FLASH TEST, a Short Trip into Flash Fiction

 

I’ve recently been trying my hand at writing something shorter than a book – Flash Fiction. It’s fun, sort of like writing a want add with heart. These first attempts tend to include cats, of course.

 

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FERAL (44 words) 

She watches her kittens. Within their circle, a mouse darts, trapped by tiny paws. Sometimes the mouse breaks through; then she retrieves it, returns it. 

“Again, little ones.” 

She flicks a tipped ear, marking her kits’ improvement, unaware that these will be her last.

 

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CHANGES (103 words) 

The old cat bites the box, spits cardboard onto the Persian rug. His ragged ears are tuned for danger but there is none. That in itself is frightening. 

This new place, so divergent from cold alleyways and traffic. There is always food here— good food, too, not scrap and rot. The quiet is unnerving to one unaccustomed to it.

The human enters, running her hand down the dark-furred back. The cat flinches, then leans into the gentle touch. 

“I love you,” says the human, blinking a slow cat smile. 

The cat blinks back, then resumes his anxious gnawing, old fears not yet put aside.

 

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Can’t leave the house. Introvert imprisonment. 

Anxiety. Short of breath. Not again! 

Sign reads “lost cat”. Heartbreak. Hope. 

Six words? Give me a break!

 

Do you write 6-word-stories? Post them in the comment line for us to read.