Category: Fiction

The Entire Sea #microfiction

~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ 12 Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Tell me about your home.”

“Nazarai?” Azi queried back, knowing it wasn’t the answer she wanted.

“No,” Meredith responded, “your true home.”

Azi, compelled by the magics woven through their bones, would always give Meredith what she wanted. “I was born on a water moon.”

Meredith raised her eyebrows. “Island dwellers?”

“No islands,” Azi said. ”Not that I can recall. Just water. My tribe were nomads. Pirates, maybe. I was taken before my tenth turn so my memories are vague.” Continue reading “The Entire Sea #microfiction” →

Patterns

~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ 3 Comments

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“You peer too deep,” Azi whispered.

Brushed by her companion’s breath, goosebumps rose on Meredith’s neck and cascaded down the right side of her body. The smooth fabric of her flight suit tantalized her alerted skin, sending a shiver through her bones. Continue reading “Patterns” →

Dope #3LineTales

~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ 3 Comments

Reading Time: < 1 minute

She’d found him, finally, and pulled the crumpled bills from her pocket in small wads and pushed them through the wire, grateful.

Moments later, her cheek pressed into the chain-link as four hands frisked and groped her then pried the small, damp baggie out of her white-knuckled fist.

Her benefactor stood silent, watching as he looked away.

Photo by Jake Oates via Unsplash
Three Line Tales, Week 58

 

Bad Air #writephoto

~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ 14 Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Damn,” Meredith’s disappointment felt unwarranted. She’d noticed the signs even before shuttling to the surface, but they’d made the descent anyway. This wasn’t the debris of a Solar swarm. Something other than those bastard Locusts had destroyed this world.

“Not what we were looking for?” Azi chimed, their tone knowing. Continue reading “Bad Air #writephoto” →

Collector

~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ 24 Comments

Reading Time: < 1 minute

“The very last one,” Meredith whispered as she pinned the treasure to a small square of cardboard and lowered it carefully into the box.

She’d tracked the Solar Locust, Eater of Worlds, through six systems and two light-years. A mottled brown with only a hint of the yellow that adorned the female, he wasn’t the prettiest prize. But the end of a line. “Priceless.”

*

She watched the shadow through the doorway, felt the life drain from her mate. The thief had stolen her post-coital meal, sealing her fate. Her brood would make a delightful parting gift.

 

A World Eater tale.
My first contribution to Friday Fictioneers  organized by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. 100 words. Photo prompt. To see other’s responses to the prompt go here.
Photo Copyright – Shaktiki Sharma

A Pleasure to Burn #Flash Fiction

~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ 7 Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

She threw the token onto the pile in the center of the table.

Chisholm froze. “You serious?”

“I’m always serious,” she said, letting an amused smile curl one corner of her mouth as the eyebrow above it raised. “Even when I’m playing.”

“Especially when she’s playing,” chimed Davis. He’d folded on the previous round, his tongue, and his wisdom, loosened by whiskey. A tight player when he was sober, Davis had dropped to two gold pieces after ordering his fourth glass. “Serious like a dog star…”

Chisholm shot Davis a glance to shut him up and leaned into the light to pick up the small figurine. Continue reading “A Pleasure to Burn #Flash Fiction” →

Unseen – Three Line Tales

~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ Leave a comment

Reading Time: < 1 minute

She might have laughed at how readily they followed the ruse had she intended the test to remain un-passed.

So it turned that a few words printed on a card pointed them back from whence they’d come – the framed, the windowed, the doored – and locked her in her loneliness.

Instead, she comforted herself with the dream of an impossible friend who paused to breathe, followed the signs instead of the sign, and fumbled upon the invisible line that looped through the rusting ring.

 

Photo by Fleur Treurniet via Unsplash
Three Line Tales, Week 57

Life Lesson

Life Lesson
~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ 2 Comments

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The children followed their mother, eager to continue the night’s adventure. She insisted on strict formation, eyes on the back of the one before – she couldn’t really police them, but her children generally behaved. They had already crossed the Flat Black and spent hours hunting small game on the edge of the river. This was their third visit to the water and they’d done well. Ma felt confident in her latest brood – all but the smallest had managed a kill. This next lesson would help the littlest one. Continue reading “Life Lesson” →

Donkey Donkey

Donkey Donkey
~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ Leave a comment

Reading Time: 4 minutes

He missed Cow. Cow always left the biggest dandelions and she always gave him space. This new one hung around too close. And looked at him funny. Like he wanted something. Cow always looked like she wasn’t sure what was going on. That made Donkey feel smart.

“Whatcha doin’ over there?”

That was another thing. Cow never asked him questions. Donkey looked back at the other one. I’m judging you. That’s what I’m doing. He finished chewing. “I’m eating what’s left of these dandelions over here.” Continue reading “Donkey Donkey” →

Two Roses on Concrete

Two Roses on Concrete
~ carlbystrom@live.com ~ 2 Comments

Reading Time: 6 minutes

David felt the sunrise. His window remained dark but the warmth of dawn spread inside his chest. It was a new day, a day for rebirth, a fresh start, the dawning of opportunity. He was ready to put his best foot forward, take Kathleen by one hand, their daughter by the other, and walk boldly down a clear path. Continue reading “Two Roses on Concrete” →