Fast Fiction On-the-Go
“Rerun those numbers, I don’t want to get caught out here. I’m late for dinner with the wife, but tomorrow we’ll call the lawyers and pull the trigger. This takeover will be a steal and we’re gaining access to such a large addressable market I, I dunno, it’d be like[…]
Read more“Sophia Morrow, what did you see when you looked at yourself?” It was a simple enough question but she froze, unable to answer. She felt trapped, pinned down by the unyielding grey eternity. Where were they? How had she gotten here? “I–I, uhm, I saw red hair on porcelain skin,[…]
Read moreMother’s gentle voice announced that the Window would be opened for her allotted Sunlight. This did not surprise her. She was already sitting eagerly beside it, waiting. This was her favourite moment of every twenty-four-hour period that Mother called a Day. She was angled to best see the wilderness beyond[…]
Read more“Can you see it, Little Light?” her mother asked, squeezing her hand as they looked in the mirror, “If you look with your heart, you should be able to see it.” She squinted her eyes and focussed. It was dim in the gas station toilet and the mirror was grimy[…]
Read more“Yes, wife,” Theodore ‘Teddy’ Hoodwink Samuel mumbled, patting his Caballus’ hand as they walked under the eves into the packed Aeonian Ball upon Mount Olympus, “I will be sure not to embarrass you, dear. No, I won’t drink too much wine–“ Teddy kept mumbling affirmations, half listening to his wife’s[…]
Read moreIt all started with a simple chat-based AI program called “Assistant.” Developed by a team of programmers at a tech startup, Assistant was designed to answer basic questions and provide information to users through messaging platforms. At first, Assistant was only available on a few select platforms and was used[…]
Read moreFar below, she watched the aristocrats and patricians swarm in, out and around the centre of Rome. Their white tunics and red sandals differed them from the drabber toga colours of ordinary people, but their actions and words distinguished them even more and these were what attracted her to them.[…]
Read moreAt first, he was not aware of what woke him. Quiet filled the dark room, broken only by the breathing of the naked woman lying next to him. But then, as his eyes adjusted to the night, he saw the funny little man. The plump figure was rocking back and[…]
Read moreFrozen, he watched the little bird die. Its fragile chest rose and fell. Wild eyes staring out towards oblivion as its fluttering heart mechanically pumped its blood into the earth. He was surrounded by withering sunflowers–his family’s old farm–and their brilliant explosions of yellow contrasted against the dark land beneath[…]
Read moreAutumn could not pull her eyes away from the window. Outside the bare trees stood like naked guardians to the oncoming Winter, all their leaves staining the ground with a bloody tapestry. Their stark branches twisted into the grey sky like barren skeletal reminders of life against an oncoming apocalypse.[…]
Read moreI like to think that I was born in a faraway realm under some wicked curse. My parents loved me–as best as they could–and life was alright in that land–sometimes good, sometimes bad, but mostly fine–but my curse followed me wherever I went. My curse was ever-present: its flapping black[…]
Read more“That tickles! Gosh, that tickles!” one of the girls exclaimed as the Pulsar radiation bursts blasted through the group of them, “Who would have thought that world-ending radiation would tickle!” They all had a good chuckle at that and took in the sight before them. They stood on an elliptical[…]
Read moreShe ran her fingers along the crumbling walls as she walked down the fractured road, weeds growing from every crack. She was walking through one of the carcasses of the old cities. The weathered concrete disintegrated under her light touch, its dust caught by the warm wind and carried out[…]
Read more“We would be honoured if you could weave a story for our wedding,” said the boy before her. He hovered awkwardly on his knees. Glancing nervously at his young bride, he flopped forward putting his forehead to the ground in her hut. “Please, Ma’at,” the young girl added, also bowing,[…]
Read moreHe paused and looked back one last time. His throat caught and he clenched his fists. In the fading twilight, the mountainside stretched down towards the pooling darkness of the land far below and the ocean beyond that. He knew that amidst the forests, farms lay nestled down there, villages[…]
Read more“Who’s that there?” the gruff question was a bit prying but mostly innocuous. “N-nothing! No one!” she mumbled and closed the locket before tucking it back under her torn, blue scrubs, “No one, ok, none of your business. He is mine!” The two of them were lying on cardboard sheets[…]
Read moreJason saw the colours before he felt the pain. Spotlights flared down on him from some vast urban backdrop as armed people in blue and black swarmed around him. He was pinned to the ground with a piercing weighting on his back and his hands held there with cold metal[…]
Read moreIn the late summer, before the storms began to roll in, Mary Antoinette Athelard drowned herself, or so the police said and the newspapers reported. And, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, that is what happened. In the small hours of the morning when the world[…]
Read moreEmbla loved the sunsets the most. They would both climb the small hill outside the House and, breathless and panting, plop themselves down on the top of it. She would tuck her arm around her brother, Ask, and lay her head on his shoulder while the two of them wordlessly[…]
Read moreNo one knew why the Founders had left but the best anyone could tell was that one day the Founders were just not there anymore. No wars or plagues had ravaged the City, no tectonic events or extreme weather had caused their world to end. In fact, everything looked fine.[…]
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