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Whitney inched closer to the edge and looked down at the crowd gathering below her. The wind lifted her hair as she watched the ambulance pull into the parking lot, the red light on its roof flashing.

“What’s your name?” the police officer asked her. He leaned out of the window only a few feet from her. His angular face draped in false calm.

“It doesn’t matter,” Whitney said. She’d climbed out on the ledge an hour ago and managed to creep along the rough brick wall without losing her balance one. She was proud of that because people had always told her she was clumsy. She had the balance and grace of a tightrope walker now.

“Of course it matters,” the officer said. “You matter and I’m sure there is someone who will be heartbroken if you don’t climb back into the window where it’s safe.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“But I think it’s a pretty safe guess. I know I’ll be heartbroken.”

Whitney let out a sputtering laugh. “You don’t know me.”

“I don’t need to to know that no one’s life should end like this.”

Whitney looked over at him. Strands of her hair caught on the rough brick. “If you knew me you wouldn’t say that.”

“Why wouldn’t I say that, Whitney?” [Read more…] about On the Edge (Flash Fiction Challenge)

Sometimes at night, I like to lay in the grass and look up at the stars. There are so many, like prayers scattered across the black velvet sky. There was a time when one of my prayers was up there, but it’s been answered now. Looking at the stars is like looking into the past. Their light travels so far that by the time it reaches us the star might already be dead. I could be looking at a sky that no longer exists.

During the day I’d rather forget the past. I’m moving forward into a new future, one where people don’t treat me good because of what I’ve done not because of what’s been done to me. I’ve put all that behind me now. My no-good family and their criminal ways are in another state. It’s almost like they’re in another world. [Read more…] about Starlight (Flash Fiction Challenge)

They look through the wall of glass in front of my desk and watch me like a zoo animal as I work on my computer and take important phone calls. They knock on my door before entering my office. They ask me for permission. They tell me their accomplishments hoping for my approval. They talk about me behind my back. They think I don’t hear them impersonating me by the water cooler, but I’ve set up this office so I can hear everything. [Read more…] about The Boss (Flash Fiction Challenge)

Winston stood up, and the cafeteria fell silent. Every boy and girl in the fifth grade were staring at him, waiting to see what he would do next. Even the teachers’ aides were watching. Winston’s muscles twitched with fear. His breath was fast and ragged. His heart bashed against the walls of his chest as if it were trying to escape.

He struggled with even the simplest math and when he tried the read the letters were all scrambled up. The other kids always laughed at him. That hurt, but sometimes people are hurtful. His mother told him that the first day he came home from school crying.

“You can’t let them ruin your day,” she’d said.

He knew she was right. Life was hard for her too, but she always put on a smile for him. She didn’t know that he could hear her stifled sobs through the wall when he lay in his bed at night.

He wasn’t good at school stuff and didn’t have many friends, but there was one thing he’d always been good at and he was going to show them now. Winston cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and sang. His voice rose up in the air and echoed through the room, bouncing off the large windows that ran along the ceiling. It was like a light bursting out of him, a fire that could not be put out. [Read more…] about Winston’s First Concert (Flash Fiction Challenge)