Now on smashwords.com, which was driven from her heart to the page to honor her son.
I poured one for myself and one for good luck and drank them both. It was going to be a long night.
Through darkness I crept, my heart racing as I clutched the high-value cargo against my chest.
The scream came as I reached to switch on the baby monitor.
Guy is equally scared of war and parenthood. This is his second fifty word story.
I watched bemusedly from above as the young man climbed towards the opening of the dragon’s lair.
“Oh, look. Another man has come to save me from you…”
I caressed my dragon’s snout and grinned as he prepared to show another hero just how much I did not need saving.
MeLisa has always loved stories, and has recently decided to tell some of her own.
“Don’t stand too close to the counter, or a spider might come bite your toe,” she tells me as I get ready to wash the dishes.
“Are you serious?”
She stops and gets that real hard thinking look in her eyes.
“Nah. If you wear sneakers you should be fine.”
Valarie Bradshaw is a nomadic mother who just graduated from college and spends her days in her pajamas writing all the stories that swim in her head. Her family is very patient.
The story of the week for August 17 to 21 is…
La Costa by Robert Carcache Flores
It’s a wistful, poetic thing of beauty, inspiring a lot of imagination.
He opened the driver’s door and got out quietly. His son, swallowing hard, slid behind the wheel.
“Hit that gate hard and fast.”
The boy nodded.
“See you on the other side,” the father said, and disappeared.
The boy gunned the engine and dropped the clutch, steeling himself for impact.
Jim is a retired educator, living in the mountains of East Tennessee. He divides his time as he sees fit, the great advantage of retirement. His books are available through Amazon and Createspace for print and Smashwords for ebook format. His writer’s page is facebook.com/jimhartsellwriter.
“Thanks for the story, Mummy,” Sally said, snuggling down into her blankets.
“Glad you liked it, sweetie. Sleep tight.”
“Night, Daddy!” Sally called.
“Don’t you want a story?” he called back.
“Mummy read it already.”
Still wearing his black suit from the funeral, he came in and stared at her.
Mark Farley is currently writing a fifty-word bio and needs only thirty-two more words after this sentence. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Saturday Night Reader magazine, Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, and of course the wonderful fiftywordstories.com. He blogs his rambling creative writing attempts at mumbletoes.blogspot.co.uk.
I headed along the shore, past driftwood, dry stars, and trash. I walked until there was no one around, and I thought I saw your silhouette, waving at me from the water.
But I knew better than to chase shadows during high tide. I suppose we learn from our mistakes.
Roberto Carcache Flores is a Salvadoran writer whose first poetry chapbook, A Condensation of Maps, has recently been published by Dink Press.
“Look! It’s a firefly,” she said, as a smile crept across her face. “Let’s try to catch it.”
He laughed, “It’s just a firefly.”
“No, it’s not. It’s summer and we should catch it before it gets away,” she said.
“You can’t catch summer,” he laughed again.
“I can try.”
Shannon Flynn is a freelance writer living and writing the dream in Columbus, Ohio.
Sleeping, he breathes through his nose.
Snuggled up close, I kiss his head three times, making a soft sound with each. I don’t hear the beeping until I get up.
“Now. Okay,” I tell the nurse, even though it’s anything but.
I leave the room to make the final arrangements.
Gary Zenker loves writing flash fiction and short stories, but finds that the hardest thing to write is a good, brief biography.