flash fiction Archives – Kelley Farrell

Pen and Paper

Posted on January 26, 2020January 26, 2020 by Kelley Farrell

As long as I don’t move I pretend no one can see me. I’m a statue, gathering snow. Birds traipse across my table, eyeing my lone piece of banana bread. They examine then flit off to inform their friends.

It won’t be long before they descend, all for too sweet artificially flavored bread.

My pen stares stoically at my notebook. It needs to bleed. It needs release.

My notebook is having none of it, a lovers quarrel I’m sure. It remains steadfastly shut against the longing notes my pen wishes to deposit.

Quiet conversations erupt into laughter. Engines spurn to life. A world of constant din and none of it can be composed until the notebook forgives the pen.

I force them together, apologies be damned, but the pens strike is fatal; leaving an ink lined hole where a word should be.

I try again, gently this time. The paper shreds beneath the pen’s flow. Total refusal to cooperate. Ink won’t flow over paper, not while they’re not speaking this way.

All the world’s deadlines building unending pressure. Surely that’s enough to squash any relationship but pen and paper? I thought for sure they were stronger.

Word Count: 196
For Sunday Photo Fiction
Photo Credit Morguefile

What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs

Posted on January 18, 2020January 18, 2020 by Kelley Farrell

We came here on the backs of our ancestors greatest invention. The ability to cross among the paths of time has been an integral part of society but, as with any great discoveries, it was coveted.

Facing extinction we gathered our prized possessions, animals, science … and sent them across realms.

We would have returned for them sooner but …

George didn’t write down the coordinates of where he sent them.

Right, we would have returned sooner but … were unable to.

We believed our ideas, our species, our discoveries were safe. We believed there would be reprieve from a world too far gone. We’ve been driven nearly to extinction in the name of progress.

But this, this is not what our people left behind. Where are the animals? The science?

Maybe they ate it.

Perhaps they are far more advanced than we think? Did they somehow find the exact coordinates before we could recover them?

Hear me out. Maybe they are our science, our discoveries. We did save a number of cellular organisms. Perhaps they ‘evolved’. This proves their significance at least.

Significant? They are killing themselves. This is not what our ancestors wanted. A planet of intruders? No.

Theus, you’re getting a little worked up.

Millenia of progress has been bastardized.

It rarely goes any other way. Perhaps this is for the best. Remember, change is the very essence of everything we know.

I’m going to blow it up.

Theus …

The command has been activated. We can find another planet to maintain our civilization on.

RDP: Extinct
FOWC: rarely

flash fiction, Word Prompt

Permit for Hope

Posted on January 11, 2020 by Kelley Farrell

Every full moon we’re given permits. On occasion they’ve felt like rocks, weighing down our souls. Sometimes they function as population control.

The abstract isn’t something we’re terribly familiar with but I remember what it’s like to feel. When I was first brought here sadness compounded fear. Anger settled in next. A long lost cousin staying despite what I insisted.

They dangle these permits, inspiring us with lust and greed.

What shall we receive?

The paper melts away in my hand but not before I can read. A permit for hope, emotion I no longer crave.

Ragtag Daily Prompt: Hope
Fandangos One Word Challenge: Permit

flash fiction, stream of consciousness

I Was

Posted on January 6, 2020January 6, 2020 by Kelley Farrell

This is an actual stream of conciousness type write. With inspiration also drawn from the photo for Fandango’s flash fiction challenge.
Music: All Them Witches – Lost and Found EP (can be found here on youtube if interested)

When I was a kid I liked to imagine my life somewhere exotic, in times and places far away.

I was Esmeralda, dancing in the hot breeze. I was Ariel, venturing beyond the realm of known. I was a power ranger, saving the world one swipe and swoosh at a time.

I was anything and everything: a paper bag carrying Superman’s groceries; a walking stick leading a great adventure.

I was taught, and well it seems, that I was only an accessory.

I was a compliment and a burden.

I was helpless when all I wanted was to be a hero.

I was worthless, a string of fake pearls snatched from Ms. Scarlett’s neck.

I was scattered, a faded news piece, irrelevant before my ink dried.

But all I dreamed was of being a hero, of saving the world one crisis at a time.

And maybe on the weekends I could still be Esmeralda, dancing under the moon.

flash fiction

New Ventures

Posted on January 5, 2020January 5, 2020 by Kelley Farrell

“Scotty has a new venture.” Dad peered over his paper, clearly reliving nightmares of Scotty’s entrepreneurial spirit.

“Is it … What is it?”

I was five when Scotty roped me into a lemonade business. It may have worked but he got the sugar mixed up with salt. His grilled cheese emporium went under after a rare virus ravaged most of his customers. Only the neighbors two dogs escaped but I’ve never been convinced they ate the discarded sandwiches. His t-shirt business never took off. We have t-shirts for days stashed in the garage.

All of this flashed through dad’s mind, I could read it on his face.

“Honey, should we continue supporting these things? He’s insanely smart, he’s going to go far but …” Mom held her hand up silencing the criticism.

“Do you want to kill his spirit?”

As his snot nosed kid sister, I would call that an ok idea.

Dad sighed and set his paper to the side. “Fine. Let’s go see.”

Scotty stood proudly in the street, a tugboat with fresh blue letters bleeding down the side sat behind him.

“Son, you’ve never been on a boat. We don’t live anywhere near water.”

Word Count: 197
For Sunday Photo Fiction

flash fiction

Tales of A Teenage Wasteland

Posted on January 3, 2020 by Kelley Farrell

When I was 18 I got so drunk that my friends thought I was going to die. I went limp, crumpled onto the floor like a discarded shirt.

As you do, in some realms of fantasy when your friend may be dying, they stripped my clothes and tossed me into the shower then set to planning.

How could they handle this? How could they keep from getting in trouble? After all, I was certainly not supposed to be drinking.

“I know!” I’m sure one of them said. “Let’s put her on the curb and call 911.”

Let it be known, my friends weren’t the most brilliant because it was January in a very north eastern state and the curb was a snow bank they could lose me in.

The rising water in the tub nearly choked me as my friends tried to wrangle my wet body. I tried to breathe but at first my lungs just wouldn’t expand.

“We thought you were dead!” Their gazes passed over my cold naked body. “We were going to leave you outside.”

“That the best idea you had?”

Drunk and nearly dead I managed to wonder if it was too late to look for new friends.

flash fiction

All The Rage

Posted on December 19, 2019December 19, 2019 by Kelley Farrell

Has anyone ever really thought about how Santa’s fat ass fits down the chimney?

He slaps on some spanx, squeezes his ass down there. The miracle of Christmas.

It doesn’t feel like Christmas. It feels like rush hour on Monday morning when you’re already late.

Stop. Go. In and out of traffic.

Did you just honk at me?! Motherfucker.

I slam the gas until I’m not sure it’ll unstick and ride up beside the only asshole my 20 mph over the speed limit wasn’t fast enough for.

It’s Christmas and I intend to bestow the gift of a great big F you.

I swerve in between the lanes. I can see the sweat running down this jerks neck and the veins in his eyes as they go wide.

Merry Christmas fucker.

My fingers are tingling, a sensation that dances up my arms.

I pay enough attention to know this is a bad sign. I have to dial in my frustrations.

Calm. Calm. Relax.

I take deep breaths, my therapist would be proud. My doctor probably would be too. The air moves in and out of my lungs, sponges absorbing this cursed city air.

That’s ok. Just breathe.

The tingling recedes only slightly as I focus on the point between breaths, just like the therapist taught me.

In … Out

RDP: Chimney
FOWC: Dial

flash fiction, Word Prompt

Every Day is the Same

Posted on December 15, 2019December 15, 2019 by Kelley Farrell

I’d heard of the yellow brick road. I saw The Wizard of Oz when it first came out. I never thought I’d find myself standing here. The bricks aren’t yellow, more of a grey, and the air hangs heavy and full of electricity.

Trees aren’t the same. They’re monstrous and dead. Orbs of fruitful memories drop to land. They scatter, running from the light, but I catch a few. And what delight! They’re flexible and sticky. They play back cherished memories.

But what of the ones that run? They roll from the path, away from the sun, into the trees, obscured by dead leaves.

I chase them down, determined to know.

What is it these scared orbs hold?

In the darkness they reveal things unknown. Small strings which take hold. They pull me farther, abandoning the path, as they trap me under a forest wrath.

These memories aren’t cherished. Forgotten and unloved, they demand immediate resolve. I find one after the other, a path none should take.

I abandon handfuls of the light and cling to the dark. They pull at my strings, they break my heart.

Then I jerk awake, just an old woman in a bed. Little memory of the dreams I’ve had. Nothing rushes back, nothing remains. It’s just me and a window and brick wall company.

Every day is the same.

RDP Prompt: Memory Lane – FOWC: Daily

flash fiction

Hide and Seek

Posted on December 14, 2019December 14, 2019 by Kelley Farrell

“I thought you got rid of it.” Jana hissed into Kaylie’s ear.

“I did.”

“Obviously not. It’s right there.”

Kaylie peered through the cracked open closet door.

The little man in a scarlet tunic and green hood faced away from them. He paced a few steps then began to glow.

“Maybe it’s over.”

“Come out, come out …” His wispy voice shook the walls. Boxes rained from the shelves forcing the girls through the door in a pile of discarded things. “There you are.”

The little man with unblinking eyes stood over them.

“Ready or not, here I come.”

Word Count: 99
Inspiration: Gnome
For Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction challenge

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