Posts Tagged ‘Eyes’
Jun
Who Cared?
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Robots Contest Entry:
He tinkered for a year, ignoring his phone and only leaving the house for Wacko Wake or the hardware store. The rest was delivered.
The garage was littered with tools and metal shards. The WiFi flicked on for two hours each night so he could comb websites.
His friends had given up on him. Who cared? He was done. Done with living like an open wound, a scrap of plastic blown in someone else’s breeze.
Finally, it was time. He flipped the switch and felt an electric jolt. The eyes lit up. The battery hummed.
Then it spoke. “Yes, master?”
From Guest Contributor Faye Rapoport DesPres
May
The Dig
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
A woman’s voice beneath the ash and rubble signals me. I tell her to keep talking and follow the sound, digging, my hands and arms aching.
“We’re almost there,” I say, gasping, dripping sweat and thirsty.
One of my workmen approaches. “Ben, she won’t survive long if we don’t get her out soon.”
“Keep digging,” I say.
An image appears and to my stunned eyes, I see a protruding stomach. She has lost consciousness and is covered in earth. I get her onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.
I take the shovel and begin digging for the next victim.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Apr
Close Call
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The traffic light turned amber. On any other day Geoff would have braked, but today something compelled him to floor the accelerator.
His wife, Janet, looked over, alarmed. “What are you doing?”
Grim-faced, Geoff focused on the road ahead. The light went red. Janet covered her eyes as the car shot through the intersection.
Safely on the other side, Geoff eased off on the accelerator and breathed out.
“What was that all about?” Janet asked.
Geoff was lost for words.
Glancing in the mirror, his jaw dropped as he watched a jack-knifing lorry careering into stationary cars at the intersection.
From Guest Contributor David Lowis
Mar
You Took The Sunshine When You Left
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
My world consisted of captivating sunshine, the kind that seeps into your skin and leaves your soul hopeful. Fresh mountain air, fresh rain on the pavement where my glory days still reign. The leaving hurt. The remnants of you mark my eyes with devastating longing. The sun went into hiding and the blue birds no longer flutter past my window. Leaving hurt. I no longer see the serenity of tomorrow in a golden haze, but dark. Destined for loneliness. The hope of loving you has become yet another long lost dream that the sandman refuses to leave at my door.
From Guest Contributor Courtney Alvarez
Courtney is a student at Pikes Peak Community College who loves writing, reading, and photography.
Mar
Haunted
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
We lived in that house, but we died in it too. It ravished the souls of the living and confined those of the dead. We lived with our eyes closed, but we died with them open. It took us slowly, a gradual disorientation of the senses. We lived far too short, but we died ages ago. It trapped us with a treacherous hive mind, seduced by the whispers in the walls. We lived apart, but we died together. It didn’t hurt and it won’t hurt for you. I watch at the edge of your bed; the ghoul in the shadows.
From Guest Contributor Margaret Gleason
Currently, Margaret Gleason attends Pikes Peak Community College, but has dreams of writing, coding, and drawing her own video games.
Dec
Hard To Swallow
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
We take the caddy everywhere; it is a modern Grand Tour.
During our European escapades my brother was the fourth cavalier, so we are retracing our trip of a lifetime: Oslo, Paris and Tuscany; Ljubljana and Granada.
Back in England, my wife welcomes us before we leave for the final destination: Bibury, the most beautiful village in England.
She makes steaming mugs of tea and we toast my friend, my brother, tears welling in our eyes. Then it is time to move, and I pick up the caddy.
It’s empty. He’s gone.
My wife is ashen-faced.
And we turn green.
From Guest Contributor Hugh Cartwright
Dec
Soldier’s Return
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
It’s been years since I could feel my wife’s hands on my body, and I can’t wait to lay next to her in bed caressing her soft skin.
I didn’t know what to give my kids for Christmas, so I made a collage of all the letters and pictures my son and daughter sent me. I made the same gift for my wife, but with a personal touch, for her eyes only. Their pictures and letters helped keep me strong through the long war.
The bus has come to a stop.
The three of them are here, smiling, anxiously waiting.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Dec
Soldier
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The soldier’s leg is broken in two places, but he’s courageous and doesn’t scream. As I’m cleaning the wound, he grabs my arm.
“I won’t be fighting again, will I?”
I gently remove his hand. “I’m afraid not. You’ll be heading home. Your mother will be overjoyed to see you.”
He kisses my hand and looks into my eyes. “At least in this hell, I got to see a beautiful nurse to remember.”
I follow his stare, then lean in and kiss his forehead. “Take care, soldier.”
The sepsis will soon kill him, and he’ll return home in a coffin.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Nov
The Moment In My Pocket
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Even in your tight orbit of busy and work and home there are moments whose skin slips, crumbles like the dry shell of a red onion, and a person is laid bare in your hands. It stains your fingers, stings your eyes: your sister, a stranger. A student, mother of four, six-month chip in her pocket, stepping off the cliff edge of giving up
but you catch her hand just in time
and you hold the sphere of this moment,
paint it, polish it, and keep it safe
in your pocket
to show to someone
who might give up tomorrow.
From Guest Contributor Brook Bhagat
Brook’s poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and humor have appeared in Monkeybicycle, Empty Mirror Magazine, Rat’s Ass Review, and other journals and anthologies. She is a founding editor of Blue Planet Journal. She is the 2020 winner of A Story in 100 Words’ nature writing contest, and the 2021 winner of Loud Coffee Press’s microfiction contest. She is an assistant professor of English at Pikes Peak Community College and is writing a novel. Her poetry collection, Only Flying, is due out Nov. 16, 2021 from Unsolicited Press. See the book trailer, read her work, and find out about in-person and virtual book launch events at https://brook-bhagat.com/.
Nov
Dead Weight
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Eloise had been silent the whole trip back.
“If you’re still upset about what we revealed on Pan-Gu, all’s golden, alright?”
She stared at Armand blankly. The whole galley did. He pulled the craft into the space station miles above Jupiter. A station security officer greeted them.
“No one talking to me? Suit yourselves,” and Armand stepped down the gangway, past the security officer. “One of my crew will sign your documents.”
He stormed off.
The young officer leaned inside the craft. The stench made his eyes water. He saw five pairs of eyes staring around him, jaws hanging slack.
From Guest Contributor S.R Malone