Welcome to this week’s installment of many micro stories, ranging in length from 100 words to 500 words.
With each story we hope to deliver a little whimsy into the lives of our readers.
FAERY FIRES
I spotted the dancing lights—mesmerisingly beautiful. They played in the darkest corner of my room. When I turned on my bedside lamp, they disappeared. I saw flashing ambulance lights on the street corner outside my window. Who died? I wondered?
On the metro again, another day at Uni. The surprise stop in the tunnel made cross words fly up and down the carriage while a standard apology squawked from the train speakers. I sighed at the delay. Then we were plunged into darkness, and heard yelling noises outside the train.
‘What’s happening?’ Someone asked in rising panic.
Then I saw the dancing lights flicker under the far seat—Hmm. Someone’s had an accident, I thought.
A chug and clank started up and soon delivered us into the bright sunlight, and then the usual screech of my stop jostled me out into my day. I blinked away the disruption to my time.
My afternoon dental appointment arrived all too quickly. I sat in the chair sweating and wriggling nervously, my stomach feeling nauseous. First the gas, then the wooziness, and then I saw those dancing lights—I finally understood. What could I do?
So, I giggled.
Denise Diehl spent over forty years working in Laboratory Science. After retiring with her husband to a small town in New Zealand, she wrote her first novels and short stories—a fun new adventure to match the latest decade of her life. Her writing leans toward the speculative and weird. Several short stories have been published in various magazines, including The Academy of the Heart and Mind, Bright Flash Literary Review, Frivolous Comma, Promised Protagonists, Starspun Lit and 101 Words.
If you enjoyed this story you can find it and more in the Hawthorn & Ash anthology.
Iron Faerie Publishing 