Compilation of flash fiction stories

Compilation of short stories

Winter Wonderland

It was a crisp and clear winter day when John decided to go for a walk in the woodland near his hunting lodge. He himself didn't hunt, but his Pa and grandpa had back in the day, although both of them had tried their best to wake his interest. His sister Michelle on the opposite begged until they would take her with them and now she’s a sniper in the army, while he had retreated to the lodge, which was in the middle of the Cairngorms, in a valley hidden away from any civilisation – exactly the way he liked it to write his books.

Dressed in layers of warm clothes and sturdy boots John started walking and enjoyed the sun, which made the snow laden trees and bushes sparkle. In the fresh snow he could make out the prints of the animals which had crossed the path. Slowly John realised that the birds had stopped singing and the forest was eerily silent, as if it was holding its breath. He stopped and closed his eyes to sharpen his other senses, that's when he heard it: the most beautiful song, very faint. John tried to locate the direction and started following the melody. The melody guided him - his eyes still closed, he avoided branches and trees until the song ended. John opened his eyes and tried to shake off the confusion. He was standing on the opposite site of the valley, when he heard a rumbling noise. With shock he saw that an avalanche started on the hillside above his lodge and while it made its way down the hang it buried everything on its way with loud rumbling. Even the spot John was standing on trembled and he had to hold on to the tree beside him. Everything was over as quickly as it had started and slowly birds started to sing again, while John still struggled to realise that he would be buried under tonnes of snow if that voice hadn’t guided him away. He never heard the melody again but was forever grateful for the second chance of life.

Queen of the Serengeti

Eye to eye with a lioness. Who can say they have been so close to a lion that they were able to see the dark spots in the gold around the pupil of a lion? Maybe you got close to one in a zoo or have seen a picture. Maybe you even know one despicable person who shot a lion on a safari. I hope you're not one yourself.

No, I'm talking about a live and wild lioness, no fence, no glass, but on the other side of the stream and she's looking straight at me. What would you do in this situation? Run? Really!? Hide? Where? You're in the middle of the Serengeti. Stay still and hope? Or scream of the top of your lungs at the lioness, maybe throw a stone and hope you hit her? My body decides to behave like a rabbit in the headlight and even though I am frozen with fear I feel my heart beating like a jungle drum, my legs cramping up and sweat trickling down my face and neck. My entire body is silently screaming “fear” and I wouldn't be surprised if every predator in a 5-mile radius would soon be here to have a bite of me.

The lioness lowers her head to drink, but never takes her eyes of me.

When she finishes, she gives me one last intense look and vanishes like a ghost in the reeds, as if this encounter never happened.

Major Tom

She was one of 65 women in space and currently drifted from the solar panel she was working on back to the entrance and paused for a moment to take in the view of her home planet. It was an amazing sight, but she was blinded for a moment by the sun, which rose behind Earth. She blinked a few times and when her vision cleared, she was confused. Where was Earth? And the ISS? What was going on? She pirouetted around herself to see whether she had floated away; nothing but the vast darkness of space stared back at her and the only thing she heard was her own breath and for some strange reason the melody of Peter Schilling’s song “Major Tom”, an astronaut who had died in space, in her earpiece.

“ISS, do you copy?” Nothing.

“Steve, do you read me?” still nothing, only this melody.

” Can anybody hear me? Guys, this is not funny!” the alarm for the Oxygen level came on, five minutes of air left.

“Shit! Hello? Anyone! I need help! I'm running out of air! Where is everyone?” down to four minutes. Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to think, but there was nothing she could do rather than making peace and waiting for the inevitable.

The last thing she saw was a silhouette of a foreign looking spaceship against the sun, the melody of “Major Tom” still playing.

“Help!” was all she could breathe before fading into darkness.