The world shrinks as I watch three ants wander the pots on my balcony.
Patient travellers, carefully mapping their world to the top of each plant. Tiny questing spirits searching the furthest edges of their universe.
These brave little souls shouldn’t go unrecognised.
Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria, I christen them.
Michael has only a fair to middling green thumb, and always tries to look out for the little critters in his garden.
All that remains are the shells, hulls, the crispy carcasses that once contained life, scattered along the basement, where floor meets wall. It is here that they sought escape, only to shrivel and perish.
Indifferent to their suffering, she sweeps them away, discontent in the knowledge that they will return.
Emily Merrell is the author of the children’s book Whirl of a Girl. You can visit her online at ehmerrellwrites.com.
Traps are everywhere. We cannot venture out. We are cornered in this house we called home before the enemy showed its face.
All exits are blocked. Food supplies are dwindling. This is war.
Last night he chased us behind the refrigerator with a broom. Called us vermin.
We are doomed.
Alison Cooper is a UK artist residing in Los Angeles. She loves the challenge of culling words to get to the core, and has had her short stories published in Everyday Fiction and 50-Word Stories.
After the robbers escaped the bakery, the townspeople found Bugman crouched over a flooding anthill.
“I had to save them,” he explained.
“But I lost ten thousand dollars!” cried the baker.
“Are ten thousand dollars more important than these million lives?”
“Yes!” everyone answered.
That was the day Bugman retired.
Emily Swaim is a freelance writer who, like many freelancers, spends too much time on the internet.
On a walk I saw a dying cicada mating with a fully dead one. It was a silent act. None of the annoying buzz.
With a flickering of one wing, the dying bug ceased all movement. I wondered if it was necrophilia or one last chance to make a mark.
Nathaniel Tower writes fiction, teaches English, and manages the online lit magazine Bartleby Snopes. His short fiction has appeared in over 50 online and print magazines. A story of his, “The Oaten Hands,” was named one of 190 notable stories by storySouth’s Million Writers Award in 2009. His first novel, A Reason To Kill, was released in July 2011. Visit him at www.bartlebysnopes.com/ntower.htm.
Four flies met at a crossroads, each one travelling north, south, east, or west.
“East is amazing,” said one, “but I hear west is better.”
“South is supposed to be fantastic.”
“North, I’m told, is far superior.”
Each fly returned the way it had come, content with its homeland’s reputation.
This story is based on a title suggested by Mark McCarthy.
They stood by the charred crater that had been their home and listened to the wind.
It told them, You’ve been hard done by.
It said, They had no right.
It whispered, Independence is our destiny.
It commanded, Hoist the New Antland flag, stand tall, and let the humans come.