Category: Microfiction

“Dad, you’ve got to get rid of the sofa.” He looked up from his place among the shapeless cushions and threadbare fabric. “Do you know how long it has taken me to mould this sofa to my shape? It’s not going anywhere.” “But it’s hideous!” “Your mother chose this sofa.” The mother she only remembered…

Their fingers were stained a reddish purple. Not quite the colour of blood, but close enough that they would wiggle their fingers in each other’s faces, saying ‘woo’ like all of their imaginary monsters did. Their tongues tingled with the sweetness of the blackberries, so heavy with ripeness that it left them giddy. Their mothers…

For years they had recreated their favourite photo at Durdle Door, the three of them pulling the same pose as the original from sixty years ago, their faces different but the same. But now they were only two. “We promised her that we would carry on the tradition. She wanted us to find someone like…

At first he thought it was the middle of the night. He reached a hand across the bed. Empty and cool. He cleared his throat. The sound was oddly muffled. “Tess?” The silence answered. He blinked, wondered if he had in fact gone blind. He placed clammy hands over sleep-sticky eyes. Opened them to a…

“How many lifetimes do you think we get?” “Are you talking about reincarnation?” “Sort of. Maybe. I’m not sure.” She smiled at her granddaughter, so full of questions that they tumbled out at unexpected moments. At an elegant afternoon tea she had once asked why cats licked their own backsides. “I think we each get…

He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. This had the ability to end careers. To make relationships implode. To turn nearly every head on earth. Hell, it could stop the earth. He walked around, wondering what on earth he should do. The world would judge regardless. Some people would love him so much they…

“Absolutely not. Nope. You cannot wear that.” “Why not?” “Are you serious? You’re wearing an entirely white outfit. To a wedding.” “And?” “Have you never been to a wedding before? It’s like the biggest no-no of wedding guest etiquette! The bride wears white, which means guests should wear anything but. Cream is also bad form,…

When the swollen clouds finally spilled over, the first drop of water broke the surface of the pond, startling the young frog who leapt straight into the jaws of the waiting cat. The cat ran home with triumph between its teeth, bursting through the cat flap and unleashing its still hopping prize onto the floor,…

It had been three years to the day since he last heard her voice. Not the tinny version on her voicemail, the one that sounded increasingly robotic each time he listened to it. (Because he still called her number multiple times a week. But it used to be every day. He supposed that was a…

If she heard the song about the pink ponies one more time she was going to scream. At first she had liked it. After the tenth listen it started to grate. By the twentieth she was ready to rip her ears from her head just so that she had something to throw. The summer heat…