UPDATED WITH WINNER: LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown: October Edition
Flash Fiction: A style of fictional literature marked by extreme brevity
How It Works
We give you inspiration in the form of a picture, poem, video, or similar. You write a flash fiction piece, using the inspiration we gave you. Put your entry in the comments section. One winner will be picked and awarded a prize.
The Rules
- 25 words is the limit. (You can write less, but you can't write more.)
- The whole story must only be 2 sentences. No more. No less.
- It can be any genre.
- Give it a title (not included in the word count, but keep it under 10 words).
- We're not exactly shy, but let's stay away from senseless racism or violence.
- One entry per person.
- Editing your entry after you submit it is permitted.
- We'll pick a winner on the last day of the month.
- LitReactor staffers can't win, but are encouraged to participate.
- All stories submitted on or before October 30 will be considered. We'll run the winner on October 31.
This Month's Prize
Win a galley copy of Anthony Quinn's Border Angels (one of The Inspector Celcius Daly Mysteries).
Here's a bit about the book—which comes out this month—from Amazon.com:
On the Irish border, Inspector Celcius Daly investigates human trafficking and a scorched corpse.
The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic is a rugged place: cold, windswept, and dark. For the girls brought here from Eastern Europe, it may as well be a war zone. Put to work in a farmhouse brothel near Dunmore, the women are forced into a living hell. One night, a pimp takes one of them for a ride. She is just planning her escape when the car explodes. The next morning, there is nothing left but the pimp’s charred body and the woman’s footprints in the snow.
As his forensics specialists turn their attention to the burned corpse, Police Inspector Celcius Daly obsesses over the footprints. Where exactly did the woman come from, and where did she go? It is the sort of question asked only in the borderlands—between North and South, between life and death.
Your Inspiration
I hate scary movies. There, I said it. Even though many are very, very good, I just am too chicken to watch them.
But....since it's almost Halloween...
I dare you to scare me.
That's right. You get 25 words and two sentences to scare the *Bleep* out of me. Good luck!
Now Get Writing!
And the winner is…Trevor Duplessis.
Well, you folks are a bunch of scary muthaeffers. I even starred as the intended victim in two entries from previous Flash Fiction winners artistic addict and BarryG. (Nice try, guys!)
But there was one entry that creeped me out so much, I almost didn’t select it as the winner. But then I realized, I told you to scare me, and this entry truly did.
Thanks to Trevor, I will never look at those little stick-figure-family car stickers the same ever again. *shudder* So, without further ado:
Likeness
He peels the sticker of the little boy from the minivan window’s decal family as he walks by. They won't need it come morning.
Column by Taylor Houston
Taylor Houston is a genuine Word Nerd living in Portland, OR where she works as a technical writer and volunteers on the marketing committee for Wordstock, a local organization dedicated to writing education. She has a BA in Creative Writing and Spanish from Hamilton College and attended Penn State's MFA program in Creative Nonfiction. She has taught writing at all levels from middle school to college to adult, and she is the creator of Writer’s Cramp, a class for adults who just want to write!
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Drip
My words are dripping, or so I thought. But when my knife came out of me, I was dripping only me.
Watching
I am the shadow at the edge of your vision; the shiver running down your spine.
One day I’ll do more than just watch you.
Self-consciousness
A knife! please don't, don't cut me, AHHHHHHHHHH, he screamed or he though he did.
He didn't, have you ever see a talking birhtday cake.
Montanah
Seven hundred thousand Miley Cyrus twerk, twerk, twerk before you in the fire and your eyes cannot avert. The devil laughs at your eternal punishment.
Golden Cow
We've never officially met, but you're my everything.
When you wake up, you will know everything about me.
Fly
Her lips were gently parted when a fly walked across them. The painter got up, waved it away, and returned to his canvass.
Creeping
Your bedroom is lonely and dark, but there is the heaviness of a new body at the foot of the bed. It starts crawling upwards.
The Song
His headphones whispered: “Let’s Kill’em all.”
He waited; then nodded, like a plastic doll.
Likeness
He peels the sticker of the little boy from the minivan window’s decal family as he walks by. They won't need it come morning.
Just Another Friday Night
The blanket of cockroaches squirmed and wriggled on his naked body, each one nibbling away. Next time, he'll remember the safe word.
Heavy Breathing
Every night I dream about a face gazing at me from outside, but the next morning, it’s gone.
I worry about that fogged window-area.
The Worst Joke Ever
"Your joke isn't funny !" the little girl said, crying.
"And you haven't even heard the punchline !" The clown whispered with a grin.
Trapping Season
The chain was too heavy. She gathered the hammer in her competent hands, wondering if his kneecaps would sound like bubble wrap when they popped.
Our Last Caress
In pitch black, the ceiling drips on the cold concrete, our cold bodies. My neck on her dry lips, I wait for her to breathe.
Candy's Kiss
Candy's blue lips were icy, but her writhing tongue scalding hot. It was a pretty good kiss, until she filled my mouth with dead flies.
Pacific Coast Time
Rob talked to his parents on the telephone, religiously, each Sunday at noon. The phone rang; it was Wednesday at 9:13, pacific coast time.
White
She could feel the sweat on his palms. ‘Oh shit,’ she thought as he slid the wedding band on her finger.
That Old Familiar Feeling
Walking to your car late at night and can't help looking over your shoulder? Yes, that's me; tomorrow night we finally meet.
Tick, Tick.
Tick, tick, for hours when she begged, “What do you want?” No words, no sound, no light, just tick, tick, as the stiletto pierced bone.
Voices
"You’re a bad mommy," a voice said. Anna turned to face the dog whispering to her, as she pressed the pillow over her daughter's face.
Now
Feel me staring at your back, my fingers hovering above your shoulders, that soft sound, exhaling. Now close your eyes.
Houston, You Have A Problem
It would be alright if he didn't win. Portland wasn't that far away and certainly not too big to find and fix one judge's mistake
Eleven Days In
Rebecca awoke screaming, realizing her legs were inside a cow carcass. She freed herself and shook violently, fearing what the robed men had planned next.
Reality of Nightmares
Eva awoke in a shudder. As she calmed herself, she felt the hot breath on her neck that had originally jarred her rasp “take it”.
Doppelganger
The man stared at the razor, whispering "Do it." I slammed my fist into his face, shattering the mirror.
The Forest Grins
A childs lost tears as dawn comes near, A strangers deep grin,
Souls never to be found again.
Viral video
“Thank you to everyone tuning in,” the announcer spoke expressionlessly. “By now our modified signal has broadcast the virus directly to each viewer’s cerebral cortex.”
The Burial
“No,” he screamed, but the lid was already shut. He was forever confined inside the casket, with only its rotting inhabitant for companionship.
Fading...
She stumbled out the door, clutching her arm, thoughts frantic, "was that a needle?" It was hard to think now, to see; she heard footsteps.
That Sound
Just the last one.
Open wider.
Taylor’s tale of terror
“I won’t pick this submission,” Taylor decided, not yet feeling the knifeblade pressed against her neck flesh. These were the last words she ever read.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
When I asked Grandma what made her garden grow so lush she smiled and responded, “Bone meal.” Thirteen neighborhood children went missing that summer.
Ol' Hickory
Hickory Robinson stared sheepishly at what he had just done. Nobody was around except the jumbo rats that scampered about, disposing of the fleshy remains.
::Repose::
The old man had been weeping for hours. No one was there in that moment when he uttered his final words of remorse.
The Trap
Everything was backwards, nobody saw and saw nobody, backwards was everything. Rewind and repeat.
Limbs
The sound--a sussurus, a scritching--moved behind the black-night window. Then the sound--a sussurus, a scritching--moved behind the closet door.
the It baby
"Mommy.... Mommy, please come play with me.... Mommy...."
Then the child's voice changed to a darker, lower, foreboding growl: "Don't you like clowns, Mommy? "
Late-night Stroll Down Maudeville Lane
Strangers are ghosts; windowpanes reflect nothing; and a familiar moon cowers inside clouds. I feel how much I'm vanishing, when escaped convicts run over me.
Meltdown
"My condolences, but you must remain in the containment zone," the soldier said, his bloodshot eyes meeting those of the emergency worker. "Until the end."
A Skeptic No More
The power goes out as you reach for your bedroom door knob. "Are you scared now?" something whispers from behind you.
The stories were real
The nightmare thing is never seen. But if you are unlucky, one day it will forward and whispers in your ear "You should have listened."
Alone?
While the clock chimmed midnight, the bed creaked as I laid down alone at last. And then it creaked again.
Plugged
I taped my mouth at night so cockroaches couldn’t crawl down my throat. I woke up suffocating when they crawled up my nostrils instead.
A feast for supper, I sat down with my darling in front of me---on my plate. He would've liked knowing he tasted so good.
Eternal Water
The deserted pool was closed for the night. As I swam through the tepid void, a cold hand grabbed my ankle and pulled me down.
Intravenous
The doctor swabbed the patient’s arm, inserted the empty syringe, and pressed down the plunger. He could almost hear the sirens coming.
smells and bells
My daughters giggled, pricked each other with cauteries, while one killed their mother the second time. I lingered in the corner, inhaled the carnose fog.
Meat and Potatoes
I sit at the table slicing the pot roast for dinner, “Supper time” I yell to my parents. Why am I yelling at my food?
Fountain of Youth
Two boys were looking for the fountain of youth. The only problem was that one of them was death.
You are 400 feet up on the cliff when you realize you are not tied in.