Use the photograph above as the inspiration for your flash fiction story. Write whatever comes to mind (no sexual, political, or religious stories, jokes, or commentary, please) and after you PROOFREAD it, submit it as your entry in the comments section below. There will be no written prompt.
Welcome to the Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. In 250 words or less, write a story incorporating the elements in the picture at left. The 250 word limit will be strictly enforced.
Please keep language and subject matter to a PG-13 level.
Use the comment section below to submit your entry. Entries will be accepted until Tuesday at 5:00 PM Pacific Time. No political or religious entries, please. Need help getting started? Read this article on how to write flash fiction.
On Wednesday, we will open voting to the public with an online poll so they may choose the winner. Voting will be open until 5:00 PM Thursday. On Saturday morning, the winner will be recognized as we post the winning entry along with the picture as a feature.
Once a month, the admins will announce the Editors’ Choice winners. Those stories will be featured in an anthology like this one. Best of luck to you all in your writing!
Entries only in the comment section. Other comments will be deleted. See HERE for additional information and terms. Please note the rule changes for 2016.
“So, you pledged to love her—and she, you—for time everlasting,” Jack smirked as he dropped a Jackson on the bar to cover the cost, including a generous tip, for the two craft beers being set down in front of him and his long-time friend, Brent Thompson. “Usually, they’re only concerned if you’ll still love them in the morning.”
“Well, aren’t you the jaded one,” Thompson replied, clinking his host’s glass with his before taking a sip. “And, all along, I thought that you, more than anyone, with your fabled romantic instincts, would understand my feelings and see the joy in my heart.”
“Oh, I see the joy in your heart, all right. Which one is it this week? Abagail? Melonie? Danielle?”
“All right, all right . . . you don’t have to rub it in. It’s Abagail.”
“Have you ever read Delaney’s Attack of the Fiend?”
“No, should I?”
“Let me save you the trouble. Delaney’s character Tibb would tell you that . . . who is it, again?”
“Abagail.”
“Yes, Abagail. That Abagail, while she says she loves you and wants to share her life with you, will, in the end, betray you, and then, she’ll die for you. So, when all is said and done, it will all be for nothing. You’ll end up with nothing, Brent.”
“Well, aren’t you the romantic, Jack!”
“Have another beer, my friend. It will help drown your sorrows.”
“Oh, Joe! It’s gorgeous! Absolutely breathtaking!”
“Uh, huh.” Late afternoon, and getting later. Not a soul in sight. No place to get a beer. His impulsive behaviour had gotten him into this mess. Not the first time he had acted in haste to repent at leisure.
“I wonder how deep it goes.”
“Deep enough.” Joe looked at his watch. He had been driving all day to get to this wonder of the world, 500 miles in a tiny Civic, putting up with her incessant yakking. Would she never shut up?
“You know how they say there are too many people in the world? Well, they should see this! You could put the whole population of Los Angeles down there and still have plenty of room.”
“Right.” She had something there. He pictured thousands of yapping mouths, one by one, hitting dead silence at the bottom of the enormous canyon.
He put his arm around her shoulders. She turned to him for the kiss she anticipated. A kiss was one way to shut her up, but he had something more permanent in mind. Just a quick shove…
EEEEeeee! she screamed all the way down. Then blessed silence.
As he drove away, he had the passing thought that he really ought to do something about his impulsive behaviour.
Is Infinity Limited?
By Annette Rey
An ant follows insect-laid pheromones to gather food and routes himself inside the crowded colony, as multiple members block his view.
The plump pork’s eyes do not contemplate the skies, and see just a few feet above the mud. He spies the enticing cobs of corn in the trough and rumbles toward the tasty treats.
The eagle scans across a vast expanse, of many miles afar and deep, of mountains and mice, and slashes the wind with his wing and beak, claiming the prey as his own.
Man secretly submits his unspoken desires as he peers through a telescope, the lens a peep-hole into unaware civilizations; and he cannot touch what lies beyond and within, in floating worlds without a shore.
The warrior focuses on today’s target and goal, the ultimate task to be completed, and only takes a breath after job-done. In reverie, he wishes to be home and sees that image as through the telescope of the scientist – so far away and will he ever touch it?
And the ultimate infinity – how far away is death? What is there, then?
What is your sense of infinity today?
Mary stepped through the time portal into the past. So what if she could only take a one way trip 24 hours into the past, “After all,” she thought, “Everyone knew you couldn’t be in two places at once, but with a time machine, I can.”
With that thought, she giggled aloud, after all, she still carried the murder weapon in her expensive, designer, pink handbag. It was her favorite handbag because it matched her suit and shoes, perfectly.
She stepped into the store, and handed the Lotto form … already filled out … along with the money, to the clerk.
He didn’t even look up, he just feed it into the Lotto machine, then handed tomorrow’s winning ticket over to her. Smirking, she slipped it into her handbag next to the empty handgun; she had fired all six shots, one for every wedding anniversary he forgot.
Driving west, she knew by this time tomorrow, she would be too far away to be accused of murdering her husband. After all you can’t be in two places at once. And she was now a couple of hundred miles away, she pulled into a scenic overlook, and laughingly, tossed her empty handgun over the edge, then drove on late into the night.
The next evening, in her hotel room six hundred miles away from home, she watched as they read off her winning numbers just before she shot her husband dead back home and escaped into the past with her lucky numbers.
Friday morning, October 24th, 79A.D.
Young Giovanni leaped out of the pond clutching the crucifix around his neck and raced down the trembling slope of Mount Vesuvius to what he prayed was safety. Small puffs of sulphur- smelling smoke chased closely behind.
The frightened Pompeiians were huddled in the Forum wondering what was happening, believing it was just another of the many common earthquakes they lived with.
Around 1 P. M., the volcano suddenly released a brief explosion. An immense dark column of deadly smoke shot up and swirled down covering the trees and farms, overwhelming Pompeii and its people. They couldn’t breathe and fled to their homes through the suffocating smoke to wait out what became a ground shaking twelve hour nightmare.
Saturday, October 25th.
The next morning the erupting stopped and the smoke lessened. Cautiously, people crept out into the eerie silence looking for an escape from the horror. But, there was nowhere to go. All bridges were demolished. Streets disappeared. Roofs collapsed, killing many.
Then, without warning, a mudslide of talc-like ashes, filled with sulphur dioxide, steam and pumice, poured down at ninety- five miles per hour violently entombing the aqueduct, amphitheater, fountains and thousands of doomed citizens, in well over twenty feet of lethal mud.
All that was left of magnificent Pompeii was a plain, ordinary round hill.
Three days later, one of the men from the first rescue team uncovered what seemed to be a child’s hand clutching a crucifix.
Kyle freed himself from the backpack. The five-hour hike had been miserable. He’d rather be in his air-conditioned office avoiding Mother Nature, but he was lured out by a treasure map he’d found while cleaning his dad’s attic. It was the fantasies of finding riches that drove him. Easily, he located the spot to dig.
Initial disappointment blossomed into anger when he finally accepted that the map led him to a bottle containing two antique silver wedding bands and a note which said: Don’t miss the beauty around you, for that is the essence of life. Appreciate a lover’s smile, the wonder of a newborn, a nightingale’s song, mountains that stretch into infinity.
“Jokes on me.” Kyle sat down under a tree to briefly rest.
When he awoke, the pond reflected the rosy hues of the setting sun. He reached for his bag, but hesitated, transfixed by the sight. Immediately, he blamed the note; he never bothered lingering before. Except, he remembered walks with his grandma. She’d point out the flowers and birds. When had that stopped? After his parents emphasized school and work over spending time outdoors?
Dragonflies skittered playfully by; lizards darted between rocks. The landscape he’d written off was quite vibrant the more time he spent observing it. Kyle tried to mute the feeling he was wasting time.
He should go, but he couldn’t leave without reburying the bottle where it belonged.
He should go…but it wouldn’t hurt to stay a little longer, enjoying the view.
“Are you sure?” Carl scanned the red landscape. Swaths of grass and scrub dotted the emptiness. The narrow gash of a canyon snaked into the distance. Far beyond, pinkish mountains guarded the horizon.
“Don’t worry.” Professor Sanderson’s fingers skipped over the virtual keyboard on her tablet computer. At her feet, a small metal box riddled with holes might have contained electronics or a small dog. “Go.”
Carl chewed his lip, took a tentative step. “It’s not a projection?”
“Why would it be?”
“A psychology experiment?”
“I’m not a psychologist.”
“What are you?”
“The genius who selected you to be the first human to pass through a stabilized wormhole to a distant planet. Now walk, turn, and walk back.” She waved him forward.
“It will work?”
“If you don’t waste time!”
Carl swallowed and walked, focusing on fame and wealth. Interviews. Product endorsements. Filthy richness.
He edged toward the rim of the chasm and looked down. Water raged far below. In the rapids, dark shapes heaved and splashed, huge salmon struggling upstream. No, not salmon; fangs filled their mouths. “Incredible! Professor!” He turned.
She wasn’t there.
The alien world engulfed him. He retraced his steps, he ran here and there, seeking, feeling, panicking, seeing nothing but alien sands, rocks, life.
In her lab on Earth, Professor Sanderson kicked the box, chased it around the floor, kicking and cursing. Nothing ever worked. She was a genius! Why did nothing ever work? She’d have to start over.
And find a seventh volunteer.
When Mark suggested traveling through the southwestern part of the United States, Sheila had in mind Las Vegas, Sedona, fancy hotels and boutiques. She knew there would be some hiking—Mark was an outdoorsman, after all—but she had no idea they would be camping and hiking through every single national park between Memphis and Los Angeles.
Granted, the scenery was beautiful and it did vary state to state, but there’s only so much beauty a person can absorb.
Mark decided to go rock climbing with some other visitors to the park while Sheila just wanted to sit under a tree and read. If she could only find a tree.
She knew enough to go slowly, not venture too close to the edge of anything because it seemed everything was an edge. And with no guardrails for protection, she knew those first steps would be a doozy.
In the distance she thought she saw—was that a mirage or was that an actual pond and an actual tree?
The view stretched to infinity. It was hard to believe she was atop a canyon and could see across the continent. What stories could these rocks tell? What history did this land witness? She sat by the tiny tree, dipping her toes in the tiny pond. How many centuries had this scene been here? Sheila sat mesmerized, thinking of the enormity of the time and the space combined. If any place could be considered infinity, this was it—past, present, and future.
Jackson raced his rover through the maze of canyons and bluffs. Andromeda Colony Four’s grain supplies were severely depleted.
Jackson’s mind wandered as his rover maneuvered in auto-pilot. He’d not been told what content he transported, only that it was the colony’s hope for survival. The cargo pods seemed rather small, even for compacted rations. Perhaps they contained new preservation chemicals or pesticides.
Suddenly, an alarm blares. Jackson feels the rover skid as brakes screech. Ahead, he sees no trail, only empty space. After securing his suit, he leaps out of the rover. Its front wheels rest on the edge of an enormous precipice. Crevices form rapidly in this treacherous landscape.
Jackson updates his map program and waits while his system plots a new route. Then he carefully backs his vehicle away from the cliff. He pays much closer attention now as the rover again speeds toward the colony. He forgets about his mysterious cargo.
When Jackson arrives, the mayor opens the dome airlocks and directs him toward a gigantic warehouse filled with large silos. The mayor begins opening the cargo pods.
Jackson asks,” What is happening to your grain supplies?”
As hundreds of cats pour from their containers, the mayor answers, “Infinite mice.”
Jacob stumbled to the pool and plunged his head into the water. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice told him to take sips, but he ignored it, gulping in the tepid liquid. Then his stomach twisted and he heaved.
Exhaustion and dehydration left him trembling in the blazing heat. Once his stomach settled he drank again, this time, small mouthfuls. He closed his eyes to ease the throbbing in his head. If only he could remember how he got here. Two days of wandering this endless, barren landscape and he still had no clue.
A deep rumbling set his heart racing. An earthquake was the last thing he needed. He looked across the deep ravines that riddled the canyon. It went on forever. One of the giant plateaus swayed back and forth and a rock at the top swung around. Two beady black eyes stared at him.
The breath caught in Jacob’s throat. It had to be heatstroke playing with his mind. Rocks didn’t have eyes. He dunked his head again, trying to ignore the sound of grinding stone.
“You going to share that water?” said a booming voice.
Jacob scrambled away from the pool, staring at the stone face above him, then waved the creature to the water. The giant tortoise drank deeply then blinked at him.
“Remember,” said the tortoise.