100-Word Stories

Stained, by Clare Hawkins

6/3/2021

Was she complicit after all? She had thrown sawdust down upon the place, brushing away with her besom the filthy witness of this deed.

The executioner had been granted absolution by the minister and by the last words of the poor queen who had whispered him her forgiveness.

She shuddered, gulping bile, looking around the empty hall, where only an hour ago, the gloating nobles and weeping maidservants had watched. In the old religion maybe, her prayers might be heard: to the queen of heaven, for the dead one who bore her holy name, and for her own guilty soul.

2 Comments

My Happiness, by Khan Viktoriya

6/3/2021

5 Comments

I have dreamed of a bicycle for a long time. But yesterday my friend was given the one I dreamed of! I have never been envious, but here I even cried. My parents had no money, but my father was able to take me to a neighbor's stable and introduced me to a little Ray, a young black horse. I got on a horse and It was absolute sense of freedom. I even laughed: how greedy and ugly was my dream about bicycle. I hugged Ray and for the first time felt what truly happiness is.

5 Comments

The Andrew Siderius Memorial Writing Contest

6/3/2021

0 Comments

Afternoon Jaunt, by Kim Favors

5/3/2021

3 Comments

FOOD

Mom’s friends are here. They’re talking about scavenger hunts from childhood — going house-to-house visiting neighbors and collecting things.

Great idea! I’m off to try it.

First is Tom’s. He’s got special cookies. Next, Joanne’s for cheese. Rita might also give me a toy, so can’t skip her. On the way home, I stop next door.

And got busted. Someone had called Mom. She was outside waiting.

“You’re such a bad boy,” she said, dragging me indoors.

“How did you get out, anyway?”

Easy. I’ve been watching her unlatch the gate. Who said old dogs can’t learn new tricks.

3 Comments

Journey's End, by Siobhan Staples

5/3/2021

4 Comments

TRAVEL

From the viewpoint the sea is a sheet of beaten silver stretching to the horizon, its surface mottled by the shadows of small, high clouds. A local taxi firm runs tourists back down via the switchback road. A couple strike up conversation with a stranger while they wait, fearful of what lurks in their long silences.
A mountain rescue helicopter whirs down the slopes to where the stranger says his wife and daughter are walking a treacherous ravine, and the couple’s own fears are eclipsed as the man paces, searching for a mobile signal. The helicopter dips towards the ground.

4 Comments

Banana Stick, by Brennan Thomas

5/3/2021

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FOOD

I’m not doing this charade ‘til the end of the boardwalk. Soon as we pass that frozen fruit stand where the guy dips bananas on a stick in chocolate, I’m done with this. I’m ripping my hand out of his sticky grip. I’m pulling the ring off. I’ll start walking ten feet in front of him, and lose him in the crowd. I’ve already checked out of the hotel. I have what’s mine—tote and carry-on—sitting in the trunk of a cab idling at the entrance to the Barclay Tower. He doesn’t know that—why. I do.

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Chocolate Box, by Barbara Wheatley

5/3/2021

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FOOD

Kneeling down on the sheepskin, her chambray blue skirt flowed around her slender frame like a forget-me-not.

Madeleine arranged her hoard of multi-coloured boxes from celebrations gone by, one on top of the other. Then re-arranged them side by side. The edges met just perfectly. Like a game of Rush Hour. It always calmed her, assembling them like books in a library. She loved their kaleidoscopic spines.

Selecting the right one today was particularly difficult. Much worse than choosing a dark, milk or white soft-centred chocolate that lined her mother’s oversized presentation box. She had a penchant for the finest.

0 Comments

The Penalty, by E. E. Rhodes

4/3/2021

1 Comment

SPORT

Before he was put on the spot, he was the man of the match.

After the brutal tackle he’d struggled to his feet, dusting himself off.

He’d waved away the physio with the magic sponge, he was fine, really.

He’d shrugged at the manager, he didn’t need a substitution.

He’d even leaned in to the referee and asked him not to send the other guy off.

His captain patted him on the back, told him he was the good bloke he knew himself to be. The crowd? Simply ecstatic.

It’d all been brilliant, before he took the penalty, and missed.

1 Comment

Long Journey, by Padmini Krishnan

4/3/2021

3 Comments

TRAVEL

Darrell felt fatigued and disoriented, but he remembered one name, “Leena!” He knocked at her door. Leena’s angry eyes melted as she saw his blood-red bouquet.

“I have come all the way for you, Leena. Happy Birthday!”

“Ha!” Leena scoffed, “Isn’t your office located the next street?”

His eyes held confusion, sadness, and a strange relief. “The ‘authorities’ want me to return. I have a long way to go.”

“Authorities? I don’t understand…”

Darrell rushed out of her house without replying, his soul embarking on a long journey. However, his roses never withered for the next 40 years she lived.

3 Comments

Cape of Storms - Captain's Log January 1st 1545 AD

4/3/2021

1 Comment

TRAVEL

I awoke under the shadow of the yardarm. The only sound was the ship creaking, like twisted branches crying in the wind. I found no crew above or below decks.
I'm now drifting towards Cape Aghulas - the Cape of Storms. It is where the Indian and Atlantic oceans collide, and create the most treacherous currents known to man. They now call it The Cape of Good Hope, but God only knows why? I shall pray; keep constant watch; and should I spy land I'll take my chance, leaving my fate in the hands of my maker.

Captain James Porter.

1 Comment

She Came from Jupiter, by Stringer Bell

4/3/2021

5 Comments

TRAVEL

When I was a boy, a trip to the nearby valley was like a foray into a distant world.

One day, I spied a shooting star in the night sky. Within seconds, it landed softly on the other side of the river. I will never forget the way she shined when her hazel eyes pierced my soul.

When I awoke, I thought it was just a dream. But why did I keep dreaming that same dream?

20 years later, it happened. She entered my sights, blinding me with her brightness, and I haven't been able to see anything else since.

5 Comments

The Potato Thief, by Sivan Pillai

4/3/2021

6 Comments

FOOD

I move silently towards the flickering light, excited that the elusive thief is, at last, in the net. A skeletal man, squatting on the ground, gobbles roasted potato after potato. As I take out my phone, a whining sound comes from the dark, causing his hand, holding the last potato, to freeze midway towards his mouth. An emaciated dog emerges gingerly, its hungry eyes on the potato. The man hesitates for a moment, and places the potato before it. The uninvited guest grabs the offer, and withdraws slowly backwards, wagging its tail.
I put the phone back into my pocket.

6 Comments

Swim Meet, by John M. Carlson

4/3/2021

1 Comment

SPORT

Ted sat on the bleacher by the swimming pool. He was afraid of water, and—like usual—he was uncomfortable being here. Even though he was ten feet away from the pool. Even though this was the shallow end, not the really scary deep end.

He wanted to watch his son’s sports. He just wished his son hadn’t joined the swim team!

He watched the swimmers. How could people swim so fast? How could they stand having nothing but water under them?

The swim meet ended. He was free to escape from the pool—until the next time...

1 Comment

Remembering the Past, by Rod Drake

3/3/2021

8 Comments

FOOD

After he became famous and rich, Andy Warhol ate every dinner out at some exclusive Manhattan restaurant. And he always ordered two of the same meal. One he ate at the chic restaurant; the other was placed in a doggie bag.

He loved to walk home in the early evening, his favorite restaurants only a short distance from the Factory, where he lived and worked. Somewhere on the way, Andy would choose a homeless person and present the doggie bag to him or her. It was his little charitable secret as he remembered being down on his luck.

8 Comments

Mother's Pride, by Colette Coen

3/3/2021

4 Comments

SPORT

His eyes are fixed on an invisible tape as he strides his long legs forward in a lolloping gait. His coach shouts muffled instructions and he nods and jogs back up the track to try again.
In ten minutes time his warm down will be over, his hood will be up and he will be back in the car, eyes obliterated by his fringe, ears blocked by large green headphones, intensely concentrating on his iPhone. But for the moment he stretches the legs that grow an inch a month, re-ties his spikes, and we dream of Olympic glory.

4 Comments

Between Tinutuan and Gudeg, by Yola M. Caecenary

3/3/2021

2 Comments

FOOD

“Mum, will it be possible to combine tinutuan and gudeg as breakfast?” I asked.

“Where did you get the idea?”

I shrugged. Her question was the answer for me.

She was right. Both are one of a kind, but not a good combination for each other.

Separated by two islands, they met amid differences; they shared likes and dislikes, dreams, lives.

Their children were born. All inherited both traditions, preferences, and customs; anyhow, it didn’t make their marriage last.

Tinutuan and gudeg; two different characters; two different stories. Both of them are tasty, but to have them separately, proven better.

Note: tinutuan and gudeg are traditional food from North Sulawesi and Special Region Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

2 Comments

Twilight, by Candace Arthuria Williams

3/3/2021

9 Comments

TRAVEL

“You are too young to know what you want,” her mother pleaded hysterically. Melissa was twenty-seven.

‘We don’t want a frickin’ son! You’re a girl!’ her father screamed.

It was the most ignorant thing he could have said.

The pandemic had changed the world. Indoor movie theaters
were replaced by multi-car drive-ins. Melissa headed north on the spiraling road to locate the 100-foot screen. She pulled a photo of Julia from her pocket and clutched it close to her breast.

Crushing the pedal, she hurtled down to where regular people enjoyed their popcorn and Goobers. It was twilight’s last gleaming.

9 Comments

Rural Renewal, by Jennifer Duncan

3/3/2021

9 Comments

TRAVEL

Pine-fragranced air breezed into Tara's lungs. How robust she felt on her strong, sure-footed horse as he navigated the wild terrain of the trail to her rental cabin in northern Ontario. Each swinging stride connected her to his energy.

At the cabin, she built a campfire. Hot dogs, roasted on sticks, sizzled in the heat. Steamy tea warmed her bones. After, hot sticky toasted marshmallows sweetly fuelled contentment.

Later, lying in bed, Tara gazed through the skylight at myriad stars sprinkling passionate light. Billions of vibrant suns pulsated hope to her.

Tara smiled, cherishing life, defying her cancer.

9 Comments

Firing from a Newspaper Dwindling World, by Scott Fitzgerald

2/3/2021

0 Comments

SPORT

“I’m afraid its not good news.”
Wooden chair legs screech the varnished floor.
“We’re letting you go because of inadequate job proficiency.”
Anticipation pulls us here. But this? Odd. Somewhere the playing field tilts. Anticipation streams through everyone eventually. How timely.
We need a retort now though it will be heartless.
“What about a job performance review? I never got a job performance review.”
“It’s all documented,” he says holding up the folder. “We don’t need a job performance review.”
Fate is in someone’s hands.
A rhetorical summation. Then a set of no nonsense directives.
It’s all so weak.

0 Comments

Jet Lag Confusion, by Peggy Gerber

2/3/2021

14 Comments

TRAVEL

After scrimping and saving for years, lifelong friends Sylvia and Rose were finally embarking on their dream trip to London.

Following a long, sleepless overnight flight from Chicago, both women were exhausted when they checked into their hotel at 3:00 PM. They decided to take a short nap before their dinner reservation in the hotel’s elegant dining room. When they awoke at 6:00, they began their preparations. Dressing in sequin gowns and high heel shoes, they strolled into the dining room with their heads held high.They didn’t understand the maitre-d’s funny look until he said, “Good morning. Welcome to breakfast.”

14 Comments

Chicken Soup, by Clare Goldfarb

2/3/2021

4 Comments

FOOD

Chicken soup starts with the kosher butcher who provides the hefty fowl he has saved “just for you, Madam.” He sees me looking at the black numbers tattooed on his wrist, and tells me of seeing his parents for the last time before they sent him on the kindertransport to London during World War II.

I next visit the Italian grocer who gives me the freshest soup greens to flavor my soup. I congratulate him on his newborn son and look at pictures.

At dinner time, there is chicken soup and stories to serve my family.

4 Comments

Life is Like a Cup of Tea, It’s All in How You Make it, by Bill Cox

2/3/2021

2 Comments

FOOD

She signed the document as he finished the tea she’d offered him, a bit too bitter for his tastes, but he was feeling magnanimous. The Corporation now owned her property.

“You finally saw sense” he said. “Now demolition can proceed and the Mall will be built”.

“As if I’d much choice” she replied mournfully, looking around the room, at fifty years of memories.

“Still,” she said, “they do say that revenge is sweet. Unlike my tea…”

He looked at his empty cup.

“Tell me,” she asked, her face melting into a rainbow of colours, “have you ever tried Peyote?”

2 Comments

A Proposal, by Juliet Wilson

2/3/2021

1 Comment

TRAVEL

I gravitated towards him, his tall blondness and toothpaste commercial smile lit up the room.

“Aaron” his American drawl was like honey.

“Christina” I smiled as we shook hands.

We talked until the party ended. He was excited about studying in Edinburgh for six months. At the end of the party we kissed and agreed to meet again.

The months flew by.

“You two make a perfect couple!” my friend Ellen said.

When his course ended, Aaron asked me to marry him. I suspected his motives and said it was too soon. A week later, he and Ellen got married.

1 Comment

A Dish Best Served Cold, by Carolyn R. Russell

1/3/2021

2 Comments

FOOD

Damn. This season’s stepdad was home. Predictably, John was both drunk and stoned. Some things you could count on.

“Ella!” John yelled. The sound of her name in his mouth was nauseating. “Where’s my Arby’s? You eat it? Girl, I swear, that answer better be no!”

She and her mother were strict vegetarians. This fact seemed to frequently escape him, unencumbered as he was by any real working memory. She did hope he’d find the sandwich, though. She’d spent hours curing its meat and mayo under the brutal Florida sun. If he ever called her spoiled again, she’d just laugh.

2 Comments

Empathy in Time of Artificial Intelligence, by Sankar Chatterjee

1/3/2021

5 Comments

FOOD

Graduating from Harvard, Daniel joined a high demanding Wall Street farm. Besides purchasing a latest laptop, he also acquired an Alexa (Amazon), a voice-activated mini-robot programmed to dispersing advice and ordering merchandises. Soon, Daniel read an article how Peru’s ancient Huari pottery-paintings depicted possible rearrangement of everyday life from the advancement of technology. One day, while teleconferencing from his home-office with global clients, Daniel’s meeting got extended way past lunchtime. Hungry, he murmured “A sandwich could have been of a great help.”

Alexa whispered: “Don’t you worry. I already ordered a chicken chimichanga with bean/rice from the local Mexican restaurant."

5 Comments

<<Previous

Stained, by Clare Hawkins

My Happiness, by Khan Viktoriya

The Andrew Siderius Memorial Writing Contest

Afternoon Jaunt, by Kim Favors

Journey's End, by Siobhan Staples

Banana Stick, by Brennan Thomas

Chocolate Box, by Barbara Wheatley

The Penalty, by E. E. Rhodes

Long Journey, by Padmini Krishnan

Cape of Storms - Captain's Log January 1st 1545 AD

She Came from Jupiter, by Stringer Bell

The Potato Thief, by Sivan Pillai

Swim Meet, by John M. Carlson

Remembering the Past, by Rod Drake

Mother's Pride, by Colette Coen

Between Tinutuan and Gudeg, by Yola M. Caecenary

Twilight, by Candace Arthuria Williams

Rural Renewal, by Jennifer Duncan

Firing from a Newspaper Dwindling World, by Scott Fitzgerald

Jet Lag Confusion, by Peggy Gerber

Chicken Soup, by Clare Goldfarb

Life is Like a Cup of Tea, It’s All in How You Make it, by Bill Cox

A Proposal, by Juliet Wilson

A Dish Best Served Cold, by Carolyn R. Russell

Empathy in Time of Artificial Intelligence, by Sankar Chatterjee

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"Classic"
100-Word
Stories