I recently saw an invitation to write and submit a story of 200 words or less. I decided to undertake the challenge.
Lost
Alex had always been a very literal child, so his mother should have known better than to say “Go lose yourself in a book.” But she had important guests coming and needed him out of the way.
Alex obediently left the spotless kitchen, careful not to leave fingerprints on the gleaming banister. He went to the small section of shelf with children’s books all carefully lined up by size. He looked through each book, carefully replacing each one on the shelf. Mother didn’t like messes. Finally he selected the one he wanted. He liked this book, it was old and ratty, the pages weren’t glossy and the pictures had no angles, only curves. Alex carefully turned pages at the corners as he’d been taught. He found the perfect page.
When bedtime came, Alex’s mother looked up from her lists and felt the silence. Alex was nowhere to be found. His mother remembered her words and ran to the bookcase. A single book lay on the floor. She snatched it up and rapidly scanned pages for signs of her boy. There he was among the Whos, joyfully singing with no Christmas at all. She’d never seen him so happy.
SUPER!
Well crafted, tight, complete picture.
Congratulations.
That’s a neat story. 200 words is a very difficult threshold – you’ve managed it very well.
You’ve come through very well in this pinch
You can boast and not give them an inch
Yes, the book is his friend
And quite happy’s the end
When the hero winds up with the Grinch.
===|==============/ Level Head
Nice job! The shortest story I’ve ever managed was around 750 words. I’m impressed. 🙂
I like that one, Sandra.
I wanted to take Ellis up on the flash fiction challenge, but he specified “unpublished” authors. Having had a short story published–albeit in a small press magazine–I figured I was disqualified.