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.
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 2018.
Wee, The People
William Wee had never thought much about being a citizen, of being a city dweller who could make a difference, who could speak out on whatever issue he chose to.
Nothing much had ever grabbed his attention.
He liked to think he was the most level-headed fellow he knew.
He’d never thought much beyond anything other than being a hard-working stiff, making a living, marrying Lois, having two kids, Lance and Nancy, to raise to be the same as he.
“I’m a family man, that’s my job,” he said quite often, at least whenever the question came up, which was rarely as Wee had a small circle of friends and they had heard his almost singular pronouncement of why he was put on this earth any number of times.
Wee had a second platitude that he occasionally espoused.
“Cities are great. Amazing creations. We owe cities our allegiance for they are a miracle. They permit so many to live as one, in harmony.”
Wee’s small circle knew better, knew that so much was wrong about the way cities were, people packed in like anchovies, sardines, little fish of all types. They also knew that it would be pointless to alter Wee’s worldview. “Leave him to his imaginings,” one or another would say when the urge arose to point out the obvious. “He’s happy.”
When the riots began and the city was on fire, Wee took to his bed and waited for the end.
A Tale About a Visitor From Outer Space Who Took a Wrong Turn Near Planet Earth and Wound up in the City Below
[Eerie music]
A three-foot tall, bulbous headed, and narrow-eyed individual, stumbled noisily through a backyard.
“Who goes there?” shouted BIG THINK. The supercomputer’s large eye appeared on the security screen that monitored the outside of Doctor Anomaly’s home.
“Ack, ack.”
“Speak English.”
“It is I, Gaff, from the mist planet Taiinax 10.”
“Are you really from Outer Space?”
“Yes, I prove.” Gesturing with his tiny arms, Gaff said, “There are lots of really big objects floating in space and they are far, far away.”
BIG THINK rolled his eye. “If you’re really an alien you’d be super smart.”
“Me smart. I can count to ten in fifty different languages.”
“Describe your spaceship.”
“It’s very big. When I press the horn it makes the sound: Ah-ooo-gaaa.”
“Why are you here?”
“To take over your worthless planet.” Gaff then growled like a little puppy dog and yelled, “I’m going to take you prisoner, One Eye.”
The tiny alien found a stepladder and, climbing to the top, reached for the monitor screen that housed BIG THINK’s eye. The ladder was unsteady, however, and as it wobbled, it caused Gaff to lose his hold and slip off.
“I-I’m… fallingggggg… ack… ack…”
Thud.
BIG THINK looked at his incompetent, unconscious opponent and blinked with satisfaction: Supercomputer: 1; Aliens: 0.
The monster raised a sleepy eyelid and glared weakly at the man. The man was holding a bottle and taking long drafts from it, his feet stumbling as he ran. He would be of no consequence to him; nobody would believe a word he said.
The monster could rest a little longer. Grow larger. And then he had business in the city below.
–
The monster dreamed. He dreamed of the men in their white coats, of their labs, of the science that they did. He growled when he remembered their labyrinths, their walls engineered to be too tall and too smooth to climb free. He curled back in on himself when he recalled their electrified prods, jabbing at him, each with hot sparks showering from its end. And then the needles and the light that burned without charring, until everything faded into beige.
–
The monster stirred. He considered the drainage outfalls and the culverts he’d come to call his home. They were too small for him now, too cramped, their bends and junctions too tight to negotiate. There were other routes he could take to the city, more direct, less covert but the river and harbour basin ran as deep as his patience and were as clouded as the minds of the men below. And he had waited long enough to exact his revenge; they would come to fear him soon as he had feared them.
Godzilla would finally rise up now and wreak his wrath.
Up in the sky looking out the window and seeing the Griffith Observatory where we met in Los Angeles more than three years ago.
We had many nice times together but after three years of Covid how will things be?
My thoughts take my memories to how he will receive me and how will I feel.
Oh, the plane is landing now and how exciting to see how this turns out.
Quickly I take my bag down and ready to leave the plane and there he is with open arms and a big smile on his face. The embrace felt warm and the passionate kiss more so. What a wonderful feeling as tears of joy came to my eyes.
We hurriedly left to go to my favorite restaurant where we had a lovely dinner and a bottle of wine. We talked and talked, catching up on everything and everyone.
And then the bomb dropped. He had something important to tell me. He had met someone and fell madly in love with her and they were living together and planning marriage. His suggestion that I meet her didn’t go well with me.
After the tears were wiped from my face, he drove me to the hotel and we said our goodbyes and good luck with our futures.
I enjoyed the rest of the week sightseeing and enjoying my holiday and planning my future life without him.
As cities go, it was pretty enough, not bad at all. Black sky for a background. Although the sky had been there for an eternity before anyone came along to build cities, so no one could really claim credit for the beauty of the nighttime sky. Or for the various types of material that made the city for that matter. Rock and stone that they had no part in creating but had used thoughtfully. The natural materials of the Earth, cut and ground and pulverized and shaped into forms pleasing to the eye and pleasing to a sense of what was right and proper in shape and form. These had always made up a significant part of the beauty of a city. Yes, as cities go, this one seemed acceptable.
But the Primary Inspector held his approval. The Secondary Inspector looked at him questioningly. Then both nodded. When the sun rose, the city would be gone. In the darkness the city’s fatal flaw had almost gone unnoticed. Almost. It took the sharp vision of alert Inspectors to notice that the city had no trees, not a single one.
“Beautiful, no?” Gerard Orlik gestured at the glowing skyline. “What if you could obliterate it? Give Mother Earth a fresh start?”
Peter Jansky leaned on the rail separating them from a three hundred foot drop. “If only.”
“You were born to be an eco-warrior, Peter.”
“Nah. I lack guts.”
“You just need the chance.”
“No.”
Gerard grinned. “Come on, prove yourself. See those lights in the sky?” The new constellation of communications satellites hovered motionless, brighter than stars. “You hate them, too. Yet they do offer an elegant solution to two problems.”
Staring at Gerard who continued to gaze skyward, Peter asked, “What do you mean?”
“Hack into them, program them for powered descent on the right trajectory.” He made a fist, then opened it explosively. “Kaboom. No more satellite, no more city. Mother Nature scores two.”
Peter chuckled. “I wouldn’t know how to do that.”
“Other people do, Peter. You just push the button.” Gerard produced a device from his trouser pocket.
Taking it, Peter examined the tiny screen with a touch button labeled “Initiate.”
“Go on,” Gerard prompted. “It’s easy.”
Part of him indeed longed to see the city become a smoking crater. Gerard had pegged him that far. But not far enough. Peter whipped a pair of handcuffs from under his jacket and slapped them on the astonished terrorist recruiter. He studied the device again. “It actually works?”
Gerard bared his teeth. “See for yourself.”
Peter smirked. “Nah. Our techies can examine it. I lack guts.”
“M1151, please file the mission’s – Planet Earth Exploration Report.”
From her head came a transmission to all of the attendee’s neural receptors.
“Please note, this report is made in the fashion earthlings would comprehend. Their planet, Earth, as we already know, makes a rotation on its axis every 24 hours, or about 1037.5 MPH. It completes a Sun rotation every 365.25 days, at an average speed of 666.7 MPH.”
“Here’s what we learned. There are many separate countries on Earth. One of the most prominent countries was called the United States of America. Their founders fought its mother country for freedom. It also fought internally so that all men could be free. Their original founders referred to the country as the ‘Great Experiment.’ Many also referred to it as the ‘City on the Hill.’ An example for other countries.
“There were many wars over the years. Many on each continent, and great wars that extended beyond a single continent, which they called the ‘world wars.’
“Near the end of that country, an internal conflict boiled under the surface. It divided the country so that leader elections were under suspicion and not trusted. At the same time, a global pandemic killed millions of people across Earth.
“In an attempt to offset the impact of the plague, that government issued orders and financial incentives. A global shortage of critical supplies resulted.
“In the rubble, we found this picture of one of their principal cities, referring to it as the ‘City Below.’
ELIGIBLE FOR EDITORS CHOICE ONLY
The City Below
Often his Grandpa described The City Below- its cleanness, beauty and wonder. Although the Grandpa recollected the colour, style and use of the buildings in intricate detail, the family regarded them as an old man’s ramblings. Mesmerized, Zee listened while his Grandpa described a miraculous city. Although it was a colossal city, the air was pure, crime was low and respect for nature and the environment was paramount. The city was run on clean renewable energy. Besides wind turbines, solar panels and wave machines, the city harnessed lightning and cloud energy. Zee thought it was beyond wonderful that man had discovered a method of capturing the force in a shadow. Why, his own shadow had so much potential for creating sustainable energy!
The parks in The City Below were so fantastic that they contained living jungles, rain forests and active volcanoes. Wonder of wonder, there were mini seas with real beaches and coral reefs. Zee used to close his eyes and imagine swimming in the crystal waters teeming with fish. Looking up into the tree canopy, he saw cheeky monkeys, playful lizards and a pure lighted city. He was so immersed in The City Below, that he did not hear his mother chide him that they were leaving. Finally, sensing his mother’s impatience, he reluctantly maneuvered his wheelchair towards the front door. Zee adjusted his anti-pollution mask setting his oxygen on high. The heavily polluted world made Zee a cripple.
How he wished for a life in The City Below!
The airship glided through the night sky, the sound of its engines scarcely audible over the wind at this altitude. At the helm in the control car, the captain looked down upon the illuminated cityscape spread before him.
The sheer beauty of those shining towers brought a pang of regret to his heart. However, orders were orders, and blood must be repaid with blood. The fallen friends and comrades-in-arms aside, his brother had died holding the Ankara Line.
As he came over his target, he sent the signal to the bombardiers scattered along the vessel’s length. At prearranged intervals they would release the bombs through chutes built into the hull.
There was a trick to timing this operation. Too fast and the lightened airship would go shooting into the sky, too high for effective targeting. Too slow and the prearranged releases of lifting gas would remove too much buoyancy, taking them to dangerous altitudes.
The first blasts came as a shock. He had not expected his magnificent vehicle to shake and lurch so much. But once he knew to brace, the later ones were sweet revenge.
As they were coming around to return from whence they’d come, brilliant beams stabbed into the sky. Searchlights swept back and forth, seeking their quarry.
There was a sudden boom from amidships, then a creak followed by shaking so hard he struggled to remain on his feet. The ground rushed upward toward him, and he realized a shot had broken the airship’s back.