Milk. Eggs. Sliced bread for the kids’ lunches. Those little biscuits Dave likes. Bin bags. Loo roll. Birth control pills. A road map of Europe. Some screamy death metal. Energy drink. A full tank of petrol. A glance in the rear view mirror. The horizon. A sunset. Wild, open night.
Joe Pearson is a British fiction writer living in Paris. His shopping lists aren’t this dramatic. You can find more of his writing at joepearsonwriter.com.
We used to bike to the canal, improv outrageous cat symphonies. Wind rippling the water, we kept time with shadows creeping up walls.
Now we meet on screens the size of our hands. Exchange thumbs, hearts, yawns.
“Meet me at the canal?” I text.
Purring, you bat away my phone.
Michelle Wilson’s words have appeared in Wigleaf, Gooseberry Pie Lit, The Daily Drunk, Bending Genres, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Rejection Letters, Maudlin House, Litro Magazine, 50-Word Stories, and Flash Fiction Magazine, among others. Her story ‘Fish Brain’ was nominated for Best of the Net 2022. She lives with her partner in Washington, DC. Read more of her work at michellekwilson.wordpress.com.
The mountains’ song had always been a soft buzz in the background.
“Come here” was a melody without sound.
Eventually I slipped as the gang of peaks encircled me.
“Give me your soul,” they boomed.
I fought, briefly. Futile.
Dropping my pack, I stepped off the trail,
and joined them.
Tom lives with his young family in New Zealand and works as a primary school teacher. He has had a passion for stories ever since learning to walk and is currently working on a series of fantasy novels.
too old to drive,
that’s what my daughters told me
when they took away my keys
my dignity
my freedom
in a heartbeat
all my choices disappeared
boredom set in
as suddenly my world became
four walls
tv, radio, the cat
and me
just sitting,
existing in hushed silence…
waiting
Roberta Beach Jacobson, 73, is looking ahead.
You hear your pulse. It used to be steady; now loud. You’ve snatched a dream. It doesn’t answer to the men playing cards outside your jailcell.
Between their curses and your next breath, you learn that liberty is in your blood.
Freedom is a heartbeat that ignores Aces and Kings.
J.S. O’Keefe’s work spans short stories, essays, and poems. They have been featured in a variety of publications, including AntipodeanSF, Roi Faineant, 101 Words, Everyday Fiction, Spillwords, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, 50WS, ScribesMicro, Dissident Voice, 50GT, Bewildering Stories, etc.
‘You weren’t worth it.’ The simple truth, stated for the first time. Words that ripple far into the past, acknowledging years of dog-like devotion.
Words that ripple far into the future, opening avenues of opportunity previously ignored.
A subtle change of emphasis creates even more distance. “He wasn’t worth it.”
Madeleine McDonald is a former precis-writer who relishes the challenge of flash and micro fiction.
On a sweltering July afternoon, the hospital door whistles shut behind Sarah as she watches a little girl, carried by her father, lick a rainbow sprinkle off her chin, her cheeks rosy and full like Sarah’s own used to be before she started counting everything. This time will be different.
Lauren Vogel is a writer and artist whose work is featured in Nowhere Girl Collective and on her Substack, OwlPerson.
“Your mom is perfect,” they say. Successful career, volunteers at school, gets along with everyone. Shuttles me to soccer practice, piano recitals, and Model UN. Monitors screen time, dictates my schedule, chooses my friends. Tells me: work hard, failure is not an option, eat healthy, make her proud. Demands perfection.
J. Hess enjoys traveling, reading, and writing flash fiction and creative nonfiction.
Cheers erupted behind us as we walked home. People flooded the streets, like birds soaring out of a toppled cage.
My mother flew with them then, singing songs of rebellion and hope.
Years later, she still sings the same songs, but fainter, like a caged songbird mourning the open sky.
Sarah Nassar is a young writer from Egypt trying to figure out adult life (she just graduated) and write at the same time. Her work has been previously published on 50-Word Stories, Spillwords.com and Literary Cocktail Magazine.
I imagined she’d show up one day. I just didn’t think she’d be wearing a sparkly dress and a silver tiara. She danced in the waves of my sleeping brain, now unbounded by those who’d hurt her on Earth, and reminded me that in the end, your spirit always wins.
Makenzie Matthews-Beard is a second-year college student at The University of North Carolina Wilmington. She loves incorporating nature, nostalgia, and womanhood into mediums like poetry, prose, photography, and music.