Browsing Category 1000 Stories

jump, grandpa, jump – 28/1000

“I can’t believe you agreed to do this, grandpa!”

“I have the time now, sweetheart.”

“You sure you’re up for this?”

“Well, I won’t let you go it alone, kiddo.”

“Who’s first?”

She stepped right up to the door and gave me the thumbs up before she jumped and was out of sight.

The man strapped to my back started pushing me toward the door.

“Now that she’s out, I don’t really have to go, I’m fine,” I said.

“You’re fine? Let’s rock and roll!”

I didn’t jump out of a plane, he did.

I was along for the ride.… Read the rest

The Cannonall – 27/1000

We walk up to the paddock and he waves his arm toward his stock.

“They’re all purebreds, straight from Xygoth.”

“They look… disgusting, and they smell… what even is that?”

“That’s their natural musk, it’s fine.”

“Don’t you have anything smaller, and faster?”

“Oh, you don’t want anything but this. The Canonalls are the best to ride across the desert. They don’t need much water at all.”

“Right, but…” I didn’t know what to say. The monster hulked before me with it’s scaly, elephant thick skin with long ropes of droll dropping from it’s dopey face.

“Okay. I’ll take her.”… Read the rest

the forsaken – 26/1000

She called me and I didn’t answer. I didn’t answer the first time, or the third, or the tenth.

I didn’t want to hear from her, ever.

I hadn’t talked to my sister in years and was doing good work forgetting the sound of her voice.

She abandoned our family, thinking she didn’t need us. We weren’t good enough, or rich enough, or interesting enough for her.

I used to say she wouldn’t piss on me if I were on fire, and maybe that’s true, but finally I answer:

“WHAT?!”

“Please, I need you, I’m sorry.”

“Well, that’s too bad.”… Read the rest

my tall, cold drink – 25/1000

When I met you I already knew you.
Even though I hadn’t known you existed yet,
I already knew you’d be mine.

Lacing my fingers with yours
for the very first time
felt like coming home to
a place I’d long forgotten
and didn’t know I was missing.

When you touch me I light up,
when you kiss me you bring
me to life; you are my tall, cold drink.

My skin twin, my love of my life,
we’ve crossed seas of time and
six anniversaries, this is not
a casual affair, this is a romance
written in the stars.… Read the rest

portrait poltergeists – 24/1000

The dust sparkles in the dim beams of light from the soiled windows, and I trip over a sheet meant to cover a canvas, sending a stack of paintings like dominos to the floor.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?” Jake asks me.

“Probably nothing good.”

Low moans emanate from the floor and turn to shrieks with the volume down, pitiful cries from pitiful souls, all of them trapped here in their portraits.

“We never should have come in here,” Jake says.

“But we have to find dad!”

“Do you really want to find him in here?… Read the rest

cinderella cinderella – 23/1000


“I ran to the market -“

“No, you sauntered.”

“They didn’t have what you needed.”

“You didn’t look hard enough.”

“Well, I had to be back by 10!”

“You should have gone to other markets.”

“But I didn’t have time!”

“Then you make time, child. Did you do your chores?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“This floor is still dirty and the dishes are sitting in the rack.”

“I’ll take care of everything ma’am, I promise, please just give me a chance.”

“All you’ve gotten from me are chances you haven’t deserved, no more!”

Then I walked away knowing it would never get … Read the rest

the diamond – 22/1000


“Did you bring it?”

“Wasn’t that the point of coming here?”

“Let’s see it.”

“This place is busy, you want me to take it out now?”

“Yes, yes!”

The man opened the kerchief in the palm of his hand and revealed the diamond, nearly the size of a golf ball, rare, clean, and uncut.

“Where’d you find it?”

“I’ll never tell.”

“Good evening, gentlemen, can I get either of you something to drink?”

“Looks like you are pretty busy in here tonight, maybe we’ll just leave.”

“Yeah, it might be best to go somewhere more private to make this deal.”… Read the rest

paying rent – 21/1000

You are too deeply engraved into my heart to leave.
You’ve built a home here inside of me; you live in
my hand, too, yours in mine, and in bed we
tangle limbs and get as close as we can –
and if you can do that,
how can you think of leaving?

You are to embedded in my soul to leave.
You’ve taken up residence, you pay rent,
your thoughts control my thoughts, and
oh, how I wish that weren’t the case,
but I love you in ways most won’t ever
understand, but you understand me,
that’s all that … Read the rest

murder – 20/1000

He slams the cash on the counter. “I need a bouquet with a hidden meaning.” He’s not the first to ask.

“What meaning, sir?”

“Murder.”

“Murder again!?” the shopkeeper exclaimed.

She puttered around the room and talked:

“Well, my heavens, sometimes I wish I didn’t keep promises, like when I promised to keep this shop open after my grandmother died. She passed the magic along to me, though. Don’t worry, dear. I’ll solve your problem.”

She presented him a bouquet of the deepest red roses, and he watched her spray them with something.

“Don’t sniff – only her.”

“Who?”

“Your … Read the rest