Awards, diplomas, and trophies cover the walls. Her desk’s concealed by to-do lists, empty coffee-cups, and pencil stubs. Her fingernails are bitten down to the beds, eyes bloodshot from sleepless nights. Her family praises her, but a mother who ran makes her wonder if she’ll ever truly be good enough.
Karalyn Wayne enjoys writing stories with a hot drink in hand and her dog at her feet. When she isn’t procrastinating, she writes. This is the first time she’s been published.
“Your star was getting dim today.”
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Benton answered. “He just made me so angry.”
“I know. Here’s something I’ve learned: Do something nice for someone who doesn’t like you. They’ll see you differently, and be nicer to you.”
“That’ll be hard.”
“But worth it. You’ll shine again.”
Surprised to find himself on a Kansas farm in 1951, Herrmann is still trying to make sense of it, but in that time he’s fallen in love with the vast sky, wind waving grass, moonlight, and the shade of trees. He tries to write about some of these.
Mary loved words.
Her walls were lined with all the classics. Poetry spilled from corner nooks and lounged on bedside tables.
Harry was an accountant.
He couldn’t tell a sonnet from a haiku, but he recognized a nice number when he saw it.
Today they’re beginning their 46th chapter together.
Susan Gale Wickes is from Indiana. She enjoys writing and reading 50-word stories.
Mom never lets me visit.
Space is too tight. Writing deadlines.
No mention of a bedroom after a year.
If I question, she says love transcends space. I’m too domestic in attitude. Like Dad.
I spend weekends with movie moms.
At least it’s easy to capture and recapture a hug.
Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA program. His stories, “Soon,” “How To Be A Good Episcopalian,” and “Tales From A Communion Line,” were nominated for Pushcarts. Yash’s work has been published in The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Write City Magazine, and Ariel Chart, among others.
I watch father through a panel of glass.
I long to remove my mask and give him a hug, but the nursing home will not allow it.
Perhaps tomorrow, I tell myself.
Be patient.
For him, you have all the time in the world.
Marjan Sierhuis loves reading 50-word stories.
I warn her not to over-water the plant in the window, but she insists that more water is needed to reach the roots. This is just like her: to do a little too much, to love a little too hard. Just like that plant, one day I, too, will drown.
Ran Walker is the author of 22 books, including the 50-word story collection THE STRANGE MUSEUM. He teaches creative writing at Hampton University in Virginia.
They had the kind of love
that camped out in cotton shirts
Damp with perspiration from
Morning gardening
Afternoon lovemaking
Evenings with her back pressed against his chest
As they looked into an endless sky
And pondered how the love they shared
Felt bigger than the entire universe before them
Ran Walker is the author of 21 books, including the 50-Word story collection THE STRANGE MUSEUM. He teaches creative writing at Hampton University in Virginia.
He left on a fine spring morning. Then, she was still young and fair. When he returned, he found that she had aged; she was paler and her skin was wrinkled. It had only been a year, but to a person in love, a year is an eternity too long.
Vivian Leung lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, and has always held a love for music and writing. One of her goals in life is to land a career in healthcare. There are few things that are more rewarding to her than helping others.
Someday, I will kiss your cheek and make you smile. I will wrap my arms around you in a warm embrace.
I will sing your favorite song at the top of my voice. I will stay by your side and vow never to leave. Mother, I will promise you this.
Marjan Sierhuis enjoys reading flash fiction.
He knelt, burying
his face in her waist,
the knowledge
of how many times he’d die
for her
choking
so he
could only say
you have no idea.
Held fast, she
(looking out the misted glass
at the crabapple trees with their pink heads
thinning)
echoed
you have no idea.
Celine Low lives in Singapore, a tiny country in Southeast Asia with a hodgepodge of cultures. She holds an MA in English Literature and loves to dance and take long walks. Her works have appeared in Blood Moon Rising Magazine and 9Tales From Elsewhere.