Flash Fiction And Other Stuff

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Best life guard in #chicago

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@ammulcrone

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Don't Look Up

Don’t Look Up

A photo posted by John Feeney (@chicagotography) on Jan 12, 2015 at 3:55pm PST

It was the first time all winter that she had seen fresh white snow. The first snow of the year, which had occurred more than a month ago, had started falling at about 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon. She was in her office then, leaning into the glowing screen of a computer, when she heard one of her co-workers remark…

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Lost Birds

It was the third time that they had seen the bird since sitting at the edge of the water. He was certain that it was the same bird but she wasn’t convinced.

“Look around,” he said. “They’ve all gone.”

The bird’s shadow darted over the grass then down the cement steps and out into the still blue waters. He put his arm around her as they watched it slowly shrink into an indecipherable dot above the…

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Quarantine - Part 5: Containment

Final installment. "Quarantine - Part 5: Containment" #fridayflash

“17 miles,” he said. “I haven’t finished figuring it but I’d say 17 miles. The perimeter is one thing but then you’ve got to look at each individual house. A length of tape across the front. Two more along the side. And then that big cross in front of the door. 17 miles. That sounds about right.”

They had roped the neighborhood off with yellow tape the night before. Orders came down on Monday…

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Quarantine - Part 4: Bloody Knuckles

Part four of Quarantine. "Bloody Knuckles." #Serial #serialfiction #flashfiction

There was nowhere left to hide. Any allusions of safety that the neighborhood was still clinging to were shattered as the rock smashed through the window. They were exposed. The wall that had kept away the danger was gone and they had no choice but to look their fear in the eye.

He, their fear, their monster, their abandoned friend and new found foe, was sitting at the table with a medal pendant…

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Quarantine - Part 3: Broken Glass

Check out part 3 of Quarantine. "Broken Glass." #Amwriting #serial #flashfiction

Bruce couldn’t figure it any other way. In six months the human population would be decimated.  He had seen the movies. The ones with the hazmat suits and the monkeys. The ones where one mistake leads to another. The ones where no one expects that it will happen to them until it does. In six months, if things kept going the way they were, we’d be on the brink of extinction.

It was all over the…

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Quarantine - Part 2: Patron Saints

Ready for part two of "Quarantine?"

A hail of panic rained down into Morgan’s front yard as he went for the package which sat in the grass next to the sidewalk halfway between his doorstep and the fence. First it was June, her high shrill voice sounding off like the neighborhood alarm, then it was her husband, Bruce, barking like a guard dog. Soon the other neighbors were standing on their own yards, children hugged between legs,…

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Quarantine - Part 1: The Package

Our first serial. Check out "Quarantine - Part 1: The Package."

It had been 3 days since Morgan had gone outside and two since he’d opened a window. It was a crisp fall day and he had opened the window above his kitchen sink with the hopes of letting a small slice of unfiltered sunshine soak into his paling skin. But that wasn’t what happened when the glass separated from the sill. Instead of a cool breeze of fresh air he was greeted with the piercing shrill…

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Already Decided

New #FlashFiction, Already Decided, inspired by the #ShawShooting.

Flash fiction inspired by the Shaw Shooting

It was decided long before he pulled the trigger, before the bullet left the barrel of the gun, before the bullet entered then exited his cheek, before he fell to the ground, before his eyes glazed over, before the sirens rang down the dark alleyways, before the crowd gathered.

It had already been decided.

Person A did X to person B and that equaled…

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It Had To Be Done

New #FlashFiction "It Had To Be Done" inspired by the death of a dog. #amwriting

Flash fiction inspired by a story published on Mashable: 

It has to be done. There’s no other way.

He repeated those words to himself over and over again as he prepared the needle. She was lying on the table, whimpering. His colleagues were standing around the room, silent. He flicked the thin cool metal with his fingernail and tried not to cry.

“I’m sorry girl,” he said. “It has to be done.”

Th…

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Columbus Day

Flash fiction inspired by a report published by Reuters:

OK, picture this. Have you ever been to Chicago? No? OK, then Chicago it is.

You get in your car with a couple of friends and you start driving. Mile after mile, city after city, and soon you see those big buildings rise up from the horizon. It’s beautiful. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It’s so incredible that you send emails…

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Desperate

New #Flashfiction "Desperate" inspired by an old woman scammed people by pretending to be homeless.

Flash fiction inspired by an elderly lady who was scamming people out of money by pretending to be homeless.

Maybe it isn’t hers. She could have friends. Just because she’s homeless doesn’t mean that she’s completely alone. 

He was standing on the corner of the gas station with a bag of chips in his hand. His other hand was tickling the loose change in his pocket. He had $1.23.

I don’t know…

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Hit

New #FlashFiction "Hit" inspired by @samcmlaird's story about recent deaths in high school football. #fridayflash

Flash fiction inspired by a recent string of high school football deaths:

  Faster. Harder. Stronger. Hit. Hit. Hit.

The clock was running down. They were down by six. The ball was near midfield and they needed, needed, two more yards for a first down. The lineman dug their heels into the grass. The receivers wiggled their fingers. The quarterback made the call. Then.

Hike.

22 men charged in…

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Clean

Latest flash fiction, Clean, inspired by the first case of ebola in the United States. http://wp.me/p11zyL-Tw

Flash fiction inspired by the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States:

He was barely in the door when he heard her voice from across the room.

“Wash your hands,” she said. “My god before you touch anything. Wash your hands.”

He put his suitcase down, took of his jacket, and started heading for the closet door like he had done a thousand times before but this time there he was…

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Turn It Down

New #FlashFiction "Turn It Down" inspired by the conviction of Michael Dunn.

Flash fiction inspired by the conviction of Michael Dunn: Jurors found Michael Dunn guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in the 2012 shooting death 17-year-old Jordan Davis.

“I was threatened,” he said. “You know the way they look. I saw one with a diamond gun hanging from his ear. Yeah, flashy and violent. And you’re telling me that’s not threatening? That it’s not menacing?

“I was walking…

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Jeggings

#Flashfiction inspired by the Jeggings ban at a ND high school. #jeggingsban

Flash fiction inspired by a North Dakota high school that recently banned jeggings because they were distracting for boys.

It’s 2pm on a Wednesday and the teacher is droning on about the civil war. “In 1861, on President Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration day…”  It used to be my favorite subject. History. The teacher would talk about the civil war, or Genghis Khan, or the Salem Witch Trials, and I…

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