Christina Maharaj's Blog: Flash Fiction

Only Takes One

Jodie sighed as she looked at her reflection in the mirror of her locker. Acne ridden face, big glasses and a uneven haircut that had gone wrong. She looked away from it sadly and took her books out of her locker. She closed it and turned to head to her next class, only to get knocked over by someone running by. She started to feel around the ground through her belongings, unable to see her glasses, fully aware of everyone just walking by her instead of helping. A blur appeared before her.

"Here," he said as he placed her glasses in her hands. She hurriedly shoved them on her face, leaving them crooked.

"Thanks," she stuttered and her face went red as she looked at him. He had brown hair, a leather jacket and a warm smile. She started to pick up her books alongside her.

"Isn't that the new guy?" the girls standing by the lockers on the other side of the hallway whispered.

"You mean the hot millionaire," one of the other girls corrected her.

"What's he doing talking to her?" Jodie could hear them talk about her and cringed.

When she picked up the last paper, she looked up to see his hand out. She looked up at him and he just smiled down at her. She took his hand and he helped her to her feet. "I'm Tom," he said as he handed her the rest of her stuff.

"Jodie," she replied, "And thank you for helping me."

"Anything for a beautiful girl," he said with that same smile as he reached out and straightened her glasses. "I'm new here and could really use a tour around town. If you're not busy after school, would you mind?" he asked.

"You want me to?" she looked at him baffled, "Why would you want me to?" She glanced at the other girls that were staring at them

"Why wouldn't I want to be shown around town by a beautiful girl? As long as it's not an inconvenience to you that is," he added.

"Sure," she nodded and the bell for class rang.

"Great, it's a date," he winked at her. "Meet me at the school entrance a few minutes after school," he smiled widely before rushing off to class.

"Did you see that?" the girls continued to whisper despite the bell.

"Did you know him before?" the girls huddled around her, having not heard the introductions. All of them started to ask her questions, until a teacher walked into the hallway.

"You guys are late, get to class," he commanded, frowning at them.

"Tell us all about him tomorrow," they squealed as they disbursed.

Jodie didn't really pay much attention to the girls. She just smiled and bit her lip as she thought about Tom.

Halloween

"Brian, do we have to go in?" Karen looked at the old, abandoned house. It was dark, the shutters were broken, and cobwebs covered entrance. She pouted as she looked up at him in his suit of armour.

"Well, Miss vampire, it's Halloween and you all promised to go in there," Brian replied. He crossed his arms as he stood in front of the house.

"How bad can it be?" Lucy asked as she pushed up her glasses. The hood on her chipmunk costume kept pushing them down.

"Let's go," Drake, dressed as a zombie, grabbed Lucy's hand and went in.

"Fine," Karen hooked her arm around Brian's as they followed.

The door creaked as they opened it. Once they were all in, the door slammed shut. Karen grabbed the handle and tried to pull it open. "The rumours are true then? It's most definitely haunted by Joey Menroe, the butcher that killed his three daughters," Lucy stated, "It won't open back up till midnight."

"We have to stay here for fifteen minutes?" Karen screeched.

"Either that or use a window," Brian laughed and they heard the shutters close, one after another throughout the house, "Or not."

"Let me out," Karen kicked the door.

Derek glanced around, aside from dust and cobwebs, everything looked normal. "How about we check upstairs?" Derek kept a hold of Lucy's hand as they went. Each step creaked and when they reached the top, Lucy's foot broke the board, leaving her foot stuck.

"Help," Lucy pulled at Derek. He wrapped his arm around her and tried to pull her out. The costume tore as she wiggled her foot out.

"Are you okay," Karen called out.

"Yeah, my costume isn't though," Lucy replied. They continued into the hallway, but it was too dark to see where they were going. They put their hand on the wall and walked along. There was a thud, and Lucy tripped over something on the ground. She screeched when her hand touched something wet and sticky. "Drake?" he had let go of her hand and didn't say anything. She reached around the ground more and felt something large and warm.

A light came from the stairs, her friends had rushed upstairs when she screamed. "Need a flashlight?" Brian asked. He flashed the light her way to see her on the ground beside Drake, who had a cleaver sticking out of his chest.

"Ah!" Karen screamed and started down the stairs. She tripped and ran into a tall, bleeding man. He laughed and ripped into Karen's neck with a meat hook.

"Holy crap," Brian stared down at him wide eyed.

"Karen!" Lucy cried out, "They're both dead!" He looked up at them and started to walk upstairs. Lucy pulled out her cell phone and looked at the time. It hit midnight and the man on the stairs vanished. "We never should have come here," she stormed out, leaving Brian to deal with their dead friends.

"I'm sorry," Brian dropped to his knees.

Teddy

"Don't worry, there are no monsters under your bed," Maya's mother told her as she tucked her into bed.

"Even if there were, Teddy would keep you safe," she handed Maya her Teddy bear.

"Thank you mommy," Maya smiled up at her as she hugged him.

"Goodnight honey," her mom kissed her on the forehead. She turned off the lights and closed the door.

A few minutes passed by and Maya was fast asleep. A gurgling sound started to come from under her bed. "You again!" Teddy carefully got out of Maya's grasp. "I won't let you hurt her," he jumped onto the side table and grabbed his wooden sword. He jumped down to the ground and dashed under the bed.

A dark, clawed creature on four legs, with glowing red eyes, stared at him. "You!" it hissed. It lunged at Teddy. Teddy sidestepped, but one of its claws cut his side.

"Go back to where you came from," Teddy thrust his sword into the creature and pulled the sword out the side, slicing through it. The creature gurgled, with black gunk coming out of its mouth. It faded away, leaving only a dark stain.

Maya started to move, waking up. Teddy threw his sword off to the side and slide out from under the bed. "Teddy?" Maya sat up and looked around. "There you are," Maya reached down and picked him up. "Teddy, you're injured!" Maya carefully pushed the stuffing back into him, "Don't worry, in the morning I'll fix you up." Maya pulled the covers back up, over her and Teddy, and quickly drifted back to sleep.

Whispers

"Look! There's a cave up ahead," Tom pointed past the evergreen trees in front of them. "We can use that for shelter for the night," he said as he gazed at the dark clouds rolling in.

"Good, cause I'm seriously tired," Jess breathed heavily as she walked up to him.

They walked up to the cave. It was a fair size, easily big enough for the two of them. "You sit down, I'm going to get some wood for a fire," Tom suggested as he rushed off to search.

Jess dropped her bag at the cave wall. She found some rocks and put them in a circle for a place for the fire, far enough in to not get hit by the impending rain, but still close to the entrance.

"Jess," a whisper from deeper in the cave called out.

She turned to look, but could only see darkness. "Hello?" she called into the distance, "Who's there?"

"Tom, you expecting someone else?" he came into the cave and set some branches into the middle of the rocks.

"I heard someone say my name, in the cave," she pointed behind her.

"You're probably just hearing things. You need some rest, I'll get the fire going," he knelt down and rearranged the branches.

"Alright, thanks," Jess laid down, with her head on her bag.


"Get out," Jess shot straight up and looked in the cave. The fire was burning brightly and Tom had passed out beside it. She got up and walked deeper into the cave, with a flashlight. It was dark and damp, but completely empty.

Jess tripped over something, but caught herself using the wall. She flashed the light towards the ground to see a bone. Jess screamed and dropped her flashlight. She stumbled to pick it up and the light went out.

"Thank you for coming in deeper, you're mine now," it whispered.

Jess screamed as she was pulled into the darkness.

"Jess?" Tom had woken up and noticed she was missing. He saw a light in the tunnel and figured she went in deeper, alone. "Jess, you shouldn't go in alone," he walked up to the flashlight and picked it up, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Hello," a raspy voice from in the cave whispered as the light on the flashlight went out. Tom screamed as he was pulled into the cave.


"Two today," laugher filled the cave, "Humans are so delicious."

Confucius

A cold gust of wind blew her over. Marcy stayed laying in the snow, wanting to give up. The blizzard was instantly trying to cover her up with snow. Thoughts of her children in the cabin, waiting for her return ran through her mind. Marcy cringed and wiped snow off her face. She slowly got to her feet and continued. Every step was bogged down by the foot and a half of snow.

Her car had gotten stuck in the snow a few miles back. The roads were empty, as far as she could see, through the thick blizzard. She imagined that without the blizzard, it would look like a winter wonderland. It also meant there was no one around to help her. There were no people, cars, stores or houses, only snow and trees, and what she assumed was the road.

Every part of her was going numb and she was barely moving. It was in harsh, lonely moments like these that she would try to think of something to motivate her. Her favourite philosopher Confucius would say that it didn't matter how slowly she went, as long as she didn't stop. All she could do was keep going, and she knew that.

She didn't know how long she had been walking through the blizzard, but after seeing a light in the distance, she started moving faster. She had made it. The cabin door burst open and her son ran up to her. He put his arm around her and helped her get inside.

"I made it," she gasped.

"Yeah ma, you made it. Here, I'll help you," her son threw a blanket around her.

M&M's

Josh sat with his bag of M&M's and stared up at the starry, night sky. He heard the grass being crumpled beside him, as his new co-worker at the motel came up beside him. "This seat taken?" Eve asked.

"No," he answered simply. He glanced at her as she sat down beside him. "Want some?" Josh offered her some M&M's.

"Sure," Eve looked inside the bag and went for a red one.

"Bold," Josh said as he ate a few.

"What do you mean?" she looked at him questioningly.

"You went for a red one specifically," he explained.

"Is there something wrong with that?" she worried.

"Nope. What colour you go for, says something about you, that's all," he stated.

"Oh, okay," she giggled and ate the M&M.

"You know, I've heard of people that just eat the brown ones, because chocolate is already brown," Eve said.

"While chocolate is already brown, the candy coated outside is naturally white. So even the brown one's have artificial colour," Josh explained before laying back in the grass.

"I never thought of it that way," Eve smiled. "People overlook details pretty often, don't they?" Eve said as she laid down beside him.

"All the time," Josh started looking for constellations.

Blow Pops

Samantha had to wait at the park outside her elementary school. School ended early and her parents always had trouble getting out of work early. She set her backpack on the ground beside her, before hopping onto the swing. It was where she always waited, so they'd know where she'd be.

"Hi," Samantha was startled by the high pitched voice from beside her.

"Hi," she turned to see a boy. He was about 8 years old, the same age as her. She eyed him suspiciously, having been sure no one was on the swings when she got there. He had a friendly smile on his face and was sucking on a lollipop.

"I'm Luke," he said, taking the lollipop out of his mouth to talk.

"Samantha," she said.

"Would you like a blow pop?" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrapped lollipop.

"A blow pop? What's that?" Samantha asked. He held it out towards her and she took it.

"It's a lollipop with gum on the inside," he replied, "My mom always buys them for me."

"Are you waiting for her here?" Samantha asked as she stared at the lollipop.

"Every day," he said with a big smile.

"How come I haven't seen you before then?" Samantha frowned.

"I don't know. Most people don't seem to notice me, so I'm alone a lot," Luke started to swing with his head drooped down.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Just say something if you see me then," Samantha smiled.

"Samantha!" she heard her mother call out to her. "I came as soon as I could," she assured Samantha as she walked up to her. "Come on honey, let's go," she picked up Samantha's backpack.

"Mom, this is Luke," Samantha introduced him.

"Who is Luke?" she looked around, but no one was there.

"What do you mean, he's right there," Samantha turned to the swing beside her. It was empty. And even though she had saw it swinging a moment ago, it was completely still. On the seat was an empty blow pop wrapper.

"I guess he left already," her mother tried to rationalize. "Let's go," she took hold of Samantha's hand, after she hopped off the swing.

Before getting into the car she glanced back at the swing. Luke was there, waving at her, with a blow pop in his mouth. She waved back at him before getting in the car. Her mom started the car and drove off. "Hey mom?" Samantha looked up at her.

"Yes?" her mother glanced at her.

"Can we go get blow pops?" Samantha asked with a smile.

Prey

Molly pulled her coat tighter around herself as a gust of cold wind blew by. She looked around the dark, empty streets anxiously. Feeling like someone was watching her, Molly picked up her pace.

The garbage can in the alley beside her fell over. She jumped back, startled. A cat meowed as it walked around the can. Molly let out a long sigh of relief and turned back to continue along. She heard a low pitched laugh from behind her and started to run. She made it to the corner, rounded it and ran into something hard. She started to fall back when someone caught her.

"Wow, are you okay?" a tall, black haired man asked as he helped her steady herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that," Molly nodded in thanks and went on her way. She glanced back at him, to make sure he was still walking in the other direction. She sighed in relief when she saw him in the distance.

A hand grabbed onto her arm and yanked her into the alleyway. Before she could scream another hand clasped over her mouth. She cringed as she was slammed against the brick wall. She looked up at the attacker. He had a crooked grin on his face. A second later, his grin vanished. Blood started to come out of his mouth. He looked down to see a knife in his chest. He stumbled back and fell to the ground.

"You guys are so easy," Molly laughed. He watched as she knelt in front on him and slowly pulled the knife out. "Don't worry, you'll be dead soon," Molly said as she cleaned the blood off the knife with a tissue. By the time she put the knife in her purse, he was completely lifeless. "Adieu," she said in a singsong voice as she walked away.

Dead

The doorbell rang. Emma rushed to open it. It was a brown haired man, wet from the downpour of rain.

"Can I use your phone, my car broke down and my cell is dead," he smiled up at her.

"Hold on," she picked up the nearest phone and reached to hand it off.

He brought his hand up and stopped. "Can I come in? I don't want to get your phone wet," he yelled over the rain.

"Don't worry about it, it's waterproof, trust me," she insisted.

"So much for hospitality," his attitude changed completely.

He went to grab the phone. She retreated inside her house, slamming the door shut. She glanced through the peephole. He was gone. A shattering sound came from the kitchen. The window was broken. She didn't see him outside, so she looked for what had come through.

Suddenly, something flew by, cutting her face. Another object came through the window and she saw it, they were rocks. She ducked down as more rocks were pelted through the window.

"Let me in, and I'll stop," he yelled at her. "It will only get worse," he said when she didn't answer. The next rock he threw in, broke her kitchen table.

He had every chance to attack her head on, but didn't. Emma didn't want to believe it. There was only thing that came to mind. A vampire. Emma picked up a wooden chair and threw it against the ground, breaking it. She picked up two sharp pieces and headed to the front door.

"Come in," she yelled as she opened the door.

He walked into her house and breathed in deeply. The door slammed shut behind him and he quickly turned around. She thrust the stake at his heart. He caught it and threw it aside, knocking her into the wall. He smiled as she looked up at him in fear. He leaned towards her with his fangs out. He was about to bite down when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He dropped down to his knees, coughing, before turning into dust.

Emma looked down in disbelief, then at the mess in her kitchen. There was no proof as to what happened. No one had to know that she killed someone, something. No one ever would.

The Wand

She picked up the wand, and that was it. The power was hers to use. It was then and there that she had to decide the path to take. Would she use the power to save the dying world, or take it over. The road she chose, was a dark and lonely one. Alone she would save them all.