Flash Stories

The Astonishing Light Of Your Own Being

hafiz Jan. 10, 2024, 8:23 p.m.

I wish I could show you
When you are lonely or in darkness
The astonishing light
Of your own being.

Hafiz

Story:

She had always felt lonely and lost in the world. She had no friends, no family, no purpose. She wandered the streets, looking for a place to belong, but found none. She felt like a shadow, invisible and insignificant.

One day, she saw a poster on a wall. It advertised a poetry reading at a nearby cafe. She felt a strange curiosity and decided to go. She entered the cafe and sat in a corner, watching the people around her. They seemed happy and lively, chatting and laughing. She felt even more alone.

Then, a man came to the stage. He had a gentle smile and a warm voice. He introduced himself as a poet and said he would read some of his favorite poems by Hafiz. He opened a …

The Last Commute

hamed Jan. 24, 2025, 10:45 a.m.

It was an ordinary Thursday morning—at least, it started that way. In a sleek, minimalist office high above the city skyline, Jenna was staring at her coffee cup. Her commute had been... well, nonexistent. A few seconds ago, she'd been in her kitchen, fighting with a stubborn blender. Now, she was seated in her sleek, modern office chair, staring out at the view of the bustling metropolis below.

"Did I miss something?" Jenna murmured to herself, rubbing her eyes.

It wasn’t the coffee making her dizzy; it was the fact that she had just used the TelePorter, SpaceX's newly unveiled device that allowed instantaneous relocation. Elon Musk had announced it a few weeks ago during a live-streamed event, promising that within months, "the world would be smaller, and your commute would be a thing of the past."

Jenna had been skeptical. Everyone was. But today, it was real. She’d stood …

Misereable Proud

hamed Jan. 9, 2024, 5:05 p.m.

He was a devout man, who followed his religion with zeal and fervor. He believed that his faith was the only true one, and that everyone else was either misguided or evil. He hated those who did not share his beliefs, and he shunned them from his life.

He thought he was doing God's will, but he was actually isolating himself from the world. He had no friends, no love, no joy. He only had his dogma, his rituals, his rules. He lived in fear and anger, and he spread them to others.

He never realized how much he was missing out on. He never experienced the beauty of diversity, the richness of culture, the warmth of compassion. He never learned from other perspectives, other experiences, other values. He never grew as a person, as a human being.

He died alone, bitter, and unhappy. He had lived a miserable life, …

The Kite in the Rubble

hamed Jan. 22, 2025, 9:01 p.m.

The streets of Jenin were unrecognizable. Where there had been markets and laughter, now there were craters and silence, broken only by the distant rumble of armored vehicles. Smoke hung in the air, heavy and acrid, as if the city itself was exhaling its pain.

Amid the destruction, nine-year-old Yusuf crouched behind the crumbled remains of his family’s home. His small hands clutched the broken frame of a kite, the fabric torn and frayed. It had once been bright yellow, streaked with green, a kite that danced in the sky above Jenin like it had no borders to obey.

“Yusuf!” his older sister, Amina, hissed from a safer corner of the rubble. “Come back here! They’ll see you!”

Yusuf shook his head, his lips trembling. “I have to fix it,” he whispered. “It’s the only thing left.”

Amina’s heart twisted. Their father was gone, their mother missing, their home flattened …

Viral Truths

hamed Jan. 23, 2025, 6:13 p.m.

Ariana held her phone up to the ring light, her thumb hovering over the record button. Behind her, a towering bookshelf served as the backdrop—perfectly curated with faux-intellectual appeal. A framed quote on her desk read: "The truth will set you free."

She hit record.

“Hey, Truth Tribe! It’s Ariana. Today, we’re diving into something wild—this leaked document suggests a major tech company is spying on its users. If this is true, it could change everything.”

She paused, tilting her head just enough to signal curiosity, not certainty. It was her signature move, designed to spark engagement. Be relatable, not preachy, her branding coach had advised.

The video uploaded, and within an hour, it had 200,000 views. Comments flooded in:
“Finally, someone brave enough to expose this!”
“Where’s the evidence, though?”
“Love you, Ariana! You’re saving us!”

But in her inbox sat a different kind of comment—a direct message from someone claiming to …

The Art of Choosing

hamed Jan. 12, 2025, 5:23 p.m.

Sarah's mother always said grace before dinner, even when Sarah stopped bowing her head. Her father always asked about her grades, even when she'd long graduated. Her brother always made the same jokes about her being single, even when they stopped being funny years ago.

That Thursday evening, like every Thursday for the past decade, she sat at Luna's cramped kitchen table instead of her family's formal dining room. Luna handed her a steaming mug of chai, made exactly how Sarah liked it—more cardamom, less sugar.

"Rough day?" Luna asked, noticing Sarah's wrinkled blazer and untamed hair.

"Mom called again. Asked when I'm going to 'settle down' and 'give her grandchildren.'" Sarah wrapped her hands around the warm mug. "Said I'm wasting my life running an art gallery."

"Ah yes, how dare you follow your passion and become successful?" Luna rolled her eyes, pulling out leftover lasagna from her fridge—Sarah's …

The Memory Thief

hamed Jan. 26, 2024, 7:09 p.m.

She had always been plagued by strange memories. Memories of places she had never been, people she had never met, things she had never done. She thought she was crazy, or maybe she had a past life.

She tried to ignore them, but they kept coming back, more vivid and more frequent. They interfered with her daily life, her studies, her relationships. She felt like she was living someone else's life.

She decided to seek help. She went to a therapist, a hypnotist, a psychic. None of them could explain her condition or cure her. They only gave her vague theories and false hopes.

She was desperate. She wanted to know the truth. She wanted to be free.

She stumbled upon an article online. It was about a new scientific discovery. It claimed that our body is made of materials that once belonged to other living beings, and that these …

World Continues Going On

khayam Jan. 25, 2024, 11:30 a.m.

چون عمر به سر رسد چه شیرین و چه تلخ
پیمانه که پر شود چه بغداد و چه بلخ

می نوش که بعد از من و تو ماه بسی
از سلخ به غرّه آید از غرّه به سلخ

When life ends, whether sweet or bitter,
When the cup is full, whether in Baghdad or Balkh.

Drink a lot of wine since after me and you,
The moon repeats the cycle of birth and decay numerously.

Story:

He was a man who had no passion. He wasted his life, from 20 to 40, doing nothing meaningful, nothing fulfilling, nothing rewarding. He had no ambition, no motivation, no purpose.

He spent his days, his nights, his years, doing the same things, over and over. He worked at a boring job, that he hated. He watched TV, that he did not care. He drank beer, that he did not enjoy.

He ignored every opportunity, every chance, every …

Smoke Signals

hamed Jan. 12, 2025, 5:33 p.m.

The evacuation order came at 3 AM, but Sarah Henderson had been awake since midnight, watching the orange glow creep closer to Pine Valley. Twenty years in California had taught her to read the signs: the shifting winds, the ash coating her windshield, the nervous rustling of animals in the canyon.

"The Martinez family still hasn't left," her husband Mark said, lowering his binoculars. From their hillside home, they could see most of their neighbors loading cars and securing homes.

"Rosa won't leave without her mother's ashes," Sarah replied. "And she can't find them."

What Sarah didn't say was that she'd seen Rosa's teenage son, Miguel, hiding something in the old Peterson shed last week. The same shed where their neighbor, Mr. Peterson, had stored his "collection" before his death last spring. Everyone knew he'd been a hoarder, but nobody knew what he'd hoarded.

The fire sirens wailed closer. Sarah …

The Weight of Knowing

hamed Jan. 14, 2025, 4:07 p.m.

Dr. Anya Calder stood at the podium, the sleek conference room bustling with delegates from across the globe. The *World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2025* report lay on the desk before her, its pages heavy with data she had analyzed late into countless nights. Her fingers trembled as she adjusted the microphone, though the room's air-conditioning chilled her to the bone.

“Thank you for being here,” she began, her voice steady but brittle, like a pane of glass under pressure. She glanced at the crowd: world leaders, economists, activists, and reporters. The weight of their expectations pressed on her chest.

The report was supposed to be about employment trends, labor markets, and policies. But buried within it were her findings—unemployment and displacement driven by cascading climate crises. Rising seas were swallowing entire industries, heatwaves making outdoor work lethal, droughts collapsing agriculture-dependent economies.

“This year’s report reveals …