Tag Archives: life

NT FRANKLIN: Waiting

Submissions, Touching, , ,

He loved her all his life. He waited, growing up knowing she was out there, even before he met and married her.

The sun settled behind the hills every day, but today had special meaning. He would be facing tomorrow alone for the first time. Now, she waited for him.

NT Franklin writes cozy mystery short stories, nostalgia short stories, and Flash Fiction and has been published in 50 Word Stories, Page & Spine, Scarlet Leaf Review, Fiction on the Web, Madswirl, Postcard Shorts, 404 Words, 101 Words, Freedom Fiction, Burrst, Entropy, Alsina Publishing, Fifty-word stories, Dime Show Review, and more.

CHARLOTTE McELROY: Age and Insurance

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

Leaves dance with the fall breeze
The sun steals the early frost
The moon waits in the wings

I shiver in respect of nature
I shiver in respect of my age
Eighty years young

I am beyond the age of expectation
for women according to the insurance
companies age calculations

Charlotte McElroy is an 80-year-old retired teacher. She is finally following her dream: writing! Thank you for giving her this opportunity.

MARIA CARGILLE: Your Story Will Set You Free

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

It’s a night just like a hundred others. The candle gutters gently as the Storykeeper takes a deep breath.

“Tell me.”

A hush of soft voices steals through the room, each ghost asking for their turn. She focuses on a high, young voice, and lets his story sweep her away.

Maria likes how she can squeeze microfiction into her hectic life. She’s amused to note that writing 50-word stories is making her drabbles seem too long.

RICHARD DAY GORE: Fifty-Word Story

Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , , , ,

Fifty words.

It’s all we have.

Alan took himself from us, so young, when she still had hundreds.

Saturday she couldn’t remember that the bedroom—that dusty shrine—was once his.

Yesterday, his name dropped away.

Soon she’ll gaze at me and see a stranger. We’ll be down to forty-nine.

After chasing his muse from Virginia to Manhattan, Richard Day Gore settled in Southern California, where he spends his time pushing around words, paint brushes, and guitar strings.

JEAN BLASIAR: Mad

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The biographer asked, “When did you realize that you were mad, Mrs. Hudson?”

Sally Hudson’s manacled feet prevented her from moving. She looked up at the small barred window above her head. “They told me,” she responded.

“Who were ‘they’?”

“The kids in school. Mad as a hatter,” they said.

Jean Blasiar is a published author (Charles River Press), playwright (Off The Wall Plays), short story writer and theatrical producer. One of Jean’s plays was optioned by 20th Century Fox for a pilot.

PRISHA MEHTA: Recorder

Submissions, Touching, , ,

Her recorder, smaller than she remembers it, now covered with a decade’s worth of dirt.

She wipes off the mouth, lifts it to her lips. A sighing sound burdens the breeze as her breath stumbles through.

Somehow her fingers find the holes with ease and tap out a hollow melody.

Prisha is a high school student who aspires to be a successful author one day. You can find out more about her at prishamehta.com.

JOHN B SINCLAIR: The Storyteller

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Grandfather’s fantasy-filled tales of visits to world capitals were sparked by a vivid imagination. “See the world,” he would urge, pointing to maps pinned precariously to the wall.

We sensed he had never ventured abroad, but his gestures and improvised foreign dialects kept us enthralled.

Listening to every single word.

John B. Sinclair is a much-travelled Scot who has now returned to Scotland, where he enjoys freelance writing on a variety of subjects.

DEVON R WIDMER: Deadlines

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

The crackling campfire illuminated her birth name, carefully inscribed in large, looping cursive.

She hadn’t expected this letter. Not after the way she’d left.

A dry sob clogged her throat—or was it simply smoke from the fire?—as she dropped the envelope, unopened, into the heart of the blaze.

Devon R. Widmer is a grumpy graduate student by day, a scribbling daydreamer by night, and a sleep deprived parent full time.

REBECCA HOLLAND: Interview

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

“Can you drive?”

“I don’t see why that would matter when I’m applying for a banking position.”

“You need reliable transportation.”

“I get around,” Rick replied as he patted his guide dog’s head.

“We’ll be in touch.”

After twenty interviews just like this one, Rick knew that they were lying.

Rebecca Holland is a visually impaired writer from Pennsylvania. She is the author of the chapbook “Through My Good Eye: A Memoir in Verse” and her work has appeared in The Drabble, Bold Blind Beauty, and CAPTIVATING, among others. She blogs about faith, books, and disability awareness at BeckieWrites.com.

DYLAN MARTIN: Train to Eternity

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Every morning I stand on that platform waiting for the train to arrive. And every day, on the opposite end of the tracks, another train comes flashing right by.

All the while, another flash flies through my mind: What if I just walked over there and took the other train?

Dylan Martin is a University at Albany alumni who currently lives in the New York metropolitan area. His passion for fiction tends to gravitate towards the characters involved, and as such, his writing tends to focus on the characters as well. See more at dm-writing.com.