The story of the week for January 27 to 31 is…
The Smile by Clive Oseman
RITA RIEBEL MITCHELL: Nightly Visits
Trees sway, creating monsters on moonlit curtains. Fear squeezes my gut as shadows float toward me. Spindly fingers caress my throat and tighten as ragged nails draw blood. Choking, I claw at the bony wrists that vanish at dawn.
Staring in the mirror, I wonder if nightmares always leave marks.
Rita Riebel Mitchell writes in the Pinelands of South Jersey. Her work appears in Flash Fiction Magazine, Versification, Black Hare Press, 101 Words, and others. Visit her at FridayMicro.com.
GABRIELLA BATEL: Alphabt
I scratch my scalp as I dial Mom.
“Morning, bug,” Mom chirps.
“Hi. So, um. A thing’s missing.”
“What thing?”
“I… don’t know. It’s just not around. I told Mary, but sh—”
Blip. Our call drops just prior to my finishing a final sound.
Oh.
Of cours. Silly m.
Gabriella Batel is a young Catholic woman with an adrenaline craving and a passion for God, family, movies, fanart, and good food. She’s the author of the acclaimed Don’t series and the upcoming dark fantasy mystery Ending. You can find out the thrill ride she’s on at gabriellabatel.com
JL PERIDOT: A sniff in the dark
A sniff in the dark—just curtains and the wind, but… When I close my eyes, it’s you. Folding the shirt you hang on the back of a chair, nails on guitar strings, your fingers on my skin, breath that leaves me breathless. Oh, to hear that song once more.
JL Peridot writes love letters to the future on devices from the past. You can find more of her work at jlperidot.com.
BELLO TAIWO VICTORIA: Eighty Days of Darkness
Eighty days of darkness. The moon creeps out of the dark cloud, its flames flickering, out of reach. You and the hall’s weary inhabitants stretch, desperate for a sliver of light. The moon’s glow taunts, then vanishes, leaving only the crushing darkness. The darkness is not new, yet it’s unfamiliar.
Bello Taiwo Victoria is an emerging writer and incurable introvert with an appreciation for paintings and other forms of artistic expression. Her writings have been published in the Journal Of African Youth Literature and Writers Space Africa – Nigeria.
DEBORAH-Z ADAMS: Small Town Witch Has Perfect Vision
They froze my third eye, she tells me. She means Ajna chakra, the site of true seeing, the sight of the divine, taken from her as thoughtlessly as stealing hummingbird nectar. My own well up. Never mind she says, palming my heart. I don’t need eyes to see the light.
Deborah-Z Adams is an award-winning author of novels, short fiction, CNF, and poetry. You’re invited to visit her website at Deborah-Adams.com.
DAVE BRADLEY: Stony Broke
Mr Roper paused at the TV shop window, clutching the pink slip announcing his redundancy from the factory. The severance pay didn’t even cover the 32” model he’d helped assemble there. They had TVs in prison, he’d heard. Three hot meals and sitcoms before lights out. He raised a brick.
Dave Bradley is a writer and editor from the UK. His short stories have appeared in publications such as Best Of British Science Fiction 2018. His non-fiction work has appeared in places like Dorling Kindersley’s The Screen Traveller’s Guide and various pop culture magazines and websites.
BOB LUCKY: Misunderstanding, Almost a Tableau Vivant
A couple sits in silence, no more than a sigh and a bottle of wine between them. The woman leans over, kisses the man on the lips. When he wipes it off on his sleeve, she walks out. Head down, the man wipes his nose. The bottle just sits there.
Bob Lucky is the author most recently of My Wife & Other Adventures (Red Moon Press, 2024). His work has appeared in Rattle, Otoliths, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Unlost, Contemporary Haibun, Unbroken, and other publications. He lives in Portugal.
SETH ROSENMAN: Flight 575
- Departures:
Airport Express flies,
tracks my waiting sky; I’m stuck
on a caesura. -
Delay on Arrival:
Eye the horizon
from the red light: jammed highway
and missing starlings. -
End of the Line:
Waves at their crest glimpse
the receding to soon come
and crash to dry sand.
Seth Rosenman lives in the Philadelphia area. He currently does a little bit of this and hopes to move on to some of that. He’s calling this a “50-Word Haiku Story.” His poems and short fiction have appeared in 50-Word Stories, Microfiction Monday Magazine, The Bookends Review, and elsewhere. His blog goes by infiniteseth.blogspot.com.
BOB THURBER: One Final Visit From My Father
Rushing straight from my dream to the window, I reminded myself it is seldom safe to trust one’s sleepy-eyes in the dim and desperate hours before dawn. Lazy shadows, like shiftless men, tend to linger. Frequently they’ll amuse themselves by teasing others. Because why not. In a heartbeat they’re gone.
Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.