Storgy Flash Fiction 2019

By Storgy Books

The STORGY FLASH FICTION 2019 Anthology contains the finalists of the 2019 STORGY Flash Fiction Competition and includes the following stories: 

All The Shuttered Things Blooming
by Selma Carvalho

American Religion
by Luke Kuhns

WINNER
Apocalypse Vodka
by Donna Greenwood

Calithea
by Tomas Marcantonio

Crisis Actor
by Rick White

Devotion Take Me
by Emily Harrison

Ghost-Sex
by Adam Lock

Home Time
by Tony McDonald

How Your Birthday Unfolded
by Alexis Wolfe

Ink Stain
by Tucker Lieberman

Late Night TV
by Thomas Conaghan

Leave a Little Light on
by Mark Nelson

Little White Lies
by Wiebo Grobler

Moving South
by Simon Billinton

Oceans Apart
by Hannah Storm

Puddles
by Colin James

Relative Claws
by Eleanor Hickey

Rituals in the Dark
by Laure Van Rensburg

Sink
by Dani Smotrich-Barr

3rd PLACE
Sponging
by Wayne Turmel

Superstition
by Jude Higgins

The Cage of Extinction
by Sebastian Collier

They Care For Me
by Randall Perry

To Cloak
by Rick White

Today The Trees Are Bending
by Rick White

Tumour
by Nicola Ashbrook

Undocumented Movements of A Lost Canary
by Phil Olsen

We Die In The Mangroves
by Andrew Boulton

We Only Need One
by Laure Van Rensburg

2nd PLACE
Window Seat
by Gareth Durasow

• Language: English
• Publisher: STORGY Books
• Release date: Dec 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781999890766

Book preview

STORGY FLASH FICTION COMPETITION 2019

STORGY BOOKS

Nicola Ashbrook Dani Smotrich-Barr Simon Billinton Andrew Boulton Selma Carvalho Sebastian  Collier Thomas Conaghan Gareth Durasow Donna L Greenwood Wiebo Grobler Emily Harrison Eleanor Hickey Jude Higgins Colin James Luke Kuhns Tucker Lieberman Adam Lock Tomas Marcantonio Tony McDonald Mark Nelson Phil Olsen Randall Perry Laure Van Rensburg Hannah Storm Wayne Turmel Rick White Alexis Wolfe

Copyright © 2019 by STORGY®

All rights reserved

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Cover art by Anna Jeffery

Cover design by Rob Pearce

STORGY.COM

First Published in Great Britain in 2019

by STORGY Books

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Copyright © STORGY Ltd 2019

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STORGY

LONDON

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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

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No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express permission of the publisher.

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Published by STORGY Ltd

London, United Kingdom, 2019

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Typeset by Tomek Dzido

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Ebook ISBN 978-1-9998907-6-6

Contents

STORGY

Tumour

Nicola Ashbrook

Sink

Dani Smotrich-Barr

Moving South

Simon Billinton

We Die In The Mangroves

Andrew Boulton

All The Shuttered Things Blooming

Selma Carvalho

The Cage of Extinction

Sebastian Collier

Late Night TV

Thomas Conaghan

Window Seat

Gareth Durasow

Apocalypse Vodka

Donna L Greenwood

Little White Lies

Wiebo Grobler

Devotion Take Me

Emily Harrison

Relative Claws

Eleanor Hickey

Superstition

Jude Higgins

Puddles

Colin James

American Religion

Luke Kuhns

Ink Stain

Tucker Lieberman

Ghost-Sex

Adam Lock

Calithea

Tomas Marcantonio

Home Time

Tony McDonald

Leave a Little Light On

Mark Nelson

Undocumented Movements of a Lost Canary

Phil Olsen

They Care for Me

Randall Perry

Rituals in the Dark

We Only Need One

Laure Van Rensburg

Oceans Apart

Hannah Storm

Sponging

Wayne Turmel

To Cloak

Today The Trees are Bending

Crisis Actor

Rick White

How Your Birthday Unfolded

Alexis Wolfe

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM STORGY BOOKS

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM STORGY BOOKS

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM STORGY BOOKS

STORGY MAGAZINE

Tumour

Nicola Ashbrook

I’m calling her Helga: an aggressive name for an aggressive tumour. It’s been twenty-seven days now, since I found her and I’ve been almost entirely devoured by fear. I keep checking my body for holes because surely her propaganda maggot army will have burrowed right through somewhere.

They’ll get her out, they’ve said; excise her. I keep thinking of what they’ll do to her then. My favourite option is incineration – every distorted cell conflagrated to non-existence – because even though she isn’t metastatic, she’s taking over. It’s as if Helga is the first lady in my life now – the prima – instead of me.

I’m barely a person since she took residence; a mere set of blood results, a cross on a chart, a provider of tissue for biopsy. Eradicating her is everyone’s priority, yet I’m fading while she parades in my limelight.

My fingers hover over the undulating and pitted welt where my left breast should be. It’s part of me – I should touch it – but I keep thinking an alien has embedded itself in my thorax. I’m repulsed at the otherness where nothing should be.

I force myself to place a fingertip on the first stitch site. The sensation goes through me, like nails on a chalkboard, and I think I might vomit.

I cover my asymmetric self and lie down.

I know Helga has gone, she must have, but she’s haunting me. I see her every time I look in a mirror or see my naked flesh. She’s my first and last thought of each day and about fifty times in-between. Others see her too – I catch them with their concerned faces, their furrowed brows, their fussing. They know she’s gone but they fear her return. They fear the ways she’s damaged me.

I suspect I may have gone with Helga – into obliteration – and all that remains now is the husk of my body occupied by the ghost of that toppled prima donna.

Strips of nectarine paint the petrol sky. A light breeze fans my hair as we meander along the dockside. My new dress hugs my reconstructed bosom and it’s like I’ve been put back together. I’ve been to the hairdresser and the nail bar. I’ve spent most of the day looking in the mirror and, I realise now, She didn’t look back.

Drew holds my hand, a little tighter than he used to, and I look up at him in profile. He’s still handsome, if a bit greyer. His hazel eyes catch mine. We pause.

The lights of the bars behind him, on the other side of the sparkling