Flash Fiction

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koan
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Post by koan »

I've just discovered this form of storytelling.

You have to write a complete story, with beginning, middle, and end, in 100 words or less. See what you can do. This is what I came up with today.

Ripples On Water

A pebble casually tossed upon the surface. Thrown just right, it skims across before sinking into the depths, but even the smallest stone still leaves a momentary imprint. While some have tried to build themselves into small mountains that will remain for all to see, I have been content to see how many times I can bounce towards the horizon before submitting. Just to see how far I can go. Though the ripples will fade, a few will remember my journey.
Carl44
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Post by Carl44 »

mckoan ,thats great , and very thought provoking of our lives and the little time we spend here on earth ,few will remember the ripples we have created after a generation or so of our passing even the smothest lightest of pebbles will only skim for but a short time :-6 :-6
koan
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Post by koan »

Try one.

They don't take long to write so if it isn't perfect there isn't much lost.
koan
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Post by koan »

Choices

Fate. That cord that hangs slack until we wander too far. Enough leeway I may learn from my mistakes but strong enough to bear my weight when I grasp on to pull myself forward. A soft beacon, it glows afar, yet, even when my sight is dim, I know it is there. I know not what the sum will be when I arrive, nor whether the journey has ended. And you, with your own life line spanning beside me. For my part, I will stay within reach and all you need do is touch me.
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KB.
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Post by KB. »

He walks inside, she smiles. Eyes clear, no whiskey last night. Takes his usual seat, asks if he can have one of her smokes. She looks at him like he is a fool for asking. He asks for tea, she pours it into the big glass. Extra lemon. He takes a nice long drink, and the ice rushes forward, he gets a little wet, she laughs. They talk, look, smile. He says goodbye and winks, she winks back. He walks outside, and heads home, smiles a bit. She looks out the window and follows him home with her eyes.
Life ain't linear.
koan
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Post by koan »

Nice. I bet she gets a little wet too. ;)
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KB.
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Post by KB. »

Never leave me with such an open for interpretation sentence.

Post another one, I just lost my window for sleepy time, Ill be up for awhile now, got the music going. I'll work on one myself.
Life ain't linear.
koan
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Post by koan »

My first try at it had to be about Velcro.

Velcro

It seemed all was lost. Your corpse lies somewhere with the splintered planks of the boat at the bottom of the ocean taking my hopes and dreams with you. My struggle to endure the waters was barely successful and part of me wishes I hadn't survived. Yet here, dripping on the shore, clutching my hand to my chest, I feel the sealed package of love letters you wrote me, velcroed to the inside of my jacket and forever close to my heart. In those pages our love shall never die.
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KB.
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Post by KB. »

I sit outside the chapel, fishing with the monks. They smoke camel wides, and I do as well. The pond has catfish which grow to Loch ness sized proportions. I get a bite, really wish I hadn’t; too much like work. I fight the mean, whiskered, over grown, guppy; ahh supper, it is Friday after all. I notice Brother Malcolm, late 70s, intelligent and grumpy to a fault. He has a bite as well, he fights, arthritic hands griping the cane pole. The fish breaks free, Malcolm curses in Latin, damno piscis piscis. I laugh, and give him mine.
Life ain't linear.
koan
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Post by koan »

It appears I'm in a sappy mood. I'll have to get some sleep and shake it off. Meanwhile.

Trust

Frozen in time. Hot from the sun, my eyes awash with the glow from behind my closed lids. The water dries on my skin, the sand soft beneath me, and my senses tingle. Knowing you are beside me and any moment I might feel your hand reaching out to pat my arm or close my hand in yours. As if the rest of the world has dropped away and this moment will stretch forever. Both good and bad, the memories merge into a single moment and the best part is knowing you are there without having to look.
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KB.
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Post by KB. »

How about steamy to counter the sappy?

We lay across one another, I was sick, and even though I told you not to come; here you are, with Marvin Gaye in hand, Sexual healing. No air, the humidty is thick, everything sticky, wet. Hot. I feel much better than an hour before. You are stone sober, and you smile. No words. Just light a cigarette, and as smoke rises towards the ceiling, for the second time, we simply lay there. We know it all comes to an end, very soon, but maybe another time down the line. If the words I wrote don’t steal it away.
Life ain't linear.
koan
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Post by koan »

Missing Pieces

What I needed. That's what he was and what he knew. Someone to touch me in the right places and make it okay to be touched like that again. He offered his name but I didn't take it. I didn't offer mine. We weren't ourselves. Somehow he was the glue that cemented my spirit back into my flesh again when it had been driven out by so many others. Others who knew my name. Others who made me not want a name anymore. That was the past, and when we said good-bye we were whole again.
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zinkyusa
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Post by zinkyusa »

21 Feb, 1991 somewhere in Saudi Arabia. The air raid sirens start shrieking again, the third ****ing time tonight. Everyone running for the shelters, a patriot battery launches, three silver-yellow streaks in the pitch black night. A loud explosion in the sky and blazing pieces start drifting earthward. **** man it can't be, one piece looms large and then....a bright flash followed by a boom and then..I hear the screaming start.
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.
koan
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Post by koan »

well done, zinky

It's amazing how much story can be told in so few words.
RedGlitter
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Post by RedGlitter »

You pass my table in the cafe, oblivious to my presence. You're leaving town tomorrow. I leap up, knocking over the vase containing the plastic zinnia and I start to run toward you. Then I remember...you never did call. I found out from a friend. I sit back down. I stretch out my straw wrapper and flatten it; fold it. Tearing it into tiny paper shreds.
koan
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Post by koan »

I can cross that one off the list now. I know it's garbage day but I didn't write it down. Dilemma. Should I write it so I can cross it off or is that going too far? I check my watch. Two minutes. I have about one more minute to decide then it's time for my shower. The hot water feels so nice but I can't see the clock from in here so it's hard to relax. I haven't panicked yet today. That's a start. Maybe tomorrow I'll throw out my list. But not today.
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KB.
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Post by KB. »

He dials the only number he knows by heart in this city, hey she says, whats up? He asks if it is still okay for him to come see her tomorrow, she replies well yeah. He asks if she has finished her book, and she says I am about a quarter of the way through. Cool, keep it that way. She laughs and asks if that is why he asked his question. Then asks if it gets bad. No, not where you are concerned, but bad is relative. Goodbye, I’ll see you in the morning. Can’t wait she replies.
Life ain't linear.
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KB.
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Post by KB. »

There are not enough hours in the day. I am awake for twenty out of twenty four most times, but I never seem to be ale to get enough done. The words come late and poorly when they do. They falter at the tongue, the stumble some where around the fingertips. Tired as I am. Will I ever get a chance to do just that, falter and stumble and nothing else at all?
Life ain't linear.
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KB.
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Post by KB. »

“I’m so glad you are here, I was having such a bad day.” “I’m happy to be here dear, always am.” “I missed you so much, please stay.” “You’re drunk aren’t you?” “I swear nothings wrong. I just want to look at you. I quit smoking, but please let me have one of yours. I need one right now.” “How long were you out last night, when did you stop drinking?” “I haven’t been home since Thursday except to shower. I stopped before I got to work.” “When did you get to work?” “An hour ago.” “You’re killing yourself.”
Life ain't linear.
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KB.
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Post by KB. »

Plus 35

Don't you think I've know that all along?? I stuck around, at least in some capacity. You have nothing to be sorry for. Have you lied? Not to my knowledge. Have you been unfair to anyone? I don't think so. I deserve no apology, and neither does Lauren. You didn't hurt either of us, that I know of. Granted, you've said some things over this time that haven't been exactly the nicest things, but who doesn't?

This whole situation could be a lot worse, at least from this side of it. Just don't lie to yourself about all of it. Remember the message I got before you went on your trip? Remember what you said wasn't the reason you were going? Remember the letter that you wrote when you got back? Be fair to yourself.
Life ain't linear.
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KB.
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Post by KB. »

Sid woke up with a growl; he cursed the headache he had managed to drag with him through his dreams the night before. He wasn’t supposed to remember those dreams the nights he drowned his memories in cheap vodka tonics. Here he was though, trying to forget things he had thrown in a river of cheap booze to drift past his periphery into an imagined cluster of reeds. No use trying to go back to sleep, they would be right there waiting. He rolled off of the pallet that had been his bed for the last year. He sat still.
Life ain't linear.
koan
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Post by koan »

Past

It was someone else. Someone else walked down the street with someone else's memories, because it certainly didn't seem real anymore. Who was she, this strange woman who had lived here, done that, felt this way and had those dreams? At some point there would be shift and then she would be herself again. A simple girl, with a few wrinkles around her eyes, expecting at any moment to figure out what she was looking for. Maybe love, maybe riches, maybe just a reason to smile again every day... whatever could make that happen.
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