Five Sentence Fiction - ALONE

 She absentmindedly rubbed the ears of the little dog lying next to her on the sidewalk as the words to the old Gospel song drifted through the church window.
  It wasn't long ago she had stood on the altar of her own church singing with the choir, her parents watching with pride.

 Absorbed in the music, she didn't notice the elderly woman reaching down to put a dollar in her cup.

 As the choir repeated the last verse, she made no move to wipe away the tears rolling down the cheeks which hadn't felt her mother's kiss in nearly two years.

 In a whisper, she joined the voices singing "Lead me home."

Five Sentence Fiction - PIECES

A word.
A look.
A touch.

All have the power to give or take.
All can break a heart or put it back together.

Five Sentence Fiction - DETERMINATION

   As she stood backstage warming up, her manager came by and, with his usual toothy grin, told her it was another sell-out.
  She smiled to herself and shook her head as she looked around at the crew scurrying with last minute details and listened to the crowd chanting her name.
  The words of her 7th grade teacher came back to her, as they had every night since the day they were said all those years ago.
"Stop singing, Sara, you sound like a frog."

  The smile was still on her face as she walked onstage and stepped up to the  microphone.

Five Sentence Fiction - ENRAPTURE

Alone in the darkened hospital room, I cradle his newborn warmth against my bare skin. Although we have spent the last nine months together, this is the first time we have ever really met.
 I gently trace my finger along every feature of his precious face, committing them not only to my memory, but to my heart and my soul. I whisper hopes and dreams and love for him into his perfect ear.
 His tiny fingers grasp mine and I kiss the top of his downy head.

Five Sentence Fiction - BEAUTY

The fall of my silent footsteps keep time with the melancholy wail of a lone saxophone echoing through the valley of man-made mountains.  On the corner, steamy apparitions escape their underground confinement through colorful tubes and disappear into the frigid night air. The "City That Never Sleeps" is  just resting it's eyes until the sun lends its warmth to the snow dusted streets and sidewalks below.

  Meandering  footprints mark my passing, and like the fabled bread crumbs, they will be gone upon my return. Unlike the storied children though, I know no matter how far I stray, I will always be able to find my way home.

Five Sentence Fiction - Fabric

   It seemed like such a small thing to wish for.
  Something most other people had; Nothing out of the ordinary.
  But nothing had been ordinary since Papa lost his job. Mama tried to keep her smile, but everyday the tears in her voice edged up a little closer.

  Huddled in the back seat of the family car under the big, blue blanket with her sister, watching the snow fall silently around them, she could at least pretend they were back in their old bedroom ...  If she closed her eyes tight enough.

5 Sentence Fiction- VIEW

 Kera stood at the end of the bar looking out over the sea of nodding heads keeping time to the Latin rhythms of her favorite band, while her sometimes-friend, Jamie, slurred out her life story to the poor, unsuspecting guy who had the misfortune of sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time.
  She downed the last swallow of her warm beer and pulled a twenty out of her jeans pocket to buy another round when the sound of familiar laughter made her stop and smile; She didn't know how Jay managed to get out of work early or how he figured out where to find her, but it was just like him to surprise her like this.
 She quickly ordered another beer for herself and a tall Jack and Coke with lots of lime, just the way he liked it.  I may have a few surprises for you tonight, she thought as she pushed her way through the packed bar  in search of her fiance'.

  When he finally stepped back from the tall brunette he'd been kissing,  Jay noticed some broken glass on the floor and waved over to the bartender to come clean it up before somebody got hurt.

Five Sentence Fiction - LUCKY

Evenings, at sunset, out my window I see

a man and his dog, but they never see me.

They walk along slow, never changing their pace,

a look of contentment spread over each face.

I sit and I watch, though I should look away,

the sight makes me sad at the end of each day.

For I know when they turn, to make their way home,

I'll remain sitting here, I'll remain all alone.

My own faithful friend's been gone many a year,

yet the view from my window can still bring a tear.

Flash Friday Fiction

  "Why do you guys even bother showing up?" scoffed Carlos. "Every year it's the same."
  His bright smile betrayed him to his quickly diminishing line of opponents, though. No one was quicker with a laugh or a pat on the back for a job well done than he and they all knew it.

  Sammy beamed at his big brother from the pier where the rest of his large family laughed and shouted encouragement. He knew, when he won, Carlos would lift him from his wheelchair and carry him on his shoulders around the square as he had  last year, and all the years before.
 




 

Five Sentence Fiction- DESOLATE

  Riding the subway home, the cars packed shoulder to shoulder, silent strangers swayed and bumped against her in time to the rhythm of  the tracks. The doors opened at her stop and she was jostled along the tiled hall and up the stairs onto the teeming streets.

  A long line, but no kind word, awaited her at the neighborhood bodega, where she stopped nightly to pick up her few necessities; Tonight's purchase was small and singular.

  Back into the crush, she made her way the remaining few blocks to her apartment and slowly climbed the four flights of stairs while breathing in the spicy aroma of shared dinners and listening to snippets of end day conversations through thin walls.

 The finality of her apartment door closing behind her still echoed in her mind as the warm bath water she lie in turned from blush to crimson.

Five Sentence Fiction - Accident

  Man I'm starving, I hope mom went grocery shopping today. If she did, I'm grabbin' a bag of oreos and a glass of milk and not budging from in front of that TV. I wonder what's on the After School Spe... What the...? Nobody usually even notices when I come home, now I got half the friggin family standin' on the front porch lookin' at me.
 Wait, what's dad doing home?

5 Sentence Fiction- GOGGLES

 

 Jessie pulled herself out of the warming pool, stretched her long, muscular arms high above her head, brought them down, then shook them out. The move was meant to loosen her up, but she found the familiar  motion calmed her nerves as well.

   As she made her way to the starting block, chants of  "U-S-A"  vied for  attention   among the raucous calls of the global spectators.
  Reaching down between her feet to set her start, a chorus of  "We love you, Jess!" found its way above the din.

  A hint of a smile enhanced her determined stare as the horn sounded.

5 Sentence Fiction - FESTIVAL

Odhran sat and watched anxiously as the seanfhear paused to light each of the colorful  lanterns along the forest path.

  "Under the Grandfather Oak when the last pink of the setting sun has left the sky" the one-eyed man had whispered in his ear as he helped the others gather wood for the Beltaine fires.
 A warm flush had colored his cheeks at the words. Aideen promised when last they met to get word to him and she was true to it, as always.

  When the seanfhear continued around the bend to be seen no more, Odhran leaned his head against the ancient, rough bark and lost himself in thoughts of Aideen's soft, brown eyes and hopes of things to come.

5 Sentence Fiction - SHADOW

 Soft sunlight casts my shadow before me as I walk. It is the shape of my being, and like me, it is empty.
 In my minds eye, I fill the shape with dreams of running, dancing.  Being full.
 I stop on the path and watch as it slowly fades to nothing with the setting of the sun.

5 Sentence Fiction - ANGLE

  The dust from the last car to drive through the crossroads had settled days before the rusty pickup rumbled to a halt across from the El Camino.
   'Did you remember to bring it?" questioned the crooked, weathered old man in the cowboy hat, as he stepped out of his truck and hobbled over to meet the man wearing the torn, blue baseball cap.
   The dirty hand holding out the offering betrayed the sarcastic "No, I forgot this time.", which spat out from between tobacco stained teeth.
  The man in the cowboy hat slowly reached out his gnarled hand, took what was offered, studied it long, hard, and silently, then slipped it in the pocket of his worn denim.
  "I won't be back" he offered, staring intently at the frayed design sewn onto the toe of his battered cowboy boot, but his whispered words were lost in the roar of the engine and the scattering of gravel as the El Camino pulled away.

5 Sentence Fiction -EDGE

The wind loosened stray pieces of long, brown hair from her ponytail as she stood looking out across the mountains. John would catch up in a moment. It was so like him to lag behind, all the time calling to her, trying to hold her back.

She barely felt the sting of the slap that accompanied the words: "You fuckin' Bitch, I told you to wait for me".

 She knew she had waited long enough.

5 Sentence Fiction -WORD

Word

Alone on the front porch, I sit, waiting for Helen to come and help us. I don't know what to do to make my mother stop crying. She's been like this for days.
The headlights of the cavalry cast the shadow of my small, thin frame across the wall as the car pulls in the driveway.

"This is all your fault; if you and your sister weren't so bad your mother wouldn't be like this."

5 Sentence Fiction: FLAME

Flame



The soft hiss of another bottle opening is heard under the gentle strains of guitars and voices singing in harmony. 

A knowing look passes between friends as they sit under the constant, ageless moon. 

Familiar laughter fills the air. 

A hand reaches out to warm mine.

I see years gone by and years to come in that one moment.