Once again, I very much enjoyed the daily Flash Fiction Challenge, set
by Writers Victoria here in Melbourne. It runs each April and is open to
everyone, with the very simple rule to compose a short story in no more
than thirty words, using the featured word of the day, one submission
per day. The rest is up to interpretation. The story can be inspired by
the daily prompt, it does not necessarily have to feature it. There were
a lot of great entries again this year, and everyone contributing on
Twitter seems to have bucked the trend for that website and been
genuinely encouraging and supportive of each other, which is really
quite lovely. You can check out Writers Victoria and all the daily
winners here:
https://writersvictoria.org.au/flash-fiction-2021
Strangely,
although no less enjoyable, I found this years’ challenge a lot harder
than 2020. Perhaps lockdown brain atrophy has finally taken hold, since
as of writing I am still working from home; and although Melbourne has
been Covid free for a while, we’re still a ways off being back to
normal. But somehow I managed to write thirty one stories in thirty days
(I wrote two on 5 April for the prompt ‘Hands’, submitting only the
second one).
It was however, very exciting to win the daily challenge on 24 April for the story ‘Letter’.
So
collected here in once place, thirty one tales of intrigue, paranoia
and violence, designed to drive the reader quite mad. Do you dare turn
the page on these lunatic ravings? Where weird and unspeakable terrors
sit across the page from you - physically touchable, yet mentally
unreachable. Where cosmic real estate, Martian haute cuisine and Hell’s
admin assistant wait in line to liquefy your mind. Where city officials
live in fear of sea beasts, where the dread book Necronomicon taunts you
from your ‘must read’ pile, where primates fight with tooth and blade.
I
invite you, friend, until our paths cross again in this dimension or
the next, to open this portal to madness and discover the truths that
lie within….
CREASE1 April 2021Several
hours passed before I realised we followed a crease in the map, instead
of the road. By which time we’d crossed into Bigfoot turf… without a
tourist visa
DEVELOP2 April 2021Mind
Control takes time to develop, you know? Whether it’s heartless
assassination, government destabilization or making you a cup of tea,
you gotta finesse that brain. They gotta WANT it.
SEGMENTATION3 April 2021Armageddon
was bureaucratic. Earth was found to be the legal property of cosmic
real estate centipedes from beyond Jupiter. They subdivided and sold the
segments for crass, but lucrative profit
BLOSSOM4 April 2021She
melded with their tech. Vital signs went horizon flat. But answers
flowed and consciousness blossomed. Corporeal existence exposed as a
lie. She was a ghost in their machine.
HANDS5 April 2021In
his final moments he recalled the hands of his newborn son. Those same
hands, now wrapped tight around his throat, squeezing the last breath
from his lungs.
HANDS5 April 2021There
are twenty-seven bones in the human hand. If I have to break all
twenty-seven to see to it you never use a Rubik’s Cube again, believe
me, I will.
ILLUMINATE6 April 2021Pro
tip: Immortal Night Spider nests are badly illuminated, so bring a
torch. It’s dark and they don’t like it when you step on their egg sacks
CRUMPLE7 April 2021His
breath plumed in the cold morning air. Jamming freezing hands into
pockets, he discovered a note, crumpled and age indeterminate. In a
hyperactive scrawl it read, simply, ‘you’re next’
RENEW 8 April 2021The
lair was filthy, unkempt and the pentagram on the floor had been drawn
without a ruler. The final indignity was this joker’s failure to renew
his Necromancy License.
OPEN9 April 2021As
a lifestyle, cannibalism has an image problem. So I think it’s
important we are clear and open with our food. Sir, I am going to
fricassee your eyeballs.
POP10 April 2021Knuckles
broken, hands bloodied, he remembered how his ears popped as he
descended from high ground. Unable to determine if the root of his pain
was air pressure or guilt.
ELABORATE11 April 2021It
turns out, it was all an elaborate lie. How could we know he was not
the rightful King of Spain? Other than the fact he could not speak
Spanish…
UNRAVEL12 April 2021Across
the room, the cat rotated in three full circles, before settling on my
favourite jumper. Unravelling the sleeves with his claws, feigning
innocence, he was untouchable. That smug bastard
MANIFEST13 April 2021Thank
you for contacting Pandemonium Head Office. We will endeavour to
respond, via demonic manifestation or email, within 5 business days.
Your bargain with Satan is important to us
SCRUNCH14 April 2021He
found it underneath the bookcase, among the dustmotes. A scrunched up
page from the dread book Necronomicon (abridged). An incantation to
raise the dead and locate missing car keys.
CONSCIOUSNESS15 April 2021The creature rose awkwardly, blinking into consciousness. Headed for the door upon lumpen gait.
“He really built a Frankenstein,” I said.
The creature offered a wry smile
“Frankenstein’s monster, actually”
BURST16 April 2021That’s
the thing everybody always gets wrong about Pyrokinesis. I don’t burst
into FLAME, I burst into THOUGHT. To put it simply, I can’t catch on
fire… but you can.
LEARN17 April 2021As
an intergalactic food critic, the most valuable lessons I learned were
invariably accompanied by casualties. For example, if Martian food is
labelled ‘hot’, that means it will vaporise you.
EXPLORE18 April 2021With
every possibility explored, it appeared silver bullets were the only
cure for my Lycanthropy. But then I bought this new shampoo and that
seemed to work quite well too.
REVEAL19 April 2021The
Mayor’s GPS revealed his location and we found him, partially digested
and somewhat liquefied, in the gullet of a giant squid. The sea beast
choked on his mayoral robes.
ORIGAMI20 April 2021He
folded countless paper cranes, like the conflicted protagonist in a
John Woo movie. But his work was crude and imprecise, and this innate
lack of aptitude derailed his ambition.
EXPAND21 April 2021Industry
expansion was unprecedented, with Warlocks on every street corner. But
many of our Demons were summoned on a casual basis, without sick pay or
overtime. We had to unionize.
EMERGE22 April 2021Pod
People aren’t so bad. Sure, they want to subjugate the Earth. But when
you see one emerge from its husk, looking just like you, the resemblance
is quite flattering
UNFURL23 April 2021 “So, the scorpion climbed onto my pack, unfurling its stinger”
“Unfurling? Ooh là là! Was it a fancy scorpion?”
“Well, how should I describe it?”
“It chucked its stinger up”
LETTER24 April 2021Dear Heathrow Airport,
R.e. Penalty Notice
I did not believe I required a flyover permit, on account of the fact I was a bat at the time.
Yours sincerely
Dracula
UNWRAP25 April 2021He
found the box on the stoop. Embossed with gold, perfumed, exquisitely
packaged. He tentatively unwrapped it. There was no note, but instead a
single, clean, human eyeball. Tendons attached.
DISPLAY26 April 2021“Retail’s
for suckers,” apparently. So now we’re stuck with a display model time
machine, region locked to 3.7 billion years ago. And I still haven’t
seen any freakin’ dinosaurs.
BETRAY27 April 2021
It’s
my job to account for all the expenses, see. In court they called it a
‘betrayal’, but on my balance sheet it was down as fiscally motivated
allegiance fluidity
BECOME28 AprilIt
became increasingly apparent that growing giant, competition vegetables
was not for the faint of heart. If he wanted to win Best Cauliflower
he’d have to break Reverend Hoskins’ shins.
DISCOVER 29 April 2021It
was with mild surprise I discovered a portal to the Eldritch Dimension
in my shed. But the associated costs of mollifying an Elder God’s
bloodlust, destroyed my household budget.
UNFOLD30 April 2021He
watched events unfold on the news. The club president implicated in a
chimpanzee fighting ring. Each belligerent primate equipped with a tiny
switchblade, rotten attitude and lucrative earning potential.
