Joe Hart's Blog, page 5
October 21, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 21
Happy Monday!
I know, shut up, right? ;-)
The River Inside
Where there’s one, there’s many.That was the motto the world lived by when the parasites turned up. They appeared in the water tables. Hooked mouths that chewed. A hundred feet that crawled. Something they secreted that made people, do things. Terrible things.The world ended three years ago.A new one for me began seven months ago when Lily became pregnant. But today I found one of them in my stool. And now that I look at Lily’s bulging stomach, I wonder why I ever thought it was a baby at all.
I know, shut up, right? ;-)
The River Inside
Where there’s one, there’s many.That was the motto the world lived by when the parasites turned up. They appeared in the water tables. Hooked mouths that chewed. A hundred feet that crawled. Something they secreted that made people, do things. Terrible things.The world ended three years ago.A new one for me began seven months ago when Lily became pregnant. But today I found one of them in my stool. And now that I look at Lily’s bulging stomach, I wonder why I ever thought it was a baby at all.
October 20, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 20
It's snowing here.
Yuck. But hey, a little cold weather never killed anyone! Well, maybe it has, but anyways- enjoy today's story!
Stuffed Animal
Her small hand strokes the teddy bear’s fur. His button eyes, cold, hanging loose on strings. And when her fingers move down, they fall into his mouth.The sound of his teeth snapping shut the loudest sound.For a second.
Yuck. But hey, a little cold weather never killed anyone! Well, maybe it has, but anyways- enjoy today's story!
Stuffed Animal
Her small hand strokes the teddy bear’s fur. His button eyes, cold, hanging loose on strings. And when her fingers move down, they fall into his mouth.The sound of his teeth snapping shut the loudest sound.For a second.
October 19, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 19
There Is No After
There is no after.That’s what he said to me after the doctors revived him. Only darkness and cold, nothing else. We’re being fed a lie, he said. False ideas and ideals mixed with the cold drought of fear. Makes for a bitter but convincing meal. But I believe him. He’s the only person I’ve known that’s died and returned.So when I found him with the inside of his head sprayed against the wall tonight, I wondered. Why did he want to go back so soon?
October 18, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 18
Happy Friday, everyone! Hope your week was great!
Trees
There are faces in the trees.They watch me as I pass. Licking their lips. I catch them out of the corner of my eye. When I look, they’re gone. I’ve been lost for 3 weeks. Walking blindly through the autumn woods. Peter is gone and I’m still lost. We came to hunt, to camp, to laugh. We did the first two and some of the third, until we got turned around. I’m determined to make it out alive, but the trees-the trees know my secret. And they smile and watch as I wander alone.Like I said, Peter is gone now, all used up.And I’m still hungry.
October 17, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 17
Two weeks until Halloween!
That is all.
Enjoy.
The Last Flight
The sea called to him.Each time he flew over it, it said his name. It could be a calm night, the moon lighting its surface as if it rested beneath the water instead of over it. It could be a humid day, its waves tipped crimson by the sun.It called to him as his wings hummed with the air currents. His eyes sought its depths, a lover’s gaze that wouldn’t falter. How many times had he soared above it, wondering what lay below, what waited for him? Tonight was the night, there would be no more resisting its pull. With careful movements he pushed the controls forward and listened for the sea’s voice above the screams of all two hundred fifty people onboard.
October 16, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 16
Dust
My father used to hurt me.Sometimes for doing something wrong. Sometimes for not doing anything. A magazine, a bottle, his fists, he used whatever was handy. I think he loved me. Somehow beneath all the anger there was love. Maybe that’s what everyone tells themselves. It’s what my mom told me after he died a year ago.She was always so blind. I remember putting him in the ground. It rained that day, and it was hot. Big dollops of water muddying up the grave. And when we came home, things were better.I think he loved me. At least I tell myself that.Because each night since he died, I can hear him calling my name from far away.And his voice is getting closer.
October 15, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 15
About halfway through the month, hope everyone's still enjoying the stories!
Cabbage Patch
When I cut the squash open I didn’t expect a baby to fall out.He was perfect. Smooth skin, a tuft of dark hair just like mine, his eyes the same color blue. I would’ve claimed him as my son in the natural world if I’d ever been married. He was strange. Besides being born from a large butternut squash, he didn’t cry, eat, or drink. He just stared, looking at me with eyes that could've been my own. All these things should’ve tipped me off. But I didn’t know anything was really wrong until this morning.When I woke up to the oven heating around me.
Cabbage Patch
When I cut the squash open I didn’t expect a baby to fall out.He was perfect. Smooth skin, a tuft of dark hair just like mine, his eyes the same color blue. I would’ve claimed him as my son in the natural world if I’d ever been married. He was strange. Besides being born from a large butternut squash, he didn’t cry, eat, or drink. He just stared, looking at me with eyes that could've been my own. All these things should’ve tipped me off. But I didn’t know anything was really wrong until this morning.When I woke up to the oven heating around me.
October 14, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 14
Every Monday needs a little pick-me-up, right?
Hope this does it for you!
Jack And The Bean
He’d been tricked.Half of his animals and three pieces of silver traded for one dried up bean.Jack wept, staring at the ground, waiting for even a miniscule green tendril to appear. He’d planted it in the sun, just like the old man said. He’d watered it, kept the ground free of leaves and weeds around it. Tended to it for weeks.Nothing. He was starving. Slowly he dug up the ground and found the bean right where he’d put it. Unchanged. Dry. Dead.He brought it in the house with him just as a thunderstorm began to crackle in the heavens. Rain pattered in the hole he left, began to fill it up. He washed the bean and sat down at the table, poured salt and pepper on it, and downed it in one bite. Jack went to bed, his stomach still crying out for food. The storm raged above his small house, making the walls shake. And in the middle of the night, the bean began to grow.
Hope this does it for you!
Jack And The Bean
He’d been tricked.Half of his animals and three pieces of silver traded for one dried up bean.Jack wept, staring at the ground, waiting for even a miniscule green tendril to appear. He’d planted it in the sun, just like the old man said. He’d watered it, kept the ground free of leaves and weeds around it. Tended to it for weeks.Nothing. He was starving. Slowly he dug up the ground and found the bean right where he’d put it. Unchanged. Dry. Dead.He brought it in the house with him just as a thunderstorm began to crackle in the heavens. Rain pattered in the hole he left, began to fill it up. He washed the bean and sat down at the table, poured salt and pepper on it, and downed it in one bite. Jack went to bed, his stomach still crying out for food. The storm raged above his small house, making the walls shake. And in the middle of the night, the bean began to grow.
October 13, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 13
Happy Sunday!
Outside The Window, Inside The Room
The lights are outside his window again. At first I ignored them, wrote them off as headlights from the neighbors or some strange reflection shining through the trees.But my son is different now.I noticed the day after I found his bed empty in the middle of the night. I heard him cry out and then nothing, a vacuum of sound where his voice had been. When I went in his room, he wasn’t there. Which is impossible because he can’t go anywhere without me lifting him in and out of his wheelchair.I rushed around the house, screaming his name and by the time I’d made the full circuit, he was back in his room, sleeping like he’d never left. The next morning his eyes were different. His pupils oval instead of round. The movement of his legs stronger. His teeth sharper. He doesn’t even look like my son anymore.They’ve taken him five times. Each time he comes back there's less of him.And there’s nothing I can do to stop them.Except tonight I’m hiding beneath his bed. When they come to take him, I’m going with.Then I’m going to find him. The real him.And bring him home.
Outside The Window, Inside The Room
The lights are outside his window again. At first I ignored them, wrote them off as headlights from the neighbors or some strange reflection shining through the trees.But my son is different now.I noticed the day after I found his bed empty in the middle of the night. I heard him cry out and then nothing, a vacuum of sound where his voice had been. When I went in his room, he wasn’t there. Which is impossible because he can’t go anywhere without me lifting him in and out of his wheelchair.I rushed around the house, screaming his name and by the time I’d made the full circuit, he was back in his room, sleeping like he’d never left. The next morning his eyes were different. His pupils oval instead of round. The movement of his legs stronger. His teeth sharper. He doesn’t even look like my son anymore.They’ve taken him five times. Each time he comes back there's less of him.And there’s nothing I can do to stop them.Except tonight I’m hiding beneath his bed. When they come to take him, I’m going with.Then I’m going to find him. The real him.And bring him home.
October 12, 2013
31 Days Of Flash Fiction - Day 12
Thank you to everyone who purchased a copy of Lineage yesterday, I really appreciate it! It's still priced at $.99 so if you're so inclined you can still get in on the deal here.
Hope you enjoy today's story!
In The Night
She held his hand, close to her chest and tried to fall asleep.Had he touched her with this hand? She supposed he had. There was no getting around it, he’d been unfaithful before and she’d ignored it, but this time was different. She traced the lines of his palm in the dark, wondering at which juncture their lives had intertwined. Had they always been meant to be together? Or had fate made a mistake? She didn’t know. All she wanted was to have everything back the way it was before, but that wasn’t going to happen. She rolled over and put his hand on the nightstand. Tomorrow she’d cut off the other one if only to get his wedding ring back.
