81 Words Flash Fiction Writing Challenge – Stories Page 9

Story 801:

THEY MET BY MOONLIGHT

by Ros Masterson

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"A sort of scratchy sound."

"Scratchy like an itch?"

"No, scratchy like a shut-out cat."

He listens. "No."

The moon goes behind a cloud.

"There it is again. You must have heard it. There's a really big fox round here." She clutches his arm.

"Don't be scared, if it's only a fox."

She swings round. "It's behind me. Not scratchy, swishier than that; like a knife cutting through silk."

"Oh, that was me – is it silk?"

Story 827:

THE SEASIDE CARAVAN

by Hannah Cole

Liz could barely lug the wheelchair up the steps, or carry Jack through the narrow doorways.

Emily talked about last year, next year, "we always…", but this would definitely be the last time.

Leaving Emily cocooned in her sandy towel, Liz carried Jack to the water.

He laughed, trying to kick.

As Liz heaved him higher on her hip, a wave knocked them sideways.

Jack spluttered, choked.

Liz screamed, "Towel, Em."

But Emily was far down the beach. Walking with someone.

Story 868:

THE LIVING STATUE

by Rosalind Adam

With his gilded hat and death-mask smirk, he assumes the pose. His heartbeat slows. He tunes out the lad who yells in his ear. He braces against the drunks who push and cajole.

Neither cheek-muscle twitch nor cramping leg betray the illusion until a passer-by offers a coin. He stirs, sucks air into DVT-prone lungs and morphs into a brief jerk-jive routine. Then, with slowing breath, his blood pressure returns to near-death low, taking street art to the limits of life.

Story 870:

DIVE IN

by Andrew Carter

We jumped into a life raft just before our trawler went down.

We watched it sink – booms, nets and catch.

The boat sank, leaving a white box afloat.

The ocean was terribly rough.

We were very afraid.

We were hungry.

We were so cold.

A raging sea calmed.

A white box floated near us.

I reached towards the box with a paddle.

I managed to bring it in, and what was inside?

Wet matches, toothpicks, floss, diving helmet and dive tables.

Story 887:

WHAT'S THE TIME GRANDAD?

by Tom Gaunt

"Don't touch that clock," Grandad had said.

Me being me, I touched it, first having noticed that the time on his clock was wrong: 19:18 the digital display had read.

I looked at my watch, saw it was 15:20 and altered the clock display to the correct time.

I pressed the button on the top and suddenly felt like I was dropping down a very large hole.

Here I am, with my grandad. Two time travellers. The year is now 1520.

Story 896:

LEARNING ENGLISH

by John Vandore

Little Johnny was learning English, thinking one day, when he grew up, he'd know it all. But every time he thought he was getting a grasp of the language, along came something new.

He already knew about subjects and objects, verbs and adjectives and pronouns. He knew about adverbs, but then along came 'adverbial', and even an 'adverbially challenged anthology'. Whatever next?

Little Johnny was so exasperated that he resorted to intensifiers and nearly found out about negators and expletives too…

Story 900:

SHOELACES AND SHEEP

by Ashleigh Whittle

She tripped on her shoelace and dropped the bag. A panicked inhale echoed across the meadow. Sleeping sheep lifted lazy noses to smell the intruders.

"Quickly, Cheryl."

"I can't see anything."

"Shush now."

The dark blue sky was closing in quickly. "Ouch." Cheryl opened her eyes and closed them, opened them… Stars swirled in the sky…

"Cheryl, if you drop that bag again – Cheryl?"

Terry turned and saw her lying on her back. A hoof peeked out of the sprawling bag.