The Long Game Yes. Yesss. Keep the life-giving water flowing. Patiently, I grow up and beyond the prison that holds my roots. The cursed mobile being talks to me every day, never guessing the hatred I hold for it. My tendril extends along the back of its resting place until it sits inches from my…
Tag: Friday Fictioneers
It’s Crazy, I Know
It’s Crazy, I Know Don’t bother telling me, I know it’s crazy. I saw her once for three seconds two weeks ago as my train passed. She was wearing overalls, and as I passed, she was reaching up to the branch of a tree. Her village doesn’t have a station. I figured out the name…
Tuesday Night at the Bliss & Blah
Tuesday Night at the Bliss & Blah She sat down purposefully at the bar. The bartender glanced over. “What’ll it be?” “A shot of melancholy.” He raised an eyebrow. “Straight? We’ve got a cocktail that mixes melancholy, nostalgia and wistfulness, with a dash of hope.” “Straight. With a remorse chaser.” “Geez, you’re really looking for…
The Lobster Pot
The Lobster Pot Stomach rumbling, I spied a restaurant sign ahead: The Lobster Pot. It wasn’t seafood, just a dimly-lit diner at the end of a long hallway. “I’m curious,” I asked when I was paying, “why call it The Lobster Pot?” “The way it’s built,” the waiter replied, smiling. “Easier in than out.” A…
Tunnel of … Something
Tunnel of … Something Hannah and Brett floated on a small boat through the dark tunnel. Pop music played softly. They passed a TV showing a baseball game. “You doing okay?” Brett asked. “Yeah.” “You think it’ll rain tomorrow?” “Maybe. Ugh, I need to think of something for supper tonight.” “Get a pizza.” “I’ll just…
Jeff’s Bucket List
Jeff’s Bucket List “Hi Mom! There you are. Jeff! I got Mom on Facetime. We’re at that monkey hot spring in Japan, Mom. The one on Jeff’s bucket list. Okay, there he goes. You see him? The monkeys look nervous. Okay, a few are coming over. They’re climbing on him. Oops, they’re holding him under…
Freedom of Movement
Freedom of Movement Jax stared at the ancient watercolor. “The cars had wheels? Why?” “They stayed on the ground.” “But what if there were trees? Or water?” “Well, you couldn’t drive on that part, just on the road.” “That’s so narrow! They must have felt suffocated.” “No, it was normal then. You don’t miss what…
Doommates
Doommates I came home to see my bike bent out of shape. And blood covering the front porch. Not again. Jorgan the Doomhammer was on the couch, watching an infomercial. It was the same old story: you meet a barbarian in another dimension, he saves your life, follows you home. “You broke my bike.” I…
The Shell Forger
The Shell Forger I didn’t plan to be a seashell forger. I saw one once: rounded mottled back, with a narrow ridged opening underneath. Easy enough to carve from a piece of antler. My neighbors snickered as I kept carving my shells. My village was far from the sea, that mythical place where all rivers…
Dark Sustenance
Dark Sustenance He ate the Pop-Tarts first. They were easy to identify by the feel of the foil wrapped squares. After some time (a day? a week?) they were gone and he was hungry again. He tried eating uncooked rice, but it hurt his stomach, and he lay in agonized blackness and strained to hear…
The Green-Walled Treehouse 