She found the teacup on a dusty shelf as though it had been waiting. It was the one he’d set down between them that morning, steam unfurling, his face unreadable. The clink was small yet carried the weight of the truth he finally spoke.
Lisa Leinberger is an emerging author who writes under the name of Pippa Alder and focuses on flash fiction and short stories. Born in New Jersey, she now resides in Pennsylvania. When not writing, she enjoys photography, reading, and embroidery.
It was an autumn afternoon in the park. A gust of chill wind and she turned my way, snugging the collar of her jacket, brushing an errant auburn lock from her forehead, smiling. It was only a fleeting moment; and yet, forty years on, it lingers as vividly as yesterday.
Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. In addition to 50-Word Stories, his writing has appeared in dozens of reviews, journals and anthologies. His first novel, “Deadline,” was published in 2023. He can be found on Bluesky at @youngnick.bsky.social. He lives outside Chicago.
I saved the last apricot from summer, wrapped in a napkin like a secret. In winter, I found it shriveled but whole. I bit into memory: tart, soft, sun-warmed. My daughter watched, puzzled. “It’s just fruit,” she said. But I could taste my childhood, my mother’s hands, the orchard’s hush.
Aisha is a poet and storyteller based in Srinagar, India. Her work explores themes of memory, displacement, and emotional resilience, often through lyrical prose and quiet imagery.
One evening at the Westend Grill, Reid looked up from his chili to see his dead uncle sitting across the table.
Uncle Kirby sported his usual half-smile and red-checkered shirt. He nodded at the bowl.
“I liked lots of crackers in mine, too,” he said.
Reid crumbled in another saltine.
Jim Anderson is a retired college teacher who lives and writes in south-eastern Michigan.
My cat sat on the corner of my desk and watched me type. Every day for twelve years. Sometimes she’d tap my keyboard to correct my spelling. Today she wasn’t there. So I put a picture of her there instead. But the picture doesn’t spell any better than I do.
Michaele Jordan is the author of Mirror Maze. See more at michaelejordan.com.
The woman strokes century-old, burgundy-colored poems on crumbling letterhead to time-travel. Memories magically appear. She is five years old standing behind her beloved grandmother, watching while the poet writes. The child wants to be old too, an author, like her idol. Not a lost ghost visiting from the distant future.
Former journalist and technical writer Lilian Pomeroy Edmonds is working on a poetry anthology with braided essays inspired by her grandmother’s poems written from 1899-1932. You can browse her work on Substack at wavingfromadistance.substack.com.
When the sun set on your soul, the world went dark. We who loved you are left to stumble in darkness—shattered. Dawn will come again, but never the dawn we knew. May we reach into our hearts, where the beauty of you dwells forever, and find solace.
A prolific writer, Carol Huebsch Reeves embraces the freedom and creativity of Flash Fiction. Most of her stories speak to life’s joys and challenges. Her work is found in Flash Fiction Magazine and 50 Word Stories. Carol’s memoir, “All the Little Miracles,” was published in 2022.
Of a summer’s evening we gather around the campfire, laughing and singing the old songs. Most of all we revel in the tall tales about granddad. And as we speak, each in turn with a riotous story, he comes alive once more, his ruddy face beaming in the dancing flames.
Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. In addition to 50-Word Stories, his writing has appeared in dozens of reviews, journals and anthologies. His first novel, “Deadline,” was published in 2023. He can be found on Bluesky at @youngnick.bsky.social. He lives outside Chicago.
Paper, barely white, ashen like your complexion, faded charcoal shading, smudged not erased.
Each time, it looks a little less like you.
You seldom model, but were you here, I’d place a page upon your face, trace the outline of a smile.
Instead, I pierce the surface with sharpened lead.
Steven Holding lives in the United Kingdom. His story TURNING A TRICK appears in the collection BLOODLUST from Black Hare Press. You can follow his work at stevenholding.co.uk.
She skipped a grade, he flunked out of boarding school
and so, they met as sophomores, feral and edgy
like a Berlin disco. Many years later, he still recalls
sad blue eyes and the small of her back.
Her bright yellow dress feeling stiff and new
like their first slow-dance.
Matthew lives in Maine near a lake. He is very fortunate and sometimes lucky. He wishes our world was a happy place.