Flash Fiction Home
Archive VIII – Apr-Nov 2024
Archive VII – Jan-Apr 2024
Archive VI – Sept-Dec 2023
Archive V – Apr-Sept 2023
Archive IV – Jan-Apr 2023
Archive III – Oct-Dec 2022
Archive II – Aug-Oct 2022
Archive I – Jul-Aug 2022
I have let the candle burn too long, flirting with the danger in the dark.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) March 27, 2024
Already I hear them outside, attracted to the #light, hungry for my flesh.
I am tired.
The doors should hold but if my fight is over tonight, I will be at peace with that.
This is not a life.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/cVlwc2G3SL
I am looking for him, but not hard.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) March 25, 2024
Each face dirty with the grime of the street, #scarlet from the cold; each one a #mask hinting at the #specter of my father.
He is out here somewhere, or maybe not. Maybe he’s dead.
The uncertainty is the heaviest part of the #load.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/cPee3Fzz5o
“Stationary #train travel is my favourite,” the fox told the children.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) March 19, 2024
Charlie had his mouthful of sweets from the dining car, so Portia asked the questions.
“So, we aren’t moving?”
“Space and time are fixed here, we simply allow the world to move beneath us.”#vss365 pic.twitter.com/tcHKXUubsG
We lie here together, under light of #firefly and crescent moon, and I hold your hand.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) March 17, 2024
I tell you my dreams.
I tell you I love you.
I apologize.
I kiss you and slowly roll you into your grave.
It’s been a long night. I rest my eyes.
I’ll cover you in the morning.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/rQy8OamCyQ
I lay my hammer down and it is quiet; my #anvil_of_joy is all I hear, beating in my ears.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) March 11, 2024
I see you in the forge; a ghost in the flames, reaching, beckoning.
My hands are only just healed from the last time we touched. I cannot resist.
It is quiet, but for my screams.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/INtRU8kFFR
He’d been a hero; #feeder_of_ravens they’d called him in his prime.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) March 5, 2024
He remembered less and less of those times as the years wore on, exchanging battles for bread crumbs.
Six weeks in hospital and, still, the pigeons came in case he showed.
Even warriors grow old.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/G5GBKI7QhH
The humans called it a #draught_of_giants, but the Littluns, no taller than your finger, didn’t mind.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) March 1, 2024
From their homes high in the mountains, they whispered their poetry into the wind and knew better than anyone that inspiration comes, not from the flower, but the seed.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/PhXb7oHRPS
When synths started flocking to churches, we questioned the builders, who had no answers.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) February 7, 2024
They were supposed to know, or not know; they weren’t supposed to believe anything.
The problem was they did not agree on any one #dogma.
The war that followed was devastating.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/RJy4evYrHU
We haven’t had a proper meal in weeks, the children cried in #protest.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) February 4, 2024
Why do you think your parents sent you here? The Woodswoman waited for her answer, but none came.
Their mouths sewn shut, they’d been dead for days and she was hearing things again.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/xQtgeE3CgA
Away from the broken glass of shattered nights and the wounds licked by the sharp tongue that inflicted them. Away from it all.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) February 1, 2024
Out here you need wheels, and my two can go places your four cannot.
Don’t come for me. I’ve tasted #freedom now and I’ll fight to keep it.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/xLY0Tq3k4J
nello.com/flash-fiction-favourites-arcvhive-vii/”>Older Posts –Truth is brittle; if enough people give #credence to the words of liars, a new truth is born.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) January 29, 2024
This was how the war that began all wars started. We were made to think that what divided us was greater than what united us while the liars laughed and counted their money.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/SJVnSfRTNJ
We’ve waltzed and jitterbugged through every stage of our lives together. A spinning, whirling, magical life we’ve had.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) January 25, 2024
Now all this #fandango here at the hospital with the doctors who don’t know how strong you are.
Just another dance, my dear.
Just another dance.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/2lSkSVITe9
We were looking at my dead body.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) January 24, 2024
What happens now?
Where you go from here doesn’t depend on how you lived, but what you learned from how you lived. The test is next, but first we study.
Why are you a #dragonfly?
For that we start at age 6, in the garden. Let’s go.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/UXPHwZ3iHR
He’s a #snollygoster, she’s a scobberlotcher and those two, they’re a couple of throttlebottoms, they are.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) January 21, 2024
Granddad rails at the news while Nan pours more tea. The wallpaper is stained from their cigarettes.
I’m eight and their house is from another time.
I miss it.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/NL0UwxWyzK
As I descended the ten levels of hell, I noticed that each level was unified thematically by a colour.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) January 20, 2024
Crimson, carmine, #vermillion…
When we reached the tenth level I looked at Kalsor, my demon guide, quizzically. Opaque Couché?
The bureaucrats like it, he said.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/WLgAADQ3Jd
The lake is still under this #muskmelon moon. You like it up here?
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) January 18, 2024
Ha, wouldn’t that be a thing if you said “no” right now? Ha, this is home.
You’ll like the folks; they’re just like you, all strays and runaways.
Quiet.
Water’s deep.
Ain’t no one gonna bother you.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/TGfJ28iaK1
We’d had a great evening, but Cupid’s arrow missed.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) January 17, 2024
I found it later behind the couch. I spent weeks taking it with me everywhere, poking strangers in the subway, turning mad faces #moonstruck.
Then I found out he’d missed on purpose, and this was how Cupids recruited.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/RwhcRnqWe6
I knew exactly what to wish for.
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) January 13, 2024
But you can’t tell anyone of course or it won’t come true.
Now, here we are; a life well lived behind us filled with every happiness.
When we saw the star that night, I wished to live life under Yhprum’s #Law.
And it came true.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/wNPzj6z7fi
The ribbon on his finger meant something, but Gordon couldn’t remember what. He hated how #forgetful he was lately. Where was Jill?
— Lee Zanello (@_LimaZulu) January 2, 2024
Bumping from inside the pantry.
He remembered too late that Jill had turned the week before and the pantry was locked for a reason.#vss365 pic.twitter.com/WOxH5y75Yw