January 4, 2020
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction
The rope hung before him, suspended in the air in defiance of logic and gravity. It stretched as far up as he could see, into the blue haze.
He gave it a few experimental tugs, gently at first, then harder. It held.
Overcome by curiosity, he climbed up the rope. He climbed for hours, until, exhausted, he reached the end of his rope and found himself back where he’d started.
He eased himself off the rope and onto solid ground. He was home. Or was he? He took a few minutes to rest, then set out to explore once again.
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December 29, 2019
hughjodonnell
Everyday Drabbles, Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction
The soldiers camped in her barn that winter. She sat in the dark house, not lighting a fire, hoping they would forget she was there.
That spring, she made scarecrows. She bent wire frames into human shapes, and wrapped them with dried rosebush branches. She took what she had to hand, old boots, discarded jackets and pants, and dressed them, topping them with discarded helmets.
When they were done, she propped them up in her fields.
She left a pair outside her barn as well, carefully turned so you couldn’t see the bullet holes in their uniforms from the road.
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December 8, 2019
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fantasy, Fiction
When Clematis started hanging out with the dragons, the other fairies were shocked. They were a insular and xenophobic people, terrified of anyone bigger than they were, which was just about everything. They lived deep in the forest, enchanting their gardens and cursing the rare passerby.
Clematis was different. She wanted to fly through open skies, to see the high mountains and the vast oceans her friends spoke of. The fairy elders didn’t care for her dreams, and they cast her out.
Now Clematis flies where she will, accompanied by her chosen family. And her hoard is coming together nicely.
This story originally appeared in Everyday Drabbles, a daily free fiction project on Wattpad. Visit the link for over a hundred free stories. And if you enjoy my writing, support my work by buying me a coffee!
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December 1, 2019
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction
The Axe felt good in her hand. That was the first trap. But there was something about the weight that felt satisfying, a potential gravity when she held it. It wanted to be swung. It wanted to chop.
She knew that the axe was cursed. That it would change her as she swung it, it would infect her with a darkness. Wielding it would be a devil’s bargain, but her family was cold and hungry. She would gladly pay that price for them.
She was the greatest lumberjack that ever lived, but few ever knew the torment in her soul.
This story originally appeared in Everyday Drabbles, a daily free fiction project on Wattpad. Visit the link for over a hundred free stories. And if you enjoy my writing, support my work by buying me a coffee!
The first collection of Everyday Drabbles stories, Winter, is now available as an eBook from Amazon! Enjoy over 90 short stories for less than two dollars!
Stay tuned to this space over the next month as I’ll be winding down the year by producing audio versions of my favorite Everyday Drabbles as a part of the Dog Days of Advent!
November 24, 2019
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Drabble, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Free Fiction
By the time the Falconer got to the little village, the weather had turned foggy. Her falcon fidgeted on his perch in agitation. She stroked him softly, listening.
They’d made her sit through a town hall first, to acquaint her to the target, to hear his litany of sins against the villagers. It didn’t really matter to her. She’d been hired to do a job.
She hunted by sound, stalking past the gardens, through the pub and into the miniature village. It was still ahead of her, honking proudly, unaware.
Today, that goose would get what was coming to him.
This story originally appeared in Everyday Drabbles, a daily free fiction project on Wattpad. Visit the link for over a hundred free stories. And if you enjoy my writing, support my work by buying me a coffee!
The first collection of Everyday Drabbles stories, Winter, is now available as an eBook from Amazon! Enjoy over 90 short stories for less than two dollars!
November 17, 2019
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Sci-Fi
Humanity’s first contact with another intelligent species occurred somewhere entirely unexpected: Mike Henderson’s shower curtain.
Nobody knows how long the algae had been on the curtain, but it was long enough for it to develop a sort of hive intelligence that introduced itself by writing a message of peace in green slime.
Mike took the logical first step of posting a picture of it online.
Unfortunately, his mom saw the post firs, and missing the historic significance entirely, used her spare key to enter the apartment and clean his bathroom. Thus a civilization died beneath a wave of scrubbing bubbles.
This story originally appeared in Everyday Drabbles, a daily free fiction project on Wattpad. Visit the link for over a hundred free stories. And if you enjoy my writing, support my work by buying me a coffee!
The first collection of Everyday Drabbles stories, Winter, is now available as an eBook from Amazon! Enjoy over 90 short stories for less than two dollars!
November 10, 2019
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction
After the cure for death was discovered, he started sleeping in the graveyard. He climbed into bed at home, and stared at the ceiling hours until the first rays of light came creeping in his window.
Then he would rise, and go for a walk to clear his head, but his feet always took him to the boneyard, and next thing he knew, a hand would be on his shoulder, shaking him awake.
Hardly anyone else went there anymore. Everyone had forgotten the dead, but he couldn’t forget.
Humanity had learned how to live forever a week after her funeral.
This story originally appeared in Everyday Drabbles, a daily free fiction project on Wattpad. Visit the link for over a hundred free stories. And if you enjoy my writing, support my work by buying me a coffee!
The first collection of Everyday Drabbles stories, Winter, is now available as an eBook from Amazon! Enjoy over 90 short stories for less than two dollars!
November 3, 2019
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction
A flower grew in a high, remote crag. On the eve of his sixteenth birthday, a boy in the village was sent to pick one and bring it back to the elders, as was tradition.
He forded rivers, climbed mountains, was hunted by wild animals, and had his every limit tested. But eventually he found his prize and returned home with it.
“So,” the newly-minted adult asked. “What does it do?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not a rare herb, or powerful reagent?”
The elder sighed. “Sometimes it is the deed that is important. The flower’s just a flower.”
This story originally appeared in Everyday Drabbles, a daily free fiction project on Wattpad. Visit the link for over a hundred free stories. And if you enjoy my writing, support my work by buying me a coffee!
The first collection of Everyday Drabbles stories, Winter, is now available as an eBook from Amazon! Enjoy over 90 short stories for less than two dollars!
October 20, 2019
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Drabbles, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Flash Fiction
The knight rode to the place the rumors whispered of: a still, dark pool deep in the forest. The stories were true. The sword was real.
The blade projected straight and tall from the surface of the water, unsheathed and shining in a patch of sunlight. It was held aloft by a pale hand that rose from the water.
The knight tied his horse to a tree, stripped off his armor, and dived into the water.
The mermaids hidden below the surface tore him to shreds.
“We should’ve thought of this long ago,” one said. “So much easier than singing.”
This story originally appeared in Everyday Drabbles, a daily free fiction project on Wattpad. Visit the link for more free stories. And if you enjoy my writing, support my work by buying me a coffee!
The first collection of Everyday Drabbles stories, Winter, is now available as an eBook from Amazon! Enjoy over 90 short stories for less than two dollars!
October 13, 2019
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, Uncategorized
Drabble, Everyday Drabbles, Fiction, Free Ficiton, Hundred Word Short Story
He rubbed the lamp and closed his eyes.
“I wish for a million dollars,” He said.
“It will be done,” the Genie said, and disappeared.
The money, and the spirit, reappeared a few minutes later. The man picked up one of the stacks of bills and it sprayed him with pink paint.
“Where did this come from?” he asked, afraid he already knew the answer.
“Robbed a bank. Human security has really improved in the last five hundred years.”
“But I didn’t wish for that!”
“Did you think I just snap my fingers and the money appears out of nowhere?”
This story originally appeared in Everyday Drabbles, a daily free fiction project on Wattpad. Visit the link for more free stories. And if you enjoy my writing, support my work by buying me a coffee!
The first collection of Everyday Drabbles stories, Winter, is now available as an eBook from Amazon! Enjoy over 90 short stories for less than two dollars!
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Hugh J. O'Donnell 