What a mess.
Wish I’d known it was staged from the start. These fools must’ve considered me a pawn, thought I’d turn and run when the bullets started flying. I was their plausible deniability…
But life doesn’t follow anyone’s script.
I’d better dump these fools’ corpses before someone happens by.
This story was based on the prompt “it was staged” at TypeTrigger.
The plane descended back to his homeland.
His desert boots touched the tarmac, and he looked up from his sandy brim.
The cold nights with explosions that lit up the sky left him, and the warm nights with the ones he loved were waiting.
Michael D’Aniello is a high school student in New Jersey. His Creative Writing class was assigned 50-word stories and he felt this was his best piece.
Look for more stories from members of Michael’s Creative Writing class in the future!
The farmer waved as the hikers disappeared up the trail towards the highway. “Eighth lost group this summer,” he said.
“Ever get tired of this?” his wife asked.
“Giving folks directions ain’t no trouble.”
“I mean the farm, and never goin’ nowhere.”
The farmer shrugged. “Ain’t nowhere I wanna go.”
This story was based on the prompt “up the trail” at TypeTrigger.
“It was the gardener! J’accuse!”
“Uh huh,” said the unimpressed homicide detective. “On what grounds, ma’am?”
“My husband was killed with a garden hoe last night, was he not?”
“Uh huh. But the gardener says you just hired him this morning. Off a street corner.”
“The filthy beggar lies! J’accuse!”
This story was based on the prompt “the gardener” at TypeTrigger.
“I wish she’d come down from her ivory tower.”
“I doubt she knows how. I think she was born there.”
“Hmm, you may be right. That’s kind of sad, really. She’s like Rapunzel, trapped within an inflated conception of her own intellect.”
“Yeah, sure. Tragic.”
“Let’s go pull her hair!”
This story was based on the prompt “born there” at TypeTrigger.
We were lost in the enchanted woods.
“Some shortcut, Krayg!” Tixen’s green eyes flashed.
“Relax,” I said. “Krayg, find some kindling. Night’s coming.”
We huddled close around the flames.
“Now,” I said, “a spell to read the stars… Where did my wand go? Krayg, what did you use for kindling?”
This story was based on the prompt “in the woods” at TypeTrigger.
One morning, as he woke in his bed from troubled dreams, Gregor Samsa discovered that he had been transformed into a monstrous cockroach.
Moments later, as World War III began, civilization was destroyed by a nuclear missile. Gregor was lucky to survive.
It’s nice how sometimes things just work out.
Kieren McCallum has just finished an English Literature degree and dreams of becoming an author, as well as a few more practical things. He has a blog at lemonmachine.wordpress.com with some creative writing on it.
Editor’s Note: This story is a clever modification of the classic novella The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
Here I stand, alone at the front, the crowd murmuring from stolid pews. My coat tails limp, my collar moist with sweat. I imagine her in white, coming up the aisle, my heart pounding.
But when I look, there are only faces full of pity and an empty, open door.
Megan Dodge is a sophomore in high school with a passion for writing. She’s written stories and poems since she was seven years old and hopes to have a future affiliated with editing, writing, and/or publishing.
With guiltless greed hotter than any Nazi oven, she pillaged the platinum ring Grandma smuggled through Auschwitz. Snatched the bracelet Frank gave me on our silver anniversary, its width thicker than the vein she shot up with its loyal gold. Crushed and sniffed my diamonds’ dust. My daughter. An orphan.
Christine Heuner is a high-school English teacher in New Jersey. She loves her job!
I escape the house and run, crying, into the backyard. Examining hand-shaped bruises on my small body, I notice an anthill. Yesterday, I watched these ants a long time. Today is different. Raging, I stomp the anthill flat. Ants scurry in panic and writhe in pain.
It doesn’t help much.
Sam Gem is a writer of flash fiction, short stories, and maybe a novel someday. He resides in upstate New York.