The story of the week for October 21 to 25 is…
Desert Heroes by Stephen Doherty
GABRIELA LIMA: A Soul’s Suffocating Ambitions
How many lives can I live in this one? To be a radiant woman, a passionate lover, a sweet daughter, a caring sister, a diligent worker, and a successful businesswoman. A shining example of humanity, child of God, daring to dream. How many souls must I embody in this lifetime?
Gabriela Lima wrote this story.
KEVIN HOPSON: The Villain
Being a superhero isn’t easy, especially for a working mother. But moments like this make it worthwhile. I grasp the mask, revealing the villain’s face. My eyes bulge.
“Jake?” I croak.
“Sorry, Mom.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“You’re never home. It was the only way to see you.”
Kevin’s work has appeared in a variety of anthologies, magazines, and e-zines, and he enjoys writing in multiple genres. You can learn more about Kevin by visiting his website at kmhopson.com.
MICHAEL T SCHAPER: Christopher Columbus In My Garden
The world shrinks as I watch three ants wander the pots on my balcony.
Patient travellers, carefully mapping their world to the top of each plant. Tiny questing spirits searching the furthest edges of their universe.
These brave little souls shouldn’t go unrecognised.
Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria, I christen them.
Michael has only a fair to middling green thumb, and always tries to look out for the little critters in his garden.
MELANIE WINKLOSKY: Moving Day
She pulled the door closed, trying to ignore the dirty hallway and broken railing. She closed her eyes, straining to hear her daughter, somehow a woman, settling into her first apartment. She walked gingerly down the stairs, her legs and arms aching from carrying. Her heart aching from letting go.
Melanie Winklosky is a fiction writer trapped in a grant writer’s body. Her work can be found in McSweeney’s, and was named a finalist in the 2023 Boston in 100 Words contest and a 2023 finalist in NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Challenge. She lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts.
HNK: Closure
Staring at a picture of his family for a final time, he wistfully set the frame in a box labeled “Do Not Open.” He placed the box on a shelf in his empty storage unit, padlocking the door. On the drive home, he tossed the key out of the window.
HNK has been featured on fifty word stories a couple of times before. His debut novel will be released in November. You can purchase a copy here.
STEPHEN DOHERTY: Desert Heroes
The oranges are bitter.
The hummus though, is sweet. Flat breads, falafels, and olives. The fruits of the irrigated deserts.
In the bunker we tell the children of our heroes. How they dug in, built walls and barbed wire fences.
How our neighbours grew into enemies.
Stephen Doherty wrote this story.
SEAN RYAN: Stone Cold Dead
I looked up because an invisible spark went off in my head. With my two tired eyes, with the open book still in my hands, I watched a beautiful blue bird fly straight into my sliding glass door. I got up to check on it and found it frozen stone.
Sean is a 39-year-old writer who learned to write when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 20. He is a slow learner and wrote at least 12,000,000 words before he got the hang on this writing thing. It provides a solid foundation for a meaningful life.
DEVAYANI ANVEKAR: Join/Be Left Behind
Swetha gathered Raghu’s hands in hers, and joined the crowd dancing, chanting “We did it. We did it.” Raghu swayed with her, humming the same.
A man behind him tapped his shoulder, asked What?
No clue. Raghu whispered.
Okay. The man nodded, and joined the crowd dancing, chanting in trance.
Devayani Anvekar is an illustrator and cartoonist of social and domestic issues. She lives in Goa, India.
WILLIAM MITCHELL: The Last Performance
The trick is so simple – real musket, real gunpowder, real handcuffs, and my Sylvie, chained to that wheel, spinning like a dervish.
Every night I hit the lock dead centre, every night the crowd loves me.
Except today I found her letters.
Deceit changes things. Blood and screaming change everything.
William Mitchell lives in East Sussex in the South of England. He is an award-winning author, having had early success with various Horror and Science Fiction publications before winning the Writers of the Future contest in 2012. His first novel, CREATIONS, came out in 2014 with John Hunt Publishing.