He’s waiting every winter, when the lake freezes. Handsome. Enigmatic. She’s shy, still uncertain. She edges closer. Nervous, feet slipping. Kneels down, her hands pressing over his. He smiles up, mouthing words: “free me,” maybe; or “join me”—she’s not sure which.
This year she’ll break the ice. Find out.
Deborah writes at an old desk surrounded by five hundred pet bugs.
Matching pajamas. New menu offerings for date night! Dogs available to adopt. Looking to spice things up? Flights as low as $89! Gifts for him.
Advertisements driven by algorithms. All of them served to the person she was a few days ago, before she was alone.
Click.
Click.
Clear cache.
You can follow Joree at @joreenovotny.
Stuck at the bus stop,
Typhoon-like winds,
Leaves afloat, they spin.
You offer your handkerchief,
I wipe away the rain,
From my body, my skin.
You follow the path of my actions on me,
Your gaze makes me vain,
You smile at me and whisper softly,
“I love the rain.”
AJ Joseph occasionally writes at Words from Sonobe and tweets very short stories as @sonobeus.
Ten years ago,
You emptied a jam jar
And called it our
Promise Jar.
We wrote on paper slips,
I promise to do the dishes.
I promise I’ll stay out of fights.
I promise I’ll always love you.
Ten years later,
I’m still writing promises.
I promise you’ll live forever.
Ginny Feng lives in Tennessee, where she writes short stories and learns lots.
She would get a cup of water,
place her finger on the curved edge of the lamp
water the garden painted on the side.
Alzheimer’s stole her mind
but not the loving care of the flowers
she’s remembered to water.
We remove the lamp,
bring her roses,
see her smile.
Cheryl Somers Aubin has an MA/Writing from Johns Hopkins University. She is the former nonfiction editor for the Literary Journal Delmarva Review. Cheryl teaches memoir writing and is a featured speaker at writing conferences and workshops. She is the author of The Survivor Tree: Inspired by a True Story, which is available at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum and online. Www.thesurvivortree.com
We laughed, surprised, when he clicked his camera, shouted our slogans, walked backward in the front. He gestured to the back of the crowd, shot another photo and hurriedly jumped onto the sidewalk, distancing himself. Later, upon looking closer, I saw boot-wearing uniforms standing clandestinely among the blurry trees.
Sima is Canadian, lives in Vancouver, BC, has a PhD in Literary Translation Studies, and is working on her first novel.
The princess sat in the tower’s window, guarded closely by the dragon below. She waited every day for a rescuer, hoping none would come.
“How fare you today?” she called to the dragon, and it wagged its tail in reply. The princess smiled, content to have a friend at last.
Charis Negley is a Delawarean getting her BS in professional writing at Taylor University. She is currently working on her novel and evaluating manuscripts for IlluminateYA. See more on her blog.
Now he is transported into that everlasting night.
The lies and hurts still haunt me.
Connected by sons, I grieve what was, what almost was, what could have been. What never will be.
And yet…
There still resides in me that spark of joy and love that once was us.
Eileen finds truth sometimes gets in the way of imaginative fiction, but finds peace in putting feelings into words, words into stories, and stories into the hearts of others.
The story of the week for February 14 to 18 is…
A Child Overhears by Larina Warnock
We moved to the coast seeking calm. Emily lasted two months. She’s staying with family now in Ohio.
I stay awake nights, with no one to talk to about the fierce ocean and seagulls the size of cocker spaniels. Eating Cheetos, playing Tetris, synapses fire. Expectant neurons, ravenous, demand more.
Judith Shapiro is a writer who recently moved to the other coast, where she marvels at the sun that sets instead of rising. When the novel she’s writing looks the other way, she secretly writes flash fiction. See her newest stories in the March issue of Blink Ink.