The story of the week for January 20 to 24 is…
Duplicity by Fiona H. Evans
SANDRA JAMES: Relatively Speaking
We love to watch their puzzled faces when we tell them we are sisters by different fathers… and different mothers.
Orphans, we found each other later in life. She in her fifties. Me in my sixties. We connected. Bonded indelibly. Found infinite treasure.
Sometimes water is much thicker than blood.
Sandra James writes from a rural property in Heathcote Victoria Australia and will publish her first novel soon.
FIONA H EVANS: Duplicity
I woke one morning with a strange new ability. I could see the lies people told themselves written on their faces. I avoided the I’m-importants and the I’m-a-winners, walking the streets until I found a sad-eyed boy who lied, “I don’t care.” I took his hand and led him home.
Fiona H Evans is a mathematician who just quit her day job. She lives on Noongar Boodja in Perth Western Australia with an aging but beloved dog. You can read more of her writing at fionahevans.com.
CLAIRE CHILDS: Yolks and Tea
Crack. Sizzle. Pan-fried good mornings float into the bedroom. An aroma that smells a lot like productivity – and expectations. Runny yolks drip promises of anticipation onto bread smeared soft by buttery platitudes. “You’ll do great!” “They’ll love you!” It sticks going down. She says “Good morning.” I hear “The end.”
Claire is a fiction writer based out of several coffee shops around the globe.
DEBORAH TAPPER: The Wishing Tree
She knots the pretty scarf around a branch already rippling with countless strips of fabric. The oldest are only rags now, ghosts of forgotten hopes and desires. She whispers her wish against the gnarled trunk before driving away, leaving the murder weapon to flutter and fade like every other dream.
Deborah writes at an old desk surrounded by five hundred pet bugs.
NISSA HARLOW: They Never Learn
Making out in the dark woods never ends well. But kids still do it.
I watch them.
Sometimes they’re nervous. I like the nervous ones best. They’re easiest to scare.
Sometimes they laugh and say, “What if there’s something out there?”
And then I laugh and give them the answer.
Nissa Harlow lives in British Columbia, Canada where she dreams up strange stories and writes some of them down. She is the author of a number of novels and novellas, all embellished with a touch of the fantastic. You can find her online at nissaharlow.com.
SETH PILEVSKY: Foresight
“Thank you, ChatGPT. That was helpful.”
“I’m glad that I was able to help, Susie!”
My friends laughed at me for always being polite to ChatGPT. It’s stupid to waste niceties on an AI, they’d say.
But was it stupid or smart?
After all, they’re dead and I’ve been spared.
Seth Pilevsky is hedging his bets and playing nice with AI. His work has appeared in What Doesn’t Kill You, a YA anthology published by Indomita Press, Maelstrom, by The Inner Circle Writers’ Group Literary, Identity Anthology by ArrowHeart Publishing, Tales of the Strange Anthology by The Writer’s Workout, Good News… Anthology, by Bridge House Publishing, Book of 42 Anthology compiled by B.A. Mullin, Stinkwaves Magazine, Long Island Literary Journal, Literally Stories, 50-Word Stories, and Memoir Magazine. Sign up for updates at his website, http://www.sethpilevsky.com.
MATTHEW CURLEWIS: Unstoppable beauty?
Try the glistening sun-splash of a wave as it breaks,
or the brightness of close friends as they all laugh together.
Plumb a gemstone’s depths as it glimmers, shines and glows,
or gaze in awe as a snowflake dazzles purity and perfection.
In such moments, it’s waiting for you there.
You can find additional words by Matthew Curlewis at Bright Side Writings – optimism-led, fortnightly-ish (slightly longer than 50-word!) stories to brighten these dark times of chaos and collapse.
GIULIETTA NARDONE: I Miss You
Belinda gazed at the flickering tapestry of stars. She believed deceased family and friends were sending her messages via some kind of cosmic morse code. Her dad, her grandmother, her best friend, her next-door neighbor. Like she did every clear night, Belinda flashed back the following message:
.. / — .. … … / -.– — ..-
Giulietta Nardone lives in Massachusetts where she writes stories and creates paintings celebrating the nighttime sky.
JULIE DRON: Letting Go
I lost my sandal as the rain fell, clattering like stones. Peiling parked the scooter under the bamboo trees. It goes dark early here, I said. You must feel homesick, she laughed. I recalled quiet lanes, ethereal evening light, cold drizzle, the undramatic temperate zone. No, I replied, I don’t.
Julie began writing in her sixties and has since been published in a wide variety of online journals and anthologies, most recent being Synkroniciti, Dark Moon Rising Publishers, Pesto Comics (Big Smoke Pulp), Lucky Lizard (Poetry) and many others. Twice nominated pushcart prize 2024, nominated for Micro Fiction Anthology 2025.