Finding Paradise

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by Jeff Currier

Squeezing through the crevice, Kianu emerged into a verdant valley. Golden fish filled languid ponds. Pagodas climbed heavenward. A lost Tibetan paradise! But no inhabitants?

A breeze swirled grey powder into drifts across the stonework. Kianu rubbed some between his fingers. Ash perhaps?

Inside the largest temple, an intricate sand mandala encircled a desiccated mummy. Kianu stepped forward, knelt, reaching for its glimmering pendant.

An emaciated claw grabbed his wrist. Kianu’s skin, muscle, bone dissolved into dust. Jianshi can’t be real!

***

The qi-stealing vampire scraped through Kianu’s fading memories, searching. Ah, the way out! And beyond? So many people. Paradise!

Jeff Currier

Jeff writes little stories. Find more @jffcurrier or Jeff Currier Writes on Facebook.

 

 

By My Own Hand

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by Chris Tattersall

My humble home had been violated by thieves. They took a worthless souvenir that I had crafted for my now deceased wife. It had only sentimental value.

After years, I finally tracked my quarry to a basement. A man sat alone, oddly taking extraordinary care with the stolen object. I watched, as with gloved hands he wrapped it in linen and placed it carefully in a draw.

I gripped his neck. His face changing in colour from pink, through crimson and purple to a pale mottled blue.

As his life faded, I re-opened the draw marked ‘500 to 1000 BC’.

Chris Tattersall

Chris is a Health Service Research Manager and lives with his wife, Hayley, and Border collie in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK. He is a self-confessed flash fiction addict with some publication and competition success. A recent obsession of his being writing Novella-In-Flash. He also hosts his own flash fiction website.

Website: fusilliwriting.com

 

 

At the End

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by Kimberly Rei

“At the end of the world, there is Redemption.”

The priest stalked closer, whispering over and over. Acolytes circled us, trapping me in a shadowed alcove.

I didn’t believe the texts. Prophecy riding the tail of a comet? Ridiculous! I had to see for myself. I travelled deep into the desert, hoping to find proof of nothing; no wandering tribe, no ancient promise of doom.

I found what didn’t want to be found.

I stumbled and tripped over a rock, landing flat on my back.

The sky flared crimson and the priest came closer, quartz dagger dropping.

At the end…

Kimberly Rei

Kimberly Rei does her best work in the places that can’t exist…the in-between places where imagination defies reality. With a penchant for dark corners and hooks that leave readers looking over their shoulder, she is always on the lookout for new ideas and new ways to make words dance.

Website: payhip.com/reitales