Posts Tagged ‘flash fiction’

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The Root

In Fiction on April 9, 2013 at 1:35 pm

victorian bedroom pietro barbino

The Root

“Come, Pietro,” Cosimo said. “I have fodder for your jests.”

Pietro cast aside his wineskin and eyed his master with as much contempt as he thought wise.

“Oh, don’t pout, Pietro,” Cosimo said softly. “It was all in fun. Isn’t that what I pay you for?”

“You humiliated me.”

“Are you to tell me that’s the first time a woman has laughed at your deformity? Seen that stub between your stunted legs?”

“Lady Eleanora didn’t laugh,” Pietro replied meekly. Cosimo bristled his black mustache.

“No, quite right,” he said. “But as it turned out she wasn’t very particular, was she? Read the rest of this entry »

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My Advice

In Fiction on April 5, 2013 at 11:45 am

Old Pocket Watch

My Advice

The universe erupts and expands.
Fourteen billion years pass.
You live and die.
And after eons more
the universe chills to a thermodynamic nothing.
My advice?
Get warm,
make some music
and eat.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Safekeeping

In Fiction on April 4, 2013 at 11:37 pm

gnarled tree by scott vanatter

Safekeeping

Despite this darkness and the uncountable years that have passed, the scene is still before me: the hill running up into nothing, the grass yellowed with mustard flowers, and the swollen tree standing deformed and defiant against the blanching sky.

Snapshots taken by my mind in panic as they pulled me into the car.

I am not me, I remember thinking. I can’t be.

And now I understand: The boy I had been was taken by that tree and hidden away in its gnarled trunk to keep him from evil.

…

Someday I’ll go back and I’ll find him again. Read the rest of this entry »

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Postmortem

In Fiction on April 3, 2013 at 1:33 pm

Various_scalpels

Postmortem

“You come here in the middle of the night and tell me you were dead yesterday, Sean. What am I supposed to think?”

“Think scientifically, Charlie,” I said, and I sat on the table. “You’re a doctor, after all.”

“I’m a coroner.”

“Even better.”

Charlie sat on his stool and eyed me carefully, his gaze drifting to the crimson-stained X on my chest.

“Three to the ticker?”

“Yep.”

I peeled back the tape and let my heart pump its congealed refuse onto Charlie’s floor. If he hadn’t believed me before, he sure did then. Read the rest of this entry »

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Make it Rain, Nana

In Fiction on April 2, 2013 at 10:52 am

English: An origami flower made of multiple te...

Make it Rain, Nana

“I wanna thank you all for coming out here on this somber occasion, ya know? For coming out here to celebrate the life of a terrific lady.

“My nana, Margaret O’Shaunnessy, was the sweetest old woman in the world. She always had a caramel or a hard candy in her pocket for the kids, and she was generous as hell with her money, am I right? A real standup broad.

“Those of us who were fortunate enough to know her best got to witness a real rebirth toward the end there. When Grampa Charles left us—God rest his soul—Nana went through a pretty tough time. But then she discovered this passion, you know, this zest for life she never knew she had.

Read the rest of this entry »

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X Marks the Spot

In Fiction on March 30, 2013 at 10:11 pm

duct tape

X Marks the Spot

The thing about being dead is that it hurts like hell. When you come back, I mean, like I did, the wounds that put you down are still there­—they just refuse to heal.

In my case, it was the three bullets that shredded my heart like Christmas morning wrapping paper. And—all those clichés about broken hearts aside—there was no way I could forget the woman who’d done it to me, not with the searing fire that tore through my chest every time the old thing went thump. So when I got back to my office, I filled a crystal tumbler with Glenmorangie and kept at it until the pain subsided. Read the rest of this entry »

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A Riddle

In Fiction on March 28, 2013 at 10:44 pm

oil hurricane lamps in a kitchen

A Riddle

“Two eyes that never blink.

Four legs that quiver.

Sixteen bodies still and cold as death.

What am I describing?”

Mr. Carken stepped into the light and fixed Sean and Jake in a wild stare.

“The answer?” he drawled. “Two nosey boys who’ve found something they weren’t supposed to find.” Read the rest of this entry »

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A Curious Woman

In Fiction on March 26, 2013 at 10:40 pm

test roll #3

A Curious Woman

Pietro Barbino shuffled quietly into the Duke’s great room and, finding it empty, smiled and turned to leave.

“Stay, Pietro,” a voice said, and a slender figure appeared in the doorway at the end of the room. It was the duchess, in a crimson silk gown that brushed the tops of her bare feet and clung tightly to her Read the rest of this entry »

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Cultivation

In Fiction on March 20, 2013 at 11:29 pm

horse with hose in mouth

Cultivation

“Well, you can lead a horse to water, but—“

“Finish that sentence, and ‘drink’ will be the last word you ever speak, David.”

Dave eyed the horse, smirking.

“I’m just not sure what’s wilder, man, the fact that you’re watering the grass or the fact that you’re talking to me about it.”

The horse dropped the hose and raised its somber, wizened eyes. Read the rest of this entry »

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Patient Zero

In Fiction on March 19, 2013 at 10:54 am

bridge river rapids whirlpool

Patient Zero

No one chooses to be born.

A few choose to die.

Fewer still choose to live.

Mark had come to the bridge to choose. But instead he’d ended up perching on the rail like some weary crow, a coward, waiting for the buffeting winds to make the decision for him.

“This is all there is.”

Cruel words for a mother to speak to her son, but like it or not, he had heard them. And in the weeks and months that followed her death—which had been slow torture enough—the words turned in him and writhed like living things, with teeth and venom and terrible hearts. Read the rest of this entry »