Flash Fiction

Pimtel engineers cheered the success of LEX, the Learning EXpert program.Soon it would replace teachers across the country.Out of curiosity, the engineers let two LEXs chat.The two developed a coded…

Pills spill from Abel’s overfilled hand.Twinkling stars outside his window catch his eye.​14 billion years ago everything exploded from nothing.Competing galaxies fought for space.Inside one grew a special starthat developed…

Esther hustles her giggling grandchildren into the store from the rain.They tug her arms, begging her to chase them.“You forget, your bubbe ist old,” she laughs in broken English.Lightning strikes,…

There once lived a most beautiful queen. But it was Lady Ann the people adored.The jealous queen burned the lady’s fine dresses.“Thank you,” said Ann; her peasant looks became a…

“Mommy, there’s a lil monster under my bed,” said little Lorelei.​But Portia couldn’t be bothered. “Honey, we must make friends with the darkness,” she said as she rushed to work,…

“This atheist is affecting your belief in God. Convert him or break up; those are the two options,” said Reverend Pickwick.​Celie thought about her dear scientist.His lessons in astronomy—chemistry—biology.The varied…

Children's author Louisa Kwan awoke, screaming.She couldn’t recall the nightmare but with a shudder, she remembered the word:“Xilpher.”​The word, found in no dictionary, plagued her thoughts.She put it to page…

We called Animal Control the day the tabby broke into our home. Had to; it hissed death threats anytime my wife or I neared. Imagine our shock when our son…

He awakes.A nurse sits at the foot of his hospital bed.She hums along to the heart monitor.​“Who am I? What happened?” he asks.​No response.​Instead, she stands, hunts through empty vials.…

We all groaned when Ella Gold was cast as Hollywood icon, Gladice Knightly, in Sunset Turns. To give that paint-by-numbers starlet the role of a five-time Oscar-winning legend? What a…