Flash Fiction

  • Toil and Trouble

    Witch Wandita hurled the Book of Mythology across the dungeon. “Bah,” she cursed. “Gods? Wizards? Hairy toed Hobbits? Witches should rule the worlds. Without our cunning and intellect, they’re nothing. Nothing.” She shuffled across the stone floor, reached for her potions bible and flicked through the tattered pages. “Ah,” she exclaimed. She jabbed her bony…

  • Jumper

    Grandma used her knitting needles as weapons, viciously stabbing the air as she catalogued my shortcomings. Her fingers pulled the yarn as tight as a hangman’s noose. Dorothy From Next Door listened and sadly shook her head. Grandma’s jumpers had buttons on the shoulders, implying my head was larger than other children’s or my dressing…

  • Three Hundred Words

    300 word writing competition. That’s what it says here in the paper, George.  Might give that a go.  Though that’s not many words. How can you tell a story with so few? And do numbers count as words? 300 words: more than a tweety, isn’t that what our Tracey calls them? And it’s longer than…

  • Bubble

    In the park, she watched it float up and up, the largest bubble she’d ever seen. A massive orb glinting with hints of rainbow colours. She couldn’t work out where it had come from. This didn’t surprise her. She had little idea of many things these days. A few years back, so much had seemed…

  • Ending and Beginning

    Breathe in, breathe out. Step into the cramped, crowded waiting room. Take a seat; take another breath.  Look at the clock, look at the receptionist, look at the screaming child throwing a tantrum two seats over. Try to stay calm. Get up quietly when the nurse calls you back; keep your eyes to the floor….

  • Smoke Screen

    She dashed around the house. She was in the kitchen, then up on the landing and in the bathroom in under 15 seconds, sprinting like a runner. “Keys.” she screamed at her husband. He rocked their infant son, looked at her a little dazed. “Where are you taking off to?” he asked. She tore at…

  • Time Lies

    I wake at eleven, only it isn’t. The numbers which assure me of the time have lied. I’ve gained, or lost an hour, in the uncertain darkness of night. My lazy lie-in quickly turns into an early morning. I curse the clock for its deceit. The rhythmic passing of seconds can no longer be trusted….

  • Minnie

    Her name was Minnie. That was all. Just Minnie. No surname or nickname like the others had, just a single word. Clean. Perfect. She stood with her back against the wall, a long-handled spoon in her mouth reflecting the blinding rays of the sun. An empty yoghurt carton lay at her feet. She viewed the…

  • Home Time

    I’m waiting for the evening carer; it’s an agency these days.  I don’t know what time she’ll come. But you can be sure she’ll be in a rush, pulling on those disposable gloves making that smacking noise. Makes my teeth go on edge. I don’t like the rubber against my skin.  The one this morning…