Posts Tagged ‘Hell’

20
Oct

The Long Battle

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

The heat has taken its toll on my men and the tents smell of sweat and rotting flesh. The battle raged taking many of my soldiers, still left in the trenches, their corpses exposed.

I take refuge in my own tent and remove my wife’s letter from my uniform pocket where I’ve kept it for the last month, her encouraging words the only solace to get me through this hell of a war. The scent of her fragrance has worn, but I envision her beautiful smile.

A loud explosion startles me. I inadvertently drop the letter and run for cover.

From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher

19
Jul

Time Passing Away

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

Time passing. The events to come? A wild nightmare or biblical prophecy? They knew the time traveler to the committee as the long hauler. Why? He had gone to the very doorsteps of hell and back. What had he learned? Hell was not such a dangerous place up to a certain point. And then? Then everything was what I thought the hell of. The point of no return. All your dreams could happen at the cost of your soul or spirit?

How close had he gotten? Moments of two galaxies colliding within a blink of your eyes. To see the end.

From Guest Contributor Clinton Siegle

2
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

28
Apr

Rassolnik

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

“Minsk?” Her mouth was agape.

“You’re damn right Minsk! And maybe even the countryside while we’re at it!” His voice firm, eyes steady.

“But I want to go on vacation! What the hell is in Belarus? Why can’t we go to Vegas?” she was indignant.

“It’s quiet in Minsk…I think. It looks like we can have a nice, peaceful time for once. Also, I want to try Rassolnik” he trailed off a bit, looking away.

“What is Rassel-nek?” she shot back.

He hesitated before answering “It’s a soup they make there…it has pickles in it”.

“I hate you,” she said.

From Guest Contributor B. Frederick Foley

B. Frederick Foley is a poet, writer, and editor at www.militaryflashfiction.com. A former Navy Intelligence officer, he now spends his time living between Anchorage and Kasilof, Alaska with his wife and three children. His poetry and flash fiction have been published in several online literary journals.

24
Feb

The Second Death

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

You stare into the void but all you can see are ashes of human softness. The stars have succumbed to the flames and fires of an unnatural world you tried to hide from. Hell smells like spices, smoke, and sweetness. It welcomes you. Like the stars you stand at the edge, riveted by the darkness, knowing it is now time for you to join them. Heaven is but an illusory dream, and you know its false promises no longer hold grandeur. There will be no time to wish for a way out. You too will succumb. You too will fall.

From Guest Contributor Elizabeth Grace

24
Jul

The Lottery Jackpot

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

“You know what I’d do if we ever win the Lottery Jackpot,” she says while she crumples this week’s ticket.

I’ve heard this before. She’ll start summing up wild and expensive dreams, each time leaving out some she no longer desires, but adding a few new extravaganzas.

“…south of France. An electric car, we’ve talked about this. It’s the latest fashion – we should definitely own one. Quit our jobs, obviously. And you won’t have to mow the lawn of that young widow twice a week any more.”

I sure as hell hope we never win that freaking Lottery Jackpot.


From Guest Contributor Hervé Suys

Hervé (°1968 – Ronse, Belgium) started writing short stories whilst recovering from a sports injury and hasn’t stopped since.

30
Apr

Sick World

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

It’s like a post-apocalyptic movie. A usually bustling city is eerily vacant. Essential supplies have come to include liquor, guns, and toilet paper. Who isn’t secretly embarrassed? Around midnight I take a puzzle apart just for the hell of it. The next morning my department holds a Zoom session on how to prevent cheating in online classes. Other professors mention they also have been having strange dreams. In mine, I’m eating Crown Fried Chicken on a bench while eyeballs the size of boulders roll across the grass and dirt, and a woman I recognize from TV weeps into her hands.

From Guest Contributor Howie Good

Howie Good is the author of What It Is and How to Use It (2019) from Grey Book Press, among other poetry collections.

17
Jul

The Knock

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

There’s a knocking on the spaceship door when there shouldn’t have been. For Chris-sake, I’m umpteen millions of miles from anywhere and here’s this knocking. It’s deliberate, and it’s the all too common knock of: knock, tiddly-knock-knock, knock knock. Is this a space hallucination? I’ve heard of them, but hell’s bells, I’ve only been up here for 50 days, surely it couldn’t happen as soon as this. Oh, mother, it’s peering in the port-hole now and looks just like me. I do feel a bit lonely now, maybe we could get along. I’ve just got to get this hatch open…

From Guest Contributor Len Mooring

17
Mar

Forever In Sunset

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

Seamus liked this time of day for visiting Breige. It seemed fitting.

She’d enjoyed sitting outside in her Yorkshire Fiddleback, just under the scullery window, breathing in the satisfied air of a full day’s work done as the chickens clucked down the hours to twilight.

She’d watch the sun set across the farm.

“Hell of an old gal,” Seamus sighed, manoeuvring to stand in the spot, watching his shadow sweep along the cemetery path.

The sun dipped, sending the shade of her headstone growing alongside his until it was shoulder to shoulder.

He reached out, smiling as the shadows embraced.

From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid

15
Dec

Last-Minute Shoppers

by thegooddoctor in 100 Words

“Wrapping paper! Ha, ha!”

Shoppers passed by clutching rolls of it.

“Fancy spending Christmas Eve wrapping presents!” Ian thought, reflecting on how he’d finished his yesterday.

“My God, they’re fighting over chocolates,” he sneered, observing a couple of housewives tugging the ends of a Milk Tray box in Howell’s Department Store.

He resolved to have a latte in Starbucks to fully savour the spectacle before the shops finally closed.

“Chocolates?!…Christ, I forgot the wife’s chocolates!”

Ian rushed out of the café.

“Where the hell can I find some now?” he thought, seeing the doors of Howell’s snap shut.

From Guest Contributor Ian Fletcher