The story of the week for January 13 to 17 is…
Autonomy by Jenny Mattern
ETHAN CHEN: Humans…
The open branch reveals a creature speedy as a sailfish, cunning as a crow, and furtive as a flea.
My legs must chase it, my teeth must chomp it.
When it springs down, I will finally end this mystic creature’s reign.
But the human says, “Leave the squirrel alone.”
Humans…
Ethan Chen is a 13-year-old 7th grader that loves to read. He spends his free time either buried in a book or with his (sometimes annoying) little brother.
ELANUR WILLIAMS: Bachelor’s Walk
Our apartment was full of books and vanilla candles with wooden wicks that burned deep into the evening. He made me coffee dashed with Baileys and we dreamed of having children. If we have a son, I said, we’ll go to the sea. If we have a daughter, the mountains.
Elanur Williams is an Adult Basic Education Teacher at an adult learning center in the Bronx. Previously, she taught at an elementary school. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and writing poetry. She met her husband in Dublin, Ireland, while completing her M.Phil. in Children’s Literature at Trinity College Dublin. They live in New York with their daughter.
STORY OF THE MONTH: December 2024
The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.
The finalists for December were:
Abduction by Sarah Gane Burton
Spring ’89 by Charlinda Banks
Moving Day by Cheryl Snell
Essential Worker by Robert Ludemann
Lovely Greece by V.A. Wiswell
My Mother Dreams of Christmas Past by Jennifer L. Freed
Punctuation Sale by John Holmes
The winner of the December 2024 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…
Lovely Greece
MELANIE WINKLOSKY: Reach
The old woman looked helpless.
“Can I reach something?” a teenage girl asked.
“Waffles.”
The girl smiled, reaching the waffles. Their hands brushed as she put them into the cart.
The woman blinked, suddenly tearful, struggling to remember the last time she had been touched.
Last summer. Her grandchildren’s visit.
Melanie Winklosky is a fiction writer trapped in a grant writer’s body. She lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts with her husband and dog, in what those who don’t understand call her “empty nest,” cheering on her children as they chase their dreams.
BILL COX: Tears
Her tears wake me up.
There’s not much I can do about cerebral palsy, spinal scoliosis, epilepsy. Those are for hospitals and doctors.
The tears, though. Those are a father’s domain. Making silly sounds, singing favourite songs, I distract her from the discomfort.
Tears fade; a smile begins.
Hope endures.
Bill lives in Aberdeen, Scotland, with his family and a nagging sense that he has forgotten somethin, but can’t quite remember what.
CAROL REEVES: Resolutions
It’s January and the air is full of resolve.
Faced with the fresh slate of a new year, folks seek to build the best version of themselves.
But life leaves indelible marks. Fresh slates aren’t clean slates—the space for new resolutions increasingly limited.
This year I will be kind.
A prolific writer, Carol Reeves is loving the freedom and challenge of Flash Fiction. She is frequently published in Flash Fiction Magazine and 50 Word Stories. Her memoir, “All the Little Miracles,” was published in 2022.
JOHN HOLMES: Cyber Attack
The nline niversal Dictinary: Cyber Attack pdate.
Fllwing the cyber attack in which all r vwels were taken hstage, we are pleased t annnce that we have sccessflly managed t liberate three f the captives. This is an nging incident and we are wrking hard t flly restre r services.
John is either a cyclist that writes or a writer that happens to cycle.
MICHELLE WILSON: Auto-Correct
Every time I type my to-do list, auto-correct interrupts my train of thought.
I need to
…check the news.
…watch Netflix.
…buy something on Amazon.
Doubt descends. What do I really want? To put down my phone. I press ‘save’ and auto-correct says, Wait.
You forgot something.
Wait.
Stay here…
Michelle Wilson’s words have appeared in Bending Genres, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Rejection Letters, Potato Soup Journal’s Best of 2021 Anthology, Maudlin House, Litro Magazine, The Drabble, 50-Word Stories, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, among others. Her story ‘Fish Brain’ was nominated for Best of the Net 2022. She lives with her partner in Washington, DC. She can be found at michellekwilson.wordpress.com.
JENNY MATTERN: Autonomy
Your tail lights flash a goodbye as they sail off down the driveway.
And I remember, again, the way the steam obscured everything when I held you in the bathroom, willing your lungs to bring oxygen into your tiny body, you clinging to me like a lifeboat in a hurricane.
Jenny Mattern is a poet, a crafter of stories, and a cake-for-breakfast enthusiast who lives with her family in Montana. She is represented by Nicole Eisenbraun at Ginger Clark Literary Agency.