Posts Tagged ‘Guest Contributor’
Jul
The Chariot
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Pale reaching hands slipped below powdered ash and blood-soaked mud, pressing tighter to the earth, seeking salvation in the grave-like ditch. War thundered overhead as gunpowder sparked and chorused above. The soldier turned his silver eyes over the mud—to the cemetery of barbed wire and bruised corpses.
A high-pitched scream wailed distantly from two warring steeds tethered together. He watched the blood-stained Roan shriek and kick as it fell into the sea of barbed wire; the moon-kissed Arabian jolted from the tearing spikes, her gas mask hanging from bloodied leather, not knowing whether to die quietly or while struggling.
From Guest Contributor Mikayla E. Gruber
Mikayla is currently writing a fantasy/sci-fi novel and studying English and German at Pikes Peak Comunity College. She is also working towards a CPDT-KA Certification.
Jul
I Should’ve Known Better
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The sweat is dripping down my neck. I chug water to quench my thirst,
but it doesn’t alleviate my heated body. Why did I promise my wife I’d
plant the basil seeds today? Why? Because I’m an idiot and she knows it.
If I have a heart attack, all she’ll care about is the garden.
I finally finish up and brush myself off. I can’t wait to feel the cool
shower on my body.
“Did you finish up outside?”
“Yes, Dear, the planting is done.”
Now I know better than to have an affair with another woman in our
house.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Jul
Preventing Regret
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The road was empty at two in the morning and felt like a different world.
“We should…go to the strip club…” Jim said slurring his words.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “His wife would kill him. He’d probably screw up.”
“It’s coming up…Just…take us.”
“I’m not so certain.”
“Drop me off and I’ll…I’ll Uber home.”
He hit my arm and pointed. I fiddled through every pre-set radio station.
“Looks like we missed it,” I said.
Two days later we were golfing.
“Thanks for not leaving me there the other night.”
“I didn’t think you remembered that.”
From Guest Contributor Steve Colori
Jul
Possibly Stephen
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The writer stared at the page, expecting inspiration to spring at him from the fibres of the old-style reporters’ notebook.
Words trickled…gushed…cascaded. He ripped the page out, rolled it into a tight ball and chucked. It bounced off the bin, thran as the incorporeal muse.
“What was wrong with that?” she asked, form flickering in the draught.
“It was in Latin,” he spat.
She giggled a bit. “Sorry, my mind wandered. I know, how about–?”
“Look, could you put on something less filmy. It’s distracting. Tired, not dead.”
“Tweeds okay?”
He nodded, and wrote Misery.
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
Jul
Endless Love
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
He holds her close to him, the same way he has for over 70 years. She fights him and pulls away, she doesn’t know him. He doesn’t know not being with her. They were born the same day and grew up two houses apart, married once it was legal. He would visit her every day before it became too difficult. Then he moved into a room in the same care facility to be close to her. He still visits every day. He still eats meals with her. She still has no idea who he is. His is an endless love.
From Guest Contributor NT Franklin
NT has been published in Page and Spine, Fiction on the Web, 101 Words, Madswirl, Postcard Shorts, 404 Words, Scarlet Leaf Review, Freedom Fiction, Burrst, Entropy, Alsina Publishing, Fifty-word stories, among others.
Jul
A Beautiful Day For A Stroll
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I strolled down the street enjoying the spring air. Birds chirped, and
squirrels crossed my path. What a beautiful day for a walk.
“Hey, Bree,” a voice yelled from across the street.
It was Myra. A nice person, but too verbose.
“Guess what, I got a job at Smith & Smith. I start next Monday. Isn’t
that great! I can’t wait until I tell my boyfriend Hank. He’ll be so
excited. Do you want to get coffee? I could really use a cup.”
“Got to go, Myra. Good luck.”
“Are you sure you don’t want…”
My stroll became a jog.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Jul
The Golden Thread Part Two
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“What is that? I can’t see. Some sweet jungle flower. Are we getting close?”
“No, it is poetry, a copycat fragrance to lure butterflies. It is carnivorous. Stay back—”
“Those are my words on the vines! God, those electric blue letters! Let’s read—”
“Don’t—”
“Why? ‘Once upon a time I died. I crucified myself on a ladder made from the bones of birds, hollow, not yet cleaned by cannibals or the sun, yet flightworthy by nature.’ I wrote that.”
“The vines will strangle you, make you blind, make you forget why you are here. And then you drop the thread.”
From Guest Contributor Brook Bhagat
Brook’s poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and humor have appeared in Empty Mirror Magazine, Little India, Dămfīno, Nowhere Poetry, Rat’s Ass Review, Peacock Journal, A Story in 100 Words, Anthem: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, and other journals and anthologies, and are forthcoming in MoonPark Review and Almagre. She has completed a full-length poetry manuscript, is writing a novel, and is editor-in-chief of Blue Planet Journal. She holds an MFA from Lindenwood University and teaches creative writing at a community college. More at brook-bhagat.com
Jul
Conquest Sapiens
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Winter today felt like death. Sor glared at the obvious trail leading to his concealment.
The scentless pale race had carried out a callous pogrom against his kind. He was the last. They’d extracted the cave tribe like so many snails from their shells.
The speed and nature of the slaughter had appalled. Herded into a clear space, Gargar and her people had seemed to shrink, then vanish in light when the captors had waved short sticks in their direction.
Better to die fighting.
Sor tensed. Someone– His crouching body disintegrated.
“The planet’s sterilized,” the marine announced over her com.
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
Jul
End Of An Era
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I never heard my grandfather say a cross word to my grandmother. They never had an argument. Love and devotion from another era.
She started fading and could not take care of herself; he was there.
She stopped recognizing him; he wouldn’t leave her side.
She needed more care than he could give so she moved into a facility; he moved in to be with her.
She faded from his sight after 63 years and 37 days of wedded bliss. I watched him cry for the first time that day.
I buried my grandfather and grandmother on the same day.
From Guest Contributor NT Franklin
Jun
The Lessons
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Lydia played the piano hoping that would make her parents smile. Her daddy broke some furniture. He bought an accordion and she took lessons. He kicked the dog. Her parents came to see her dance recital. Her daddy yelled at her mama for flirting with a man. He gave her a black eye. Lydia took swimming lessons. Her daddy took her fishing and threw her in the lake yelling “Swim.” She went down down down to the murky bottom where a huge whiskered catfish blinked at her. It was very peaceful. She came up and swam away from the boat.
From Guest Contributor Sandra Ramos O’Briant