Mary busied herself with the upstairs bedroom. Her and John hadn’t had over night company in a long time. Not since Johnny Jr’s accident, anyway. She had moved some empty boxes from one corner to the other when she heard the noise from the kitchen. She didn’t think anything of it at first. But the second time was louder and…
Category: flash fiction
Created by FlashDogs in 2016, #vss365 participants write a tweet-sized short story based on a daily word prompt. Originally planned to last one year, the prompts are now given out by a new host every month, each with their own unique style and word choices. The hosts were originally scheduled by Voimaoy until the start of 2020, when Arthur Unk took over host scheduling.
Most word prompts come from https://vss365today.com/
monster at the edge of my bed
There’s a monster that lives at the edge of my bed. While I’m asleep, I sometimes wake to the feeling of his fingernails pricking my toes. Like little needles finding a vein. Whenever I feel it, I pull my feet up to my chest and reach down to rub them. It only takes a few moments before they feel normal…
gift
The Visitors left planet Earth in a rush of frustration. They were surprised by how difficult it was for us to come to a conclusion in a single issue. They came to help us but we did what we always do. When they left, it was without a parting gift. A meteor struck the middle west of America with a…
tower
“We could just burn it down,” the ogre spouted his one tooth sticking out further than his pig nose. Gilpin looked up at him from his crouched position. The cliff they were on looked down into a chasm where a tower sat quietly. Their final destination after a long journey through worse than rough terrain. “Burn it down? Just like…
floor
The reproduction pod doors opened and my new body fell to the floor on hands and knees. My new lungs took their first breath and I could feel my blood pump through my heart for the first time. My head stung and moved to the top of my spine down my lower back. The drug rush finished off in my…
Creature
We settled in for what was becoming a late night. The swamp air hung low and Jodie would occasionally swat flies from her face. The haze started to sting my eyes. Jodie caught me squinting and offered help. “There’s some bottled water in the cooler if you want to rinse your eyes out,” she suggested. I shook my head. “It’s…
fractal
Jamie looked up at the sky in that moment. From each stretching point he could see turned black in a matter of seconds. He’d never seen anything like it. He tried to hail the ship once again but no one answered. Static shot through his earpiece as lightning erupted in a fractal in the darkened sky. No one would be…
set
Jet. The feel of steel on steel. The wheel on hot asphalt. The dodging of crowded sidewalks and gridlocked streets. The wind in your face. The smell of the heat. Set. The city is alive. The concrete jungle is breathing and I, it’s keeper. It doesn’t sleep. It is all consuming and many have fallen into the mouth of the…
transitive
The doctor walked into the lab, coffee in hand, the day’s paper under his arm. He smelled of last night’s beer bottles and stale cigarettes. The lab assistant shook the smell from her nose “How are we looking today, lab assistant?” the doctor asked. The lab assistant fluffed her notes from the previous night and put on a fake smile. …
existential
Our minds bleed through the walls of the existential as the drugs hit us with full force in the third act. I gripped the chairs arm rest and played tricks to keep me from going over the edge. You learn early on that if you can’t handle the ride, the ride handles you. There were reports of people falling over…