Flash Fiction

Today we were inspired by the NZ Flash Fiction competition and each wrote a short short story using four prompts that we drew out of a box. The prompts were provided by ourselves at the start of our writing session. They were - a place, a person's name, an emotion, and a mode of transport. The prompts were sometimes challenging but really helped to get us started with some cool stories realised.



   It was a grey Thursday morning in Green Island. Rain was forecast for later in the afternoon, and it was cold. Local pensioners walked slowly to Moyle's Supermarket, pulling their trundlers as they went to get their groceries, happily anticipating a nice cuppa at the cafe with their neighbours or retired friends from the area.
   Along the road Dan kicked gravel off the footpath, as Poppy pushed the pram towards him. She was pale still, as if impending death hadn't left her when she had been discharged from the hospital.  Still looked hurt.
   "Howsit?" he asked, as he crouched to tickle the baby under the chin. "Have you named him yet?"
   "Called him after my grandads" Poppy replied. "Just cos I had to for the paperwork. Still not calling him anything 'cept baby."
   Dan knew she hadn't wanted the baby. A hard place to be, hopes cut short and all that.
   Down Main Street there was a flash and a bang and out of the dust a vehicle arrived, a Delorian.
   The door opened and Doc stepped out.
   "Nuts" thought Dan "he's not supposed to be real."
   "Come on then" called Doc "don't mess about you two!"
   Poppy and Dan looked at him. "Whaddya mean?" she asked. "Turn back time?"
   "Alternative path" said Doc impatiently "Choose where you want to go; who you want to be; who you want to be with."
   She and Dan looked at the unnamed baby.
   "Really?"


- Karen



   He had waited for this day for so long. He'd read about them being in Dunedin, heard all the stories - for and against.  He'd been to Dunedin, just to see them, but couldn't find any.  Driven all the way down from the Waitaki Valley for nothing.  Disappointed, Rodriguez drove slowly home.
    But wait, what's that at the side of the road at Hampden?  Could it be?  Yes it is!  Finally Rodriguez could ride an e-scooter!
    Out came his phone (he'd downloaded the app months ago).  He pushed all the buttons, agreed to all the small print, and he was off, flying along the footpath, massive smile on his face.  Until he realised that the brakes weren't working.  He knew there had been brake problems, but thought they were all fixed.  His excitement turned to fear as he watched his speed increase - 15, 20, 25 km/hr, then there was a bang and the speedo died, but his speed kept increasing.
    Until he hit that crack on the path. He stopped then, but only after rolling 3 times, breaking his collarbone and grazing the left side of his face.
    Rodriguez became grateful for his ability to walk after that.

- Christine



   Suddenly she was drenched in consciousness. In a panic she reached for her purse.
   "Oh my God," she thought. "I'm lucky."
   Her cigarettes and cash were still there.
   She was on the London Underground. Glancing at her watch she realised she had been sleeping for three hours. The sound of other buses clattered in her ears. She had to get off the bus. She had gone by numerous stops and she had no idea where she was.
   Sweat was beading on her forehead and her hands were shaking. She needed a fix.
   As the bus jolted on the next stop she disembarked, and still shaking, lit her cigarette. As the smoke wreathed and danced around her head she stopped panicking. She tipped up her bag. A small foil-wrapped package fell out of her purse along with cigarettes, money and gum. She extricated the pill from its packet. Moments later she was in a state of bliss. The only thing now was to find out where in London she was.

- Morag



   "I know why you are having those dreams. It's a symptom of alien abduction and I can help you get over it, but it will cost you. If you pay me $100 I will come back and listen to you tomorrow."
   The conman walks away with $100 giggling gleefully.
   "Another sucker has just bit the dust," he thinks to himself.
   The person with the problem sleeping trusts him and expects him back.
   On the way home the conman's bike hits a rock and he is knocked unconscious.
   Waking up he finds himself in a room with beeping lights and buttons, with a strange alien creature nearby. The alien is light khaki green with a big head and great staring eyes, with a distorted human body. "Where am I,"
   "You're on board my flying saucer and I am here to help you mend your ways,"
   The man  started kicking and screaming. "You're not real."
   "I assure you I am. Touch me."
   The frightened man touched the creature's chest and found a warm rubbery skin.
   "What do you want me to do?"
   "I want you to go to all of the people that have paid you for nothing and work your fill. Starting tomorrow you will tell the lady that her dreams will go and she will have pleasant ones instead. Be warned I have inserted a probe so I can keep an eye on you. You will see me if you don't change your ways." Then all of the alien family came to say goodbye and set him back on his bike, with a bump on his head. He turned around and went straight back to the lady with the dreams. The conman turned into an honest person and helped everyone.

- Gail