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Another Christmas Day, by Natasha Cabot

10/12/2017

 
​False laughter punches the walls of Beth’s eardrums; left hooks and right hooks leave marks in the wax that has gathered inside of dark auditory tunnels.

My family, she says to herself. I hate them.

She watches as her mother, brother (his wife and kids), and her father celebrate. They open gifts and ooohhh and awwww over unimportant trinkets bought from the clearance shelves of discount stores. Beth despises Christmas. She always has. She hates having to attend this obligatory family helliday. It is a day filled with lies her family tells itself. “We’re happy. We always have been. We’re just like those families in magazines. Nothing wrong here!”

Every year is the same. Barbed insults weaved with condescension dance like sugar plum fairies. Passive-aggressive declarations decorate the tree.

She exhales, and tells herself not to worry, Her flight is tomorrow, and then she'll be safe for another year.

Ho Ho Ho
Adrian
15/12/2017 01:24:44 pm

Awesome story!


Comments are closed.

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    Friday Flash Fiction is primarily a site for stories of 100 words or fewer, and our authors are expected to take on that challenge if they possibly can. Most stories of under 150 words can be trimmed and we do not accept submissions of 101-150 words.


    However, in response to demand, the FFF team constructed this forum for significantly longer stories of 151-500 words. Please send submissions for these using the Submissions Page.

    Stories to the 500 word thread will be posted as soon as we can mange.


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    Please feel free to comment (nicely!) on any stories – writers appreciate it.
    Just at the moment, though, we're moderating some of them so there might be a slight delat before they appear
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    One little further note. Posting and publishing 500-word stories takes a little time if they need to be formatted, too.
    ​Please note that we tend to post longer flash fiction exactly as we find it – wrong spacing, everything.

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