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Every story published in 100 Word Fiction. Search by title, author, or a half-remembered phrase; filter by year, tag, or contributor.
Showing 18 of 66 stories
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Responsible Spending
Corey takes a limo to work every day now. Not an upgraded Uber. Not a “car service.” A limousine - smoky dark glass and a driver in a black suit. He can’t afford it in the conventional sense. It’s not fiscally…
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Homefront
New lumber. No stain. Built this porch yourself.County don’t require permits.We ain’t from the county. Must’ve been hard to build this at your age.Another Marine vet helped. Y’all serve?We serve the homefront. Semper…
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Songs for the Drowning (A Mermaid Mother’s Tale)
I search out the damaged people. It’s a favor to them, and the world, when I come. I don’t hurt them, don’t frighten them. I find them sleeping fitfully under the bridges, huddled in nightmares down by the piers. I sing…
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Liminal
Liminal The whoosh-whoosh eclipses our still apartment. My weather app announces a cloudless sky, a quiet mind, but still: a windy whoosh-whoosh.“Is that you?” My husband’s head swivels from me to the ice maker. We…
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The Vine That Strangled the South
The day the kudzu cut the power, Adeline shrugged and carried her ledger to the sweltering porch, because another Wal-Mart had opened in Magnolia County, the family general store had suffered its worst month in 48…
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After the Funerals, the Dancers Speak
You and I will soon escape from our dirt-encased homes. Bone will show through the wound from your car accident, while my lungs will still bear the marks of that fatal tumour. Free now, we will climb over the…
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Reality Isn't Like On The Telly
It seemed simple. A walk down by the river; I'd drop behind slightly, pick up a rock. One swift blow, then back to my car and across country. No-one knew I was here. It wasn't like that. Evolution knows. That…
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Baggage Claim
Daily, she haunted the airport from first light till hunched men spun floors clean, circling circling carousels at baggage claim, shoulders shouldered by hurried travelers, searching each face for… her, lifting, like…
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The Undertow
Each month, the smear of first blood pulled me back, the undertow beneath my days. I kicked against the current, my head dipping below the surface in the fight against the memory of Zoe.I had been one of four…
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Shadowcasting
Marcus fell in love with an Algerian girl named Raina. They never spoke to one another. Raina mended clothing for small sums. In the evenings Marcus tore holes in his shirts with a metal toothpick. In the mornings he…
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Life Cycles
In the matter of wintering birds: consider Barnacle geese, who make their homes and families in cliffside nests. The barnacle gosling is full of tiny organs, like a tiny heart (full), or a tiny stomach (empty). The…
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Gosling Math
Helen had stolen a chicken. She ran now through an open field, bird in hand. At 80 meters, all things considered, (gravity, wind, migrational patterns of barnacle geese) the bullet would have a 2.3765% chance of hitting…
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Pranks are cancer
They loved pulling pranks, cruel ones, the kind that blurred the lines between laughter and pain. So when the doctor called, he answered and heard the prognosis: cured. Smiling, he told her the opposite. Screaming, she…
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Contemplations from My 90-year-old Dad
There’s no graceful way to ease out of this world. Water floods the walls around the heart. Breathing is labored. Kidneys refuse to function. Doctors shake their heads. Say you’re in a pickle. You know. By the way you…
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Like Cats and Dogs
Not raining. Fighting. Max thinks everyone is his best friend. Toby thinks Max is stupid. You know who is who. Max is lying beside me in the recliner. Minding his own business (for once). Toby, who has apparently…
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The Bed
The small, sunlit bedroom once filled with love, we shared passion, silence, refuge from the world. That bed held memories both tender and raw. Our relationship burned in the late summer’s heat. By autumn, I returned…
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Chocolate Brownies
My mother always made brownies the day after it happened. It was the only time she baked, her way of apologizing, I guess. She refilled a container with them as we stepped over the crate of empty bottles, wine stain on…
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His Finest Hour
His handgun out before him, the gunman ordered, “Give me your wallet or I'll blow your head off.” “Go ahead” The victim said. “I’m dying of cancer and I don’t want my family to have to go through…