For once she is completely alone.
She folds her clothes neatly and leaves them at the base of the dune then, watched only by the stars, she slips naked into the dark water and swims steadily away from the shore.
#vssdaily #dune #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

I could see him through the window. I slowed my breathing.
And pulled the trigger.
The bullet found its mark. A beautiful kill.
And the rush!
I know she'll be gone when I get home and I'll miss her always. But I'd miss this more.
#fromoneline #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

The final night fell like thick blankets. No moon or stars, no hint of clouds.
The world outside was draped in velvet shadows.
The darkness numbed me, so I drew the curtains, stacked logs in the grate and shut myself away.
#vssdaily #velvet #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

If I had any more I'd offer it up but this one is a mystery to me as well. I just thought it felt nice and creepy.

I came home to find you working at your desk.
I'm happy you're back, I really am, but I'm also afraid.
You looked up at me with different eyes and, though my mind is hazy since the accident, I'm sure I remember seeing you die.
#vssdaily #different #vss #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

The needle stung as it pierced the vein. But only for a second, then a cool numbness began to spread up his arm.
"What will happen?"
"You'll go deep." She said, "Don't fight it. But come back. Tell us what's in there.”
#vssdaily #needle #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

I drop my bag and jump back to the platform as it bursts open. The doors slide shut, muffling the screams as the first wasps swarm angrily out into the crowded carriage.
#vssdaily #swarm #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction #commute

"Where is the machine?"
I shrug, "Gone. Tomorrow? Yesterday?"
He scowls, his finger hovering above the softly glowing button.
I close my eyes. You can only watch yourself die so many times.
#vssdaily #button #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

He found treasure on the beach. His prize glistened as he raised it proudly from the sand.
"It's just a stone," his mother said without looking up.
He dropped it with a sigh and trudged away across the beach.
#vssdaily #prize #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction #stone #beach

The storms carry whispers in from the wastelands beyond the flood line.
Pilgrims come to listen for answers. When the winds recede I help them to forget.
#vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction #storm #whisper #wasteland

I heard faint music beyond the wall so I snuck out.
Now, alone among the mist cloaked trees, there is only silence and the snow is deeper than I had believed.
#vss365 #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction #cloak

There's often a lot to learn from fools

We pressed on, leaving the fool searching happily for beetles in the warm sand.
Now we are lost and starving, the horizon still far beyond our reach, our path home swallowed by the shifting dunes.
#vss365 #fool #beetles #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

When the storm finally passed we ventured above ground. The farm was gone but we found a child sleeping peacefully amongst the shattered timbers.
#vssdaily #peace #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

So still was the hall that they thought themselves alone. Yet shadows slept in the thick dust, rising in slow spirals as they passed.
#vss365 #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction #dust

Spring is here.
The sweet scent of rebirth on the warm breeze.
Green shoots burst forth, the woods fill with birdsong and, in their slowly thawing graves, last winter's dead begin to stir.
#vss365 #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction #sweet #zombie #undead #spring

After the storm we found him standing on the sand, staring calmly out to sea.
He is dehydrated, sunburned and will speak not a word.
Of the boat there is no sign, and of his crew mates we do not like to guess.
#vss365 #guess #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction #survivor

It brought to mind something I started writing years ago. Something I've started writing about three times in fact, a great premise (in my mind) which never finds a conclusion.

The joy had always been the journey. Every step both a beginning and an end.
A whole life contained in a scuffed leather backpack and an unblinking stare. It had always been enough, but now he was tiring and wondered, for the first time, how long he could keep walking.

She leans forward, kissing the blood from his lips. She tastes the question that they hold as well, though he is too weak to speak.
"I'm sorry." She lies.
#vss365 #promise #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

There are crows in the city but no-one sees. Perched on roofs and ledges, black feathers ruffled by the breeze.
Waiting... for what?
#vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction #crows #feathers

There are pale lights amongst the trees. They hang motionless until I draw near, then flicker and vanish, leaving patterns of frost on the young leaves.
#vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction #frost

She is a very old flame, little more than an ember really, and yet the softest of breaths clears away the cold ashes and he is consumed.
#vssdaily #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

White feathers pattern the water. Where before there were swans, now there are only ripples hiding dark shapes writhong just below the surface.
#vss365 #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

My mirror gains time like a broken clock, showing reflections of an ever more distant future.
Unable to look away I watched myself grow old and die.
This morning, the glass went dark.
#vss365 #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

I am sick of winter, of the cold and the dark. I long for the scent of spring, though I know, when the snow melts, the bodies will be found and I will hang.
#vssdaily #vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

If this was a code how would you break it? Encrypted in cycles, keys always shifting, hunched behind your eyes like a fever. Like a virus?
#vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

The young men killed a bear at the edge of the forest. They say it fought ferociously but when they opened the carcass it contained only smoke.
Now the hunters stare, silent and unblinking, into the fire and a sickness spreads in the village.
#vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction

I'm in. Budgets should be equal and allocated from taxes. All communication should be independently fact checked before going public via templated press releases and a central .gov web site with few colours and a single font.
False claims and undelivered promises incur vote debits at next election.

A flight of birds splits the sky, spilling out storm clouds like entrails. A feather falls, darkness hard on its heels.
He lies down and closes his eyes, hoping only that his small fire will survive till daybreak.
#vss #tinytale #flashfiction #nanofiction #microfiction