Misnomer

Avatar Games

They called her Butterfly not because she was gracious but because she liked to see things fly. Often enough, people had to scatter in all directions when something came flying towards them. When she upgraded from apples and pears to dishes, someone yelled "not the butter". She couldn't care less and off it flew, the dish with the butter on it. It flew straight towards the head of the good old fisherman. He was never the same again. His grumpiness disappeared and he only had eyes for Butterfly who, still today, keeps making things fly. Her latest achievement... a bicycle!

100 Word Stories

Discard

 

BCC

Warm and cozy. Discard.

Tea brewing. Discard.

Books and more books. Discard and discard.

That's what he had said. Discard.

But she loved her warm cozy room. Books were her life. How could she discard all she cared for?

And then she would hear his voice, roaring inside her head, discard, discard, discard.

Had he discarded everything too, she asked in a barely audible voice. He turned to face her. If looks could kill...

Discard, you hear me.

And she did.

Becoming a secret agent was not for her, but they sure taught effective ways of.. getting rid of anything.

100 Word Stories

Mad

Avidya

"Can you help me? The noise is driving me mad."

"But you're already mad, aren't you?"

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are!"

"I don't think so."

"Oh, for sure."

"Your hair wants cutting."

"What? We were talking about being mad."

"I know, and your hair makes me mad."

"Why?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. It just does. If you knew time as well as I do... "

"You wouldn't waste it."

"Not it. Him."

"I'm confused."

"So am I."

"Is this a riddle?"

"Yes. Have you guessed it yet?"

"No. What's the answer?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. And I'm still mad."

100 Word Stories

Letter

Kats Beach

What's the color of a letter? Is an A a whispered amber? Is a B a bitter lemon? He didn't know.

But he kept writing those letters, his stories told in the tones of the chosen color.

The woman at the stand would smile benevolently and nod.

One day, "I have mail for you!" the envelope marked C! Cosmic latte, he said and they chuckled.

She already had many more letters ready and she hoped he'd skip the D, too many dark and deep colors in that one.

He never figured out it was her and she continued to smile.

100 Word Stories

Needle

Kronbelt

"Empty. Damn dopehead thief."

Everyone made faces. The place stunk.

"Where to now? He has to be somewhere."

Everyone looked at the deserted road.

"We should..."

"Yes, we should do something."

Everyone looked at the elderly woman, standing at the back, knitting.

"This is no time to be knitting, lady."

She smiled.

"I know where he is."

"Where?!"

"At my home. I'm helping him. And no one, I mean no one, will touch him. He's trying."

"Well, why did you come along in the search party then?"

"Because I like to keep an eye on overly enthusiastic people, let's say!"

100 Word Stories

So Many Questions

Avatar Games

I sat at my desk and pondered.

Should I go and interview the man?

Should I shake his hand?

Should I be friendly?

Should I smile?

Should I let him lead the conversation or should I ask him specific questions?

Should I show him the photos? The ones with their faces? The ones where they were still smiling?

And the maps? Should I show him the maps, the ones where the crosses mark the different locations?

Should I ask him...? Should I ask him about the bodies?

And are there more out there? Are there?

Where, please, tell us, where?

100 Word Stories

Bonus Outbreak

Time Remains

“Ah, dreams. Those wondrous moments of sheer leisure. Some are just wonderfully peaceful. Others are inspiring. Most are memorable.”

“Really? I don't recall most of my dreams...”

“Poor you... Such a simpleton. All dreams are a bonus, an added plus to our boring existence.”

“To be honest, not all dreams are a bonus. Some are like an outbreak of something weird.”

“You simple, you! Those would be nightmares and not dreams.”

“It does depend, doesn't it?”

“It does?”

“Yes. If one is somewhat masochistic, a nightmare would be a dream.”

"Ahm..."

"I'm not that much of a simpleton, am I?"

100 Word Stories

Footnote

Milk Wood

Footnote is the prompt, they said.

Footnote... Something about a writer... no, that's boring.

A mystery then. Something that had remained unspoken for many decades.

OK, let's go crazy then, why not!

Let's add a guillotine, but not just any guillotine, one made of solid gold.

Oh, and the Chinese mafia, determined to get to the said guillotine.

Now, the house. A strange house with secret compartments, dusty and dark.

Plus a few characters, odd characters.

Who's the main character?

Yes, that woman, what's her name...

The bell rang. Damn.

"Your time is up."

The Unspoken Footnote. It's a start!

100 Word Stories

Riding Shotgun

Bridgetown

Sitting in the back made him feel sick, very sick.

The vehicles were old and made out of scrap, the rusted parts an adventure each time they bumped against a rock on the road. Plus, it didn't help that all the guys drove like lunatics.

When he was promoted to siting in the front, he couldn't be happier. No more snarky remarks about how green he looked. He was free!

When that unidentified piece of metal poked his right eye out, the first thought that crossed his mind was "it doesn't matter, green no more!"

Priorities, yes, priorities are paramount!

100 Word Stories

Trade

Collins Land

Trading vintage posters had become quite the busy activity.

John had a bunch of them hanging on the walls of his study.

He dusted them and created a website to sell them. Trading was for retards.

The phone rang a few days later.

A man was interested. And John was happy.

They met and John opened the trunk of his car.

"No trading."

The man sneered and walked away.

"Hey!"

The man waved dismissively.

John went back home, updated the website, traded a bunch of posters for different ones.

Yup, John, just go with the flow. It'll be less painful.

100 Word Stories

What's That On the Horizon?

Milk Wood

She sat there and watched the horizon. The view was stunning. She closed her eyes and waited. She didn't know what she was waiting for. She just knew she had to be there. And she sat for a long time.

A dog barked far away and she snapped out of her hypnotic state. The horizon was still there, the view still stunning.

And then she knew why she had to sit there, waiting.

She knew she had to learn that despite everything she was going through, she could still come back and sit down, quietly, peacefully, and be. Just be.

100 Word Stories

Hand

Kronbelt

The hand, the foot, the wall. Don't do it. But they did. A hand, a foot, a wall. Just any wall, just any foot, just any hand. The drawings held the secret, they said. And everyone believed them. We found them. And everyone believed them. They are centuries old. Everyone stared in awe. Scientists came from the capital to check and re-check the wall. And they believed them. By then, it was too late. They couldn't say a word. The hand, the foot, the wall... Tourists loved them. Locals loved them even more. Money and jobs. Yes, money and jobs.

100 Word Stories

Don't Press the Button!

Time Remains

"This is a camera. It takes snapshots as all cameras do. However, this is not a real camera," said the seller, smiling.

The client frowned.

"This is a mind-reader."

The client chuckled.

"You don't believe it."

The client shook his head, a sneer on his lips.

"Whatever you do, don't press the red button. This is how it works."

The client held the camera and he just had to... Click.

A snapshot slowly slid out of the camera.

The last thing the seller saw, a mask of horror on his face, was his own death on the client's mind snapshot.

100 Word Stories

Stay Safe

France Portnawak

"Stay safe and enjoy the trip."

He repeated these words in his mind, over and over again, while trying to keep his head above the icy water. He knew he didn't have much time left.

"Stay safe and enjoy."

And it had been very enjoyable. Very enjoyable, he repeated in his mind.

Good music, good food, nice company. Very nice.

"Stay and enjoy. How nice."

The water was so cold. He couldn't see anything. He could hear people around him, crying and yelling.

"Stay, be nice."

And he felt he was so far away. It was strange.

"Stay... Stay... Nice..."

100 Word Stories

List

Kingpost

"Attention! Today's specials!" said the innkeeper.

The room lit up with enthusiasm.

"Fish and apples!"

A murmur of disappointment...

"Fish, apples AND seagull!"

The crowd went back to the usual chatter, uninterested.

"... and RUM!"

A roar of eagerness thundered throughout the room.

"The fish is fresh and.."

Everyone laughed.

"Well, the rum is OK..."

A round of lively applause.

The innkeeper was sweating profusely by then.

In fact, the rum was the cheapest he could find.

Let's just say the evening ended with him bobbing away inside a barrel, doused in his own rum.

Luckily, they didn't light him up.

100 Word Stories

When Will It Stop Raining

Hestium

When will it stop raining?

When will they be able to stop wearing those silly helmets that didn't let them breathe properly?

The people at the monastery couldn't care less, and he admired them for that.

They disregarded the compulsory quarantine, saying they had to help the ones in need.

They made offerings to some obscure entity and they didn't care about the rain.

That's why they walked around wrapped in this odd material they had come up with themselves, and only at night.

When will it stop raining, he thought. He wanted to go and become one of them.

100 Word Stories

Saint

Ah, the photo of his old bedroom. He couldn't help but smile. It was there he had taken the first steps towards his amazing career in computers, full of hope and dreams, overshadowing his big sister's remarkable career as a Professor.

Behind the bookshelf, that's where he hid it.

Years later, he went back to fetch it. Gone.

When the cops knocked at his door, he knew the governments of those countries weren't happy with him.

The little code-book... They had it. But how??

Sitting in his cold cell, he tried to figure it out, his sister's sneer haunting him.

100 Word Stories

Advanced

France Portnawak

A cool course on something maritime, he couldn't remember what. Something he had seen online, but he hadn't paid much attention. And now he was in this predicament, surrounded by ice and no one in sight. The tiny boat was destroyed and that thing, whatever it was called, frantically blinking some sort of danger signal, was tossed aside.

“And now, Mr. Smart Ass who never reads anything 'til the end? And now? Well, now you're gone.”

People searched for him. They did try...

Surprisingly, the advanced "cool course" had twice as many attendees. People like getting in trouble, don't they?

100 Word Stories

River Crossing

Annwan Willows

"River Crossing..." said the sign.

River? There was nothing there, not a single drop of water in sight.

He looked left. He looked right. If he was to cross anything, he'd follow the rules.

Then he took a step forward and looked left and right again. He had always been very cautious.

He looked at his watch and took another step forward.

That's exactly when, out of nowhere, a huge pack of wolves knocked him down.

The locals nicknamed the pack leader River and crossing River where he usually crossed was not a healthy thing to do, cautiously or not!

100 Word Stories

Remember

Milk Wood

 The vet's schedule is imprinted on my brain. For many months, that was the most important schedule in my life. Mondays and Tuesdays, morning and afternoon. Wednesdays, afternoon and evening. Thursdays, night shift. Fridays, not there. There were other vets there, of course, but... It wasn't the same thing. They hesitated, read the files ten times, messed up the meds. And I used to ask, not sure whom, please, please, don't let him get really ill on a Friday. Or weekend. The vet's schedule is still imprinted on my brain, but I don't need it anymore. My kitty is gone.

100 Word Stories