Posts Tagged ‘Guest Contributor’
Aug
Skin
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
In the weeks after her mother died, Pamela had no skin. Everything was surface—every twitching nerve, every gush of bile. When Creepy Carl told her to smile as he dropped off his rent check, her lips peeled back to the bone.
At home, she told Ben: I know about the girl you’ve been fucking for the last four months. Your intern. In our God damn bed.
Come on, baby, he said, it wasn’t like that.
But it was. She wouldn’t have her raw insides sheathed in lies. She slept in the guest room, on top of the blankets, oozing resentment.
From Guest Contributor Carrie Cook
Carrie received her MA in Creative Writing from Kansas State University and is currently living in Colorado. Her work has appeared in The Columbia Review, Midwestern Gothic, Menacing Hedge, and Bartleby Snopes.
Aug
Loner
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Worst thing about having a drunken Da who pissed people off was that Malachy tended to suffer from ‘trickle-down’ syndrome: friendships nurtured in his own child-like manner evaporating as parents infected would-be playmates with their contempt for his father.
He crouched over the little burn on farmland close to his suburban home watching the tadpoles emerge from frogspawn, eager to claim a hopper for his very own.
There was a sizeable puddle in his backyard courtesy of poor drainage.
The leprous ache inside expanded to form tundra.
Still, it was quiet, and the symphony of wind and wildlife was wonderful.
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
Aug
Rex
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Marvin is out cold after his drink is spiked.
He wakes up to a group of men around him laughing. The men hate shapeshifters. Each of Marvin’s limbs is tied with rope, the ropes attached to bulldozers.
The signal is given and the bulldozers pull away at the same time.
Marvin is stretched to eight meters, then twenty. At forty meters Marvin snaps into pieces and dies.
Clark the shapeshifter gets there too late. Clark transforms into a T. Rex and says, “Hear you’re looking for me.”
Clark will avenge the death of his best friend, Marvin the Elastic Man.
From Guest Contributor Denny E. Marshall
Jul
Give Me Words, Paint Me Colours
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“Tell me words that describe your universe,” she begs, “give me images for what I can’t see.”
“How? Your eyes only detect thirty-eight colours; I count them in thousands.”
She shakes her head and bends to kiss my hands. She knows I don’t have them, but she’s happy with the illusion. It’s another truth she searches for.
“Let me share your reality.”
Not a chance, I think, but I can’t force myself to say it. “I’ll try, human.”
For the sake of our impossible love, for that morning when your world remained silent, for the memory of a destroyed planet.
From Guest Contributor Russell Hemmell
Russell is an alien from Mintaka snuggled into a (consenting) human host. Recent fiction on Gone Lawn, Not One of Us, Typehouse Literary Journal, and elsewhere.
Jul
The Beauty Of Summertime
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Sarah sat on the beach swooshing her toes through the hot sand. In the near distance, two young girls were building a sand castle, arguing about who was the better swimmer. Sarah turned up the radio and tuned them out. She closed her eyes and let the warm ocean breeze sooth her tension. With a smile on her face she listened to the waves, in between her favorite songs.
“What a beautiful day,” she said.
Within minutes the sun disappeared and it began to thunder and lightning. Seconds later Sarah was drenched and running to her car, the day ruined.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Jul
Credit Card Points
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I saw the beauty, but didn’t realize the character wasn’t worthy.
We were in a restaurant when she smiled and said lets go for a movie after lunch. It seemed like a good plan. I nodded and paid for the heavy Indian meal. We saw the Bollywood movie while stuffing ourselves with caramel corn, nachos, and soda. I was taxed.
Afterwards she wanted to go shopping. She liked many things, but bought only a dozen of them. She also got stuff for her family. I had by now earned 500 credit card points and sageness. She talked about women’s equality.
From Guest Contributor Manmeet S Chadha.
Manmeet is an alumunus from The London School of Economics & Political Science. He works in India as an Economist & Writer.
Jul
Sunday Morning
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Polystyrene-on-glass calls pause. Unknown bird waits. Magpie’s hoarse rattle bobs upon chill breeze, followed by one clipped caw. Wind and distant slumber.
Dog yelp, muffled by intervening streets, punctuates keyboard-click.
Repeated.
Nothing.
Wheeze of diesel engine and hiss of pneumatic tyres upon Tarmac cue pair of voices in garbled conversation, growing as they near.
The dog dips paw into arena of proper barking before relenting, wounded by unanimous indifference.
Then…timeless chorus of seagulls.
All cede to a hesitant wind under sombre sky.
Footfalls.
Children’s voices shatter tableau, announcing subdued urgency of Sunday morning.
Bleakness prevails, yet wind chimes sound.
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
Jul
Drooley
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
We named our new bulldog pup, Drooley, in honor of never-ending slobbering. As he matured, Drooley’s slobbering grew worse. Navigating through our house was like running a gauntlet of huge slime spots that Drooley slung on floors and walls every time he shook his head.
We took Drooley to our vet who laughed when she measured the prodigious amount of slobber that Drooley produced, but she couldn’t recommend any measures to reduce it.
Desperate, we invented our own cure. We added alum to Drooley’s food.
A week later, we celebrated our brilliant discovery by giving Drooley a new name, Pucker.
From Guest Contributor Dave Harper
Dave is a recovering software developer who now finds himself addicted to writing fiction.
Jul
The Mortar
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“Captain Stevens you normally don’t get so upset by attacks, what’s under your skin?” Sergeant Cordova asked in a mock-respectful tone.
“I was watching 1408,” I responded.
“The horror movie with Matthew Broderick?”
“It was John Cusack, but yes.”
“It’s based on the Stephen King story?”
“Yes.”
“Alone, at night, in Iraq?”
“Yes.”
“A few life tips, Sir… don’t give your ex-wife the keys to your Camaro, don’t dismount after getting hit by an unknown attacker, and the most important…”
“What’s the most important thing?”
“Don’t watch a horror movie alone, at night, in Iraq, with all due respect…Sir.”
From Guest Contributor Terry Brunt
Jul
A Special Bond
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I’m sitting on the couch with Lucy on my lap and Breanna running laps around the living room. My Shih-Tzus, my furry friends.
Lucy is older than Breanna, but smaller. She stands her ground when Breanna gets out of line with a fierce growl. Breanna plays with every toy, while Lucy enjoys curling up on my lap or turning over for a stomach rub.
Breanna is in constant motion. When her batteries finally run out, she plops down, wags her golden tail and Lucy watches on with her big brown eyes.
I love them. My furry friends, my furry daughters.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher