February 20, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction
The beach was closed.
The snack bars brought down their rolling shades and the umbrellas snapped shut. The blankets shook themselves out and folded themselves. The sand blew off and the shells retreated into the water.
The waves came to a gradual stop, and the world was perfectly still. Then the ocean receded one last time.
A beachcomber passed over the bare stones with a broom, sweeping up and putting away the last of the beach chairs.
When he was done, he looked at the stretch of empty miles and nodded to himself. They would all be back next year.
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February 19, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction, Noire
The detective sat sulking at his usual table. She brought him another glass of bourbon.
“Why the long face, Dick?”
“I was so damn close,” he said. “And now Mattheson’s going to get away with everything because I can’t get past his powerful friends.”
“Mawmaw used to say, you catch more flies with honey.”
“Honey…” he mumbled, then shot up like a rocket. “The mead distillery! Doris, you’re a genius!” He kissed her on the cheek.
“What’d I say?” She feigned innocence, but he was already out the door.
Some nights, she thought this town would fall apart without her.
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February 17, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction, Sci-Fi
The commander looked down on the planet from the ship. She sipped tea from its zero-gravity bag and watched the progress far below her.
She wondered when the point outside her viewport went from ‘out’ to ‘down.’ It was just one of the many things that changed when she had made her decision.
The frame was coming together nicely, and the asteroids and cloud objects they needed were arriving on schedule. She was pleased. After years of searching, humanity had found a good, Sun-like star. But no planet in the system could support life.
So they decided to build one.
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February 16, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction, Sci-Fi
He hears the chirp coming from somewhere above him and sighs.
He’s got Centaurian Rabbits in his vents again.
He doesn’t think they look much like the Earth rodents, but they’re cute in their own right, and mostly harmless. They just have the unfortunate tendency to nest in spacecraft air systems.
They are named not for their appearance, but for the danger they pose. It’s a warning about what happens when animals are introduced into unsuitable habitats. But the rabbits don’t know that.
He brings up the controls to flush the vents into space, hating himself for the cold equations.
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February 15, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction
“Take one of these objects,” the old man said. “It will help you on your way.”
She looked down at the table, covered in relics from a lifetime of adventures. Her hand hovered indecisively over the collection of gadgets. Each had its own history, its own weight. She couldn’t choose.
“You want my advice? Take the globe.” He gestured to an ornate globe, complete with a brass stand and eyepiece.
“Why?”
“Because it’s a flask!” He picked it up and unscrewed the eyepiece. She smelled the sharp odor of spirits.
She sighed. Why could he never take these things seriously?
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February 14, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
#Fantasy, Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction, Humor
The paladin entered the clearing and found the cultists, just as he expected. The black-robed figures turned with eerie synchronicity as he drew his sword. They intercepted him with raised daggers while their leader continued the sacrifice.
“The Moon is up!” The old man’s shouts echoed strangely in the night.
“The time is right!”
The paladin fought his way through the maddened crowd.
“We’re gathered here…”
“That’s enough,” The paladin said as he cut down the officiant. He picked up the girl. She’d be alright. But he was going to have that damn song stuck in his head for weeks.
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February 12, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction
He saw the birds circling days before he reached the body. The hundred-foot-tall corpse was leaned up against the mesa as though it were a rock, pinned in place by its own sword. It had been left to the vultures and the sun to dispose of.
When they came West, they found a harsh land protected by harsher gods. They hadn’t been welcome. That hadn’t stopped them.
They told themselves they were heroes. They were bringing Civilization and taming a wild place. He sheltered in the shadow of the giant’s blade and tried to make himself believe it was true.
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February 11, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction
The Dragon Knight looked down from her tower. Below her, she could see the peasants working desperately in the fields, building sand walls and digging for water.
Her heart ached, but what could she do? Drought couldn’t be beaten with a sword. And she’d paid her own price.
A dragon’s life force is puissant and eternal. She was constantly surrounded by blue and silver wraiths. She’d had to isolate herself to protect the kingdom. She didn’t mind, it was part of the duty.
She went back inside, never considering the link between the dragons and the land that spawned them.
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February 10, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction
The door seemed rather ordinary, if out of place. It was solid, heavy oak, and it stood in a stone arch frame in the middle of the forest. The magic was in the keys.
They hung from every bare branch of the dead trees, and each was guarded by a raven that stared down at her with fearsome intelligence. She just needed to find the right key, and appease its keeper. Then she could unlock the door, and it would take her she needed to be.
She finally understood what the old man had meant. Not all labyrinths were mazes.
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February 9, 2022
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction
Cyberpunk, Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction, Sci-Fi
The Runner is the ghost of Machine City. Everyone has a second-hand story of a friend or a cousin meeting the one spanner in The Corp’s mighty works.
He hacks a bioterminal to distribute free medicine here and diverts trucks full of SecForce thugs away from a housing protest there. He’s an urban legend, both everywhere and nowhere.
The Chief Policing Officer appears regularly on the feeds insisting that The Runner doesn’t exist. But the work continues.
High above, the boy jumps from catwalk to catwalk, knowing the value of being born without tackers in a city of electronic eyes.
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Hugh J. O'Donnell 