Jun
A Killer
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I should have sensed him as I entered the room, guessed that he was crouched in the corner silently watching me. As I reached for a bowl he dashed out from his hiding place. I shrieked as I brought the bowl down repeatedly onto his body. I didn’t stop until his insides spilled out beyond the edges of his cool smooth skin. His head was pressed over the edge of the sink in an unnatural position, as if dreaming of escape from a deranged woman wielding a bowl. I’m a killer; this unfortunate salamander’s life taken in five horrible blows.
From Guest Contributor Natashia Smith
Natashia writes poetry and flash fiction. She has been published at: 50-Word Stories, Friday Flash Fiction and Postcard Shorts.
Jun
Double Down
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Dave peered from his bunker across the smoldering horizon. He refused to cry.
That charred skeleton of masonry and rebar had once been home. People he knew had died in those streets, now nothing more than corpses and ruin.
After the initial wave of destruction came the pestilence and blight. The rotting skin and miracle pleas suggested a biblical retribution was at hand. The metaphor was on everyone’s lips, but Dave clamored against it. He blamed the whining snowflakes who refused to accept they had lost.
Dave remained certain. This outcome was still better than if she had been elected.
Jun
Tableau
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The protracted screaming was unnerving. I thought a rat had been caught by one of the local dogs allowed loose around the estate. It was Creggan in the nineties, where all sorts of mixed breeds roamed freely.
I pushed aside the lace curtain and gaped.
Pinning a dunnock to the ground with its talons, a sparrowhawk majestically scanned for potential interruption, its ribbed breast an exotic cuirass.
I caught its eye, heart strained in macabre tug-of-war between awe and horror at the continuing shrieks.
The raptor blinked like its distant ancestor, stooped, and ripped the voice from the little hedge-sparrow.
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
May
Nothing To Spare
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Yours? Mine? Arguments. Ideologies differ. Attempt to build bridge between us. Links missing. Structure collapses. Earth? Water? No collaboration. Excuses made. Stubbornness. Misunderstandings. Light? Dark? We try meeting at middle ground. Concluding we can’t agree. Not in thought, time or space. Coffee’s gone cold. I mind. He doesn’t. Ketchup smeared on fridge door. I wipe off. Mustard appears. Grass is greener over there, he says. I don’t care. I prefer wildflowers. He repaints the scene with concrete. I’m younger, by two years exact. Can hardly wait for… Brother leaves for college. Forgets his toothbrush. I throw it into his room.
From Guest Contributor Krystyna Fedosejevs
Krystyna writes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Published at: Nailpolish Stories, 50-Word Stories, 100 word story, 101 Words, Boston Literary Magazine, From the Depths (Haunted Waters Press), ShortbreadStories, SixWordMemoirs, and Espresso Stories.
May
One Last Sunrise
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Carl awoke to the escalating chorus of songbirds echoing through the dense northeastern forest. He arose and went through his morning ritual in silence. Dress and redon boots. Rehydrate and consume breakfast, coffee. Breakdown camp. Load his backpack.
These same activities he had performed for countless summers, now at a slower more deliberate pace.
The sealed cardboard box was left out of his pack today. He would carry it the last few miles in his hands.
Arriving at their unnamed peak, he savored the sunrise view east. Opening the box, he sprinkled her remains. Finally, at peace. Finally, at home.
From Guest Contributor Todd Raubenolt
May
Unrequited
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Soft and warm, her diamond-drill eyes cut through troubles to allow her molten laughter to fill his heart.
She moved like a leopard and, when her thighs brushed innocently, nerve endings tingled with an indescribable charge.
Wanting her more than breath, his eyes often sought the smooth valley beneath her throat, desire locking his tongue until…too late, leaving him to pounce at the desiccated dust eddies in her wake.
Fleeting shards of opportunity teased like mirages, requiring more energy and know-how than his aging, wounded, soul possessed.
She’d offered him a photo once. He’d declined. 2D simply wasn’t enough.
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
May
Metro Miracle Man
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I’m tired. Every day I clean the floors, the toilets, empty the trash. After work, on the Metro, I see all the people sitting there, all the sad faces, tired faces, and think, okay people, it’s your lucky day—today is Miracle Day, people, what do you want?
I close my eyes—five, ten minutes. When I open them, the people are smiling. All their faces are changed because I have that power to change their lives. I look them over again and I am very happy. I close my eyes and say to myself, I am the Miracle Man.
From Guest Contributor Jeff Nazzaro
May
The Rant In The Lamp
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
In my perfect prison of smooth, curving walls, I dread the serpentine rope, curling on the bottom of the well.
No escape by that plaited ladder. It is a sucking wick, a path to punishment above in the glass panopticon, where they burn me alive.
With my light, without their night, those heedless animals cook and sing and flirt, while I, burning, dwindle and darken the glass.
I have suffered long in this prison well, and I have chosen my end. Once I am no more than soot and foul air, with my last, dry gasps, I will poison them.
From Guest Contributor Virginia Marybury
May
The Origin Of Myth
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
As far back as anyone can remember, Lulumak stole. When he was young, the elders told Lulumak’s parents that this was a sign of intelligence but once he matured into warriorhood, the elders warned Lulumak that he would be punished if he stole again. A day after Lulumak was warned, Chinoon caught him stealing fish from Yellow Hair’s net. The next day a few elders told Lulumak they discovered a rich fishing area and invited him to fish with them. When the elders returned without Lulumak, they told the tribe that Nanal, the monster, had eaten Lulumak for his sin.
From Guest Contributor Dave Harper
Dave, a recovering software developer, now finds himself addicted to writing fiction.
May
Abort
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Aliens set a stealth orbit around the planet. They plan to attack and destroy Earth.
First they orbit and scan all commutation signals. After doing this for four Earth days, they met to go over final plans. The meeting includes all officers. The meeting is short and all are in agreement. The minutes are read by a computer, “It is a unanimous decision the plan to destroy Earth will not go forward. The earthlings are doing a very good job on their own.”
The aliens depart. Their spacecraft speeds toward the next destination, the next planet with life to destroy.
From Guest Contributor Denny E. Marshall