Friday Flash Fiction
  • Home
    • About Friday Flash Fiction
  • 100-Word Stories
  • Longer Stories
  • Poetry
  • Authors
    • A-C
    • D-F
    • G-I
    • J-L
    • M-O
    • P-R
    • S-V
    • W-Z
  • Submissions
    • 100-Word Submissions
    • 500-Word Submissions
    • Poetry Submissions
    • How to complete the Entry Form
    • Writing Good Flash Fiction
    • Appeals/Feedback Request
    • Contact FFF
    • Technical Stuff >
      • Terms & Conditions
      • GDPR Compliance
      • Duotrope

The Promises, by Diana Radovan

16/8/2017

 
The promises were all here for the same thing. They had gathered here from all over the country.

They had been well fed on the night of their arrival and then sent to bed. Pleasantries had been exchanged. There was some mumble about the weather and about how difficult it had become to drive in the big cities of their country. The term overpopulation had been used.

The next day, some creatures that the promises had never before met would test how well they'd fit inside a box. The same box, multiplied by the number of promises. The promises were doing this voluntarily. Money were involved. Prestige had also been promised to the promises.

The testing started in the early morning. The promises were tested in parallel on how well they could fit certain predefined aptitudes. Some promises were lucky and were able to show that they could really fit, over and over again, in the same kind of pre-sized box. Fitting repeatedly rather than only once was good.

The promises were given a break after a predefined number of hours, each of them receiving something to eat in its own box. The promises could not look at one another, nor did they have any desire to do so. Each of the promises ate alone in its box.

Inside the glass boxes it was rather hot, but the view was good. The view looked like the promise of freedom. In the distance, there was a river, flowing still among tall buildings.


The promises spent another hour inside their boxes, waiting for someone to come and tell them whether they’d be allowed to manifest their potential inside the same building on that day and for numerous days to come.


By 2 pm, their brains and killed potential were unpeeling in frothed layers. If only a human had passed by to witness it.


But regular humans had no access to the building, and the promises' brains were already fried.

David
19/8/2017 01:12:07 pm

got to read more of your stuff!

Diana Radovan link
19/8/2017 02:20:15 pm

Thank you; there's more on my website: www.dianaradovan.com

Bobby Warner
19/8/2017 09:58:45 pm

Stunning last line! Really good story.

Diana Radovan link
19/8/2017 10:06:24 pm

Thank you, I wanted to experiment with various things (POV, tense, passive voice...) to create a certain overall effect. I hope it worked.

Holli Irvine link
23/8/2017 10:35:47 pm

You're incredible! You think so outside the box. I was blown away.


Comments are closed.

    Longer
    Stories

    Longer Friday Flash Fiction Stories

    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.

    Picture

    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.

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

Picture
Website by Platform 36