The story of the week for June 3 to 7 is…
At the Bottom of the Lake by Everhart Deckard
and
Panhandler by Alan Kemister
LAUREN EVERHART-DECKARD: At the Bottom of the Lake
She rests a heavy rock on her stomach and sinks into the sand.
Through the shimmery layer between lake and sky, the blue expanse above looks beautiful enough to plant a seed of doubt.
Her lungs spark and burn.
She shoves the weight off, slowly floating up to the clouds.
Lauren is an aspiring author studying Creative Writing at Emerson College.
CHARLOTTE McELROY: Words
There is no cost. The supply is endless and always at our disposal. No boundaries, no rules. They are, however, a double-edged sword. They create us just as we create others.
If they could speak on their own, they would not always approve of our careless abuse of their power.
Charlotte McElroy is an 80-year-old retired teacher. She is finally following her dream: writing!
KERRI JESMER: Mama’s Boy
“Don’t you think it’s time you finish this project up?”
“I’ll get to it, don’t worry.”
“Well the smell is taking hold of the whole house. I’d do it myself, but I worry a piece will come off if I try to move it.”
“It’s just a dead body, Ma.”
Born in Germany, Kerri was raised on the Eastern plains of Colorado. She currently lives in Utah. Although new to short story writing, she has been writing for many years. She mentored her daughter’s writing groups in both middle school and high school years.
DAVID McTIGUE: Rage
Raymond shifted uncomfortably in his armchair as Suzanne raged at him.
“I don’t know why I bother here. I asked you to do one thing, and you forgot. You’re pathetic!”
She left the room, slamming the door.
Raymond shifted uncomfortably in his armchair and switched his hearing aid back on.
David McTigue lives in Liverpool UK, and enjoys reading, crosswords, music, concert going, cooking, and of course writing. Several of his short stories, poems, and crosswords have been published in various magazines and anthologies.
CHAD GREENE: An Appropriate Place
With my back to the steel slabs, I resisted the urge to count the bullets left in my gun. Judging from the force of the blows on the barricaded door, it wasn’t anywhere near enough.
I resigned myself: A morgue was as appropriate of a place to die as any.
A graduate of the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California, Chad Greene experiments with Twitter fiction at @TheShortCourse.
MAICO MORELLINI: January 8, 2019, a Colony in Italy
A writer daydreams of outlandish worlds, in which man can fly: in which space is no longer off-limits.
Then, having signed another imaginative story, he slowly gets to his feet, snuffs out his candle, and lays down his quill, while the sound of a horse-drawn carriage fades into the distance.
Maico Morellini was born in 1977. In 2010 he won the Urania Award with the sci-fi novel “Il re nero”, published in 2011 by Mondadori. In 2014, for Delos Digital, he penned the sci-fi series “I Necronauti”. In May 2016 he published his second sci-fi novel, “La terza memoria”, out from Mondadori. In December 2016, his sci-fi anthology “Voci della Polis” was published by Vincent Book Editore. His novel Il diario dell’estinzione (Watson Edizioni, November 2018) won this year’s prestigious Premio Italia for best Fantasy novel. His Sci-Fi, Horror, and Weird short stories have featured in numerous anthologies.
This story was translated from Italian by Sarah Jane Webb.
ALAN KEMISTER: Panhandler
The scruffy young panhandler sat on the busy sidewalk suckling a fractious infant. When I dropped a coin in her pot, the baby reached for my fingers. Distracted by the tiny hand and abandoned breast, I lingered for a moment too long.
“Alan?” she said as I tried to leave.
Alan Kemister is a retired scientist experimenting with more fictitious writing. See the gory details at alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com.
JOHN H DROMEY: The Inside Story, or Everyone’s a Critic
“How’d you find your runaway goat?”
“We simply followed his spoor.”
“How’d you know it was his?”
“Before he left, Billy ate a magazine with one of your stories in it.”
“How’d that help?”
“Billy found some of your prose was indigestible. You could say he left a toilet-paper trail.”
John H. Dromey has some hundred-word stories (four new, one reprint) in WORLDS: A Science Fiction Microfiction Anthology (Dark Drabbles Book 1) (Black Hare Press, 2019).
SCOTT LUPER: Reward if Found
Olivia awoke to a charred hole above her bed and a small, adorably demonic winged creature, which fidgeted with excitement on her chest.
Olivia petted its oily red hide and mimicked its playful chirps, as she noted the iron collar’s inscription: IF YOU’RE READING THIS, IT’S TOO LATE. I’M SORRY.
Scott is an Amazon best-selling author and short story writer. He lives and works in Texas with his wife, their two boys, and a pair of ridiculous Great Pyrenees pups. This is Scott’s third piece on 50-Word Stories. You can connect with Scott and find links to his work at amazon.com/author/scottluper.