micro fiction

"You will not always have a warning these sudden, deadly floods are coming" by Jackie Morris

Every night Mother leaves a bath-towel by the kitchen fire, in case Oliver finds his way home. ‘He must be chilled to the marrow,’ she...

"ditch locket" by Monique Quintana

Crow abandoned the snow for another time, for leaves growing and horizontal. He walked until he came to a chinampa floating in the...

“The Sweet Softness of Dates” & “Between Springtime and Night” by Kathryn Silver-Hajo

Sweet Softness of Dates She sits in her wicker chair, the one painted bright green because that’s how she likes it. She lets the sweet...

"Defying Gravity" by Fiona McKay

On the way home from the funeral, I drive past the guardrail where the accident took place, the striped tape flickering in the wind. I...

"The Music Teacher" & "The Missing Spice" by Sarvin Parviz

The Music Teacher For Negar Ighani We stood in a circle, patted our chests and thighs, sang and jumped then clapped. We rained, jumped...

"The itchy dress" by Karen Pierce Gonzalez

The itchy dress and the rented colonial manor are ill-suited. Which is to say, they are not the right fit. Still, she stands obedient on...

"Chauffeur" by John Riley

On the way to the airport on the edge of the city, he had asked the driver to pull over. He needed a break, just a moment, from so much...

"Cheap Beer, Madden and Hold 'em", "Active Shooter 101"... by Matt McGuirk

CW: references to violence Cheap Beer, Madden and Hold ‘em How would I have known there was so much more, just a kid with a 30 rack of...

"Seven-year itch and other urban myths" by Slawka G. Scarso

'I didn't even want to come,' I moan. I walk up and down the beach, my bikini already dry, stopping to look at the burns covering my...

"Boy Clouds of Xquic", "I Forget You", and "Saturns" by Monique Quintana

Boy Clouds of Xquic If she stays too long in the sea, she will see all her son’s bedroom wash by, shaking the trees. She heard he waited...

"At Dupar’s Café" by Dylan Willoughby

He sat in an all-night diner. A waitress who resembled Bela Lugosi crept then flew towards him. He was reading Ibsen, which he regretted....

"The Hygge Paradox" by Mileva Anastasiadou

He says we’re stressed, exhausted, I say that’s true but that’s life, he ponders, I don’t like life, he says, while he loves life, but...