Category: Flash Fiction

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

An Impromptu Decision

Tina Stewart Brakebill

It had been an impromptu decision.

A be in the moment, what could possibly go wrong, you only live once, I’m not THAT old, you’re not the boss of me kind of non-decision decision.

The kind that had ruled (or almost ruined if you asked her) his life until she came along. No. This couldn’t be on him. Surely an alarm would have gone off.

No. Not his fault.

As the water crept closer, he tore his gaze away from the gushing pipe. Put on his game face. She’d be back soon. And this was definitely not his fault.  

anne-higa

Image credit: Anne Higa

Thanks to Fandango’s FOWC wonderful word prompt of IMPROMPTU and Anne Higa’s great photo prompt, I’m back to Rochelle’s Friday Fictioners Challenge after a long absence!

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

Today’s Home School

Tina Stewart Brakebill

I already learned about fractions.

Like half a dollar is 50 cents?

No.

One slice is one quarter of a pie?

No.  

“Thanks to Hamilton our cabinet’s fractured into factions … breaking down like fractions.”

History: check. Thanks Broadway.   

hourglass near heap of american dollars
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Thanks to  Sammi’s Challenge to use FACTION in a 39 words story and to Hamilton for being awesome.

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

a better day

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Some days were better than others. He’d leave the house. Buy groceries. Walk in the park. Feed the squirrels. Try to go on without her.

But most days were bad. On those days he’d stay in bed. Thinking only of her. Hurting as badly as he had that first day without her.

And then there was today. The anniversary of that terrible day. 365 days of pain. And planning. Now it was time.

He imagined them. Walking hand-in-hand on the boardwalk. Oblivious to his pain.

Reaching into his bag, he smiled. Today was going to be a better day.

steeplechase

Photo Prompt © Roger Bultot

I swear this started out as a sweet story but at about word 63, it turned … well, I’ll let y’all be the judge and end it for yourselves. What’s he reaching for?

Thanks, as always, to Rochelle’s Friday Fictioners Challenge for providing inspiration.

Flash Fiction, Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

quixotic musings

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Am I a dreamer?

Still full of hope as I yearn.      

Or am I a clown?

Yes, says the face in the glass

with your destiny foretold.  

img_3251

Image courtesy of Forgottenx at DeviantArt

I’m not sure that this piece fits perfectly into any of the challenges that inspired me today. So apologies if I’ve miscategorized things!

All I can say, is that the combination of Fandango’s FOWC (body, which I loosely subbed in “face in the mirror”),  Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge photo, and Sammi’s Challenge (to use the word quixotic, which I took as the entire theme) DID inspire me and, thus, this 26-word call and response story / tanka was born. (Side note: I love to throw in a good THUS or THEREFORE or NEVERTHELESS ….)