Seven More Very Short Stories

I’ve mentioned my very short stories earlier, which I’ve been posting on Twitter, usually under the hashtag #vss365. Here are a few more I wrote, including a couple of my favorites I’ve done so far. A couple of them are related and form a somewhat connected story!

1.There are caution tapes draped around the playground, and a quick outline scrawled in white chalk. A very small outline.

2."Mama?" says a voice that melts my heart. He's less than two years old, sweet-faced and baby soft. I pick him up and cuddle him, pressing my cheek to his.

"Not Mama!" He struggles against me, straining away. I keep holding him tight. He'll learn soon enough.

3.She swims along the reef, allowing the detritus of human occupation to collect in her yawning maw. Her scrubbers sifted plastics, cans, even harmful chemicals from the water, leaving it clean and pure. At least until the next holiday.

4. She dusted the keyhole for fingerprints, carefully collecting the smeared marks and recording them in her log. Only then did she unlock the door. The inside of his shed was spotless, and smelled of bleach. There was a rusted chain bolted to the floor.

5.The glass was shattered and the wood so splintered it took her a second to realize she held the remains of a picture frame.

"Who is this?" she asked. A gentle faced woman smiled at her through torn paper.

"His mother. She's dead. Suicide," the officer said.

6. The blue-green ink shimmered on her tentacles, the pattern of dots indicating her lineage and the proximity of her estrus cycle. One of the males danced above her, his red dot pulsating to show his interest. She floated up to join his dance.

7. Kerta turned off the propeller of her submersible, letting it float along in the currents above the sea vents. Above her, the amorphous shapes of the Europan jelly-flowers began their swirling mating dance, the epitome of grace.