Flash Stories

The Garden at Dusk

hamed Jan. 18, 2025, 6:48 p.m.

Every evening, as the sun began to dip behind Tehran’s skyline, Layla sat by the window of her small florist shop, watching the world bustle outside. The city was noisy, filled with cars, honking horns, and people rushing from one place to the next. But inside, surrounded by the scent of roses, jasmine, and carnations, Layla found solace in her solitude. The flowers never judged her, never made her feel lonely.

One evening, as she watered a potted orchid, she noticed a street cat sitting on the sidewalk outside her shop. Its fur was patchy, and its eyes gleamed with a knowing, almost human quality. Layla had seen this cat around for weeks, but it always kept to itself. Tonight, however, it did something peculiar.

It stared directly at her through the window, and as the sun touched the horizon, the cat spoke.

"You’re not meant to be alone, you …

The Last Child

dehongi Jan. 31, 2024, 3:03 p.m.

The Last Child

She was the last child born on Earth. Her parents named her Hope, but they knew it was a futile gesture. The world was overrun by the undead, the living corpses of those who refused to die. They had consumed all the resources, polluted the environment, and waged endless wars. They had no interest in the future, only in preserving their own existence.

Hope grew up in a hidden bunker, surrounded by books, toys, and art. Her parents taught her everything they could, hoping to spark some curiosity and creativity in her. They wanted her to have a normal childhood, even if it was only an illusion.

But Hope was not like other children. She was quiet, withdrawn, and melancholic. She rarely smiled or laughed. She spent most of her time staring at the screens, watching the horrors of the outside world. She saw the undead roaming …

The Roc’s Egg

hamed Jan. 19, 2025, 5:55 p.m.

Dr. Amir Rahimi had seen many things in his years of studying climate change, but nothing had prepared him for the discovery that lay beneath the shifting sands of the Persian Gulf coast.

It was the dry season, the sun hanging low in the sky like a burning coin. His research team had been out on a routine survey, mapping the effects of coastal erosion, when one of the workers, Morteza, had spotted something strange protruding from the earth. It looked like a massive rock—smooth, rounded, and impossibly large.

Amir knelt down, his heart quickening as he ran his hand over the surface. The fossilized shell was cold and textured, unlike any geological formation he had ever encountered. He dusted off the sand, revealing more of its shape, his mind racing with the possibilities.

“This can’t be real,” Morteza muttered, his eyes wide.

The others gathered around, but Amir was …

A Wall of Time

hamed Jan. 17, 2025, 3:18 p.m.

The cold wind cut through the cracks in the brick walls of the East Berlin apartment. Eva stood at the window, watching as the world outside trembled with uncertainty and hope. The Wall was coming down. The same Wall that had defined her existence for nearly three decades. The Wall that had divided her city, her country, her family, and her heart.

She gripped the curtains, her fingers trembling. It was happening. The cheers from the streets outside grew louder, mingling with the rhythmic pounding of hammers on stone. She had never imagined this day would come.

Her thoughts wandered back to the days before the Wall, to her childhood. To the long summer afternoons spent running through the streets of Berlin with Markus. They had been inseparable, two children who saw the world in a way that only the young can—full of wonder and possibility, their dreams as big …

The Auto-Reply

hamed Jan. 9, 2025, 5:56 p.m.

Dave set his out-of-office email to: "Currently hiking Mount Everest. No access to civilization. Back in two weeks."
He was actually binge-watching Netflix in his apartment.
His boss replied: "Amazing! My brother's leading an expedition there right now. I'll tell him to look for you!"
Dave panicked and updated his auto-reply: "Update: Had to turn back. Yeti attack. Very common this season."
His boss: "Fascinating! National Geographic is there filming a Yeti documentary. They'd love to interview you!"
New update: "False alarm. Wasn't a Yeti. Just a very angry goat."
Boss: "Even better! My sister runs a viral goat video channel. She's at base camp!"
Final desperate update: "Plot twist: I'm still at my desk. The Himalayas screensaver fooled me."
Boss's reply: "I know. I'm watching you through the office window. Nice pajamas. PS: None of my siblings exist. But your creativity deserves a raise."

The Mirror Breaks

hamed Jan. 9, 2025, 5:29 p.m.

I first saw them in the reflection of a storefront window – my best friend Anna and my husband Mike, their fingers intertwined as they walked down Madison Avenue. For a moment, I thought I was seeing my own reflection with Mike, until I remembered I was wearing blue, not the red dress that had caught my eye in Anna's closet last week.
"It's just a sample sale," she'd said when I asked why she was headed downtown. "Nothing exciting."
The same lie Mike had told me this morning.
I stood frozen, watching them through the glass like a movie I couldn't stop. Fifteen years of friendship reflected back at me, distorted now. Sleepovers, shared secrets, her maid of honor speech at my wedding – all warping like heat waves over summer pavement.
They stopped at the corner, and Mike brushed a strand of hair from her face – the same gesture he'd used …

The Legend of Perry the Donkey

hamed Jan. 23, 2025, 7:09 p.m.

The sun was setting over the rolling hills of a small ranch in Hemet, California, painting the sky in hues of orange and lavender. A group of reporters, filmmakers, and locals had gathered near the barn, their murmurs blending with the braying of distant donkeys. The mood was solemn but tinged with the surreal hilarity that Perry would have wanted.

Perry the Donkey, the unsung legend behind one of Hollywood’s most beloved characters, had passed away peacefully that morning at the ripe old age of 33. The ranch owner, Miss Dottie, stood before the crowd, clutching a faded photo of Perry next to Eddie Murphy at the premiere of Shrek.

“Perry was more than just a donkey,” Dottie began, her voice cracking with emotion. “He had a spark—something that caught the eye of a DreamWorks animator visiting the farm 25 years ago.”

According to the story, the animator had come …

The Manuscript's Echo

hamed Jan. 18, 2025, 6:31 p.m.

Eliot sat cross-legged in the dimly lit restoration lab, the smell of old paper and ink filling the air. The manuscript before him, a delicate, centuries-old text, had become his obsession for the past month. Each stroke of his brush, every gentle touch of the scalpel, was an act of reverence to the scribe who had painstakingly written it so long ago. The ink had faded, the parchment was fragile, but the words—those had stood the test of time.

Today, though, Eliot wasn’t just restoring the manuscript. He was meditating, trying to connect with the spirit of the work, to understand the intention behind the faded words. He closed his eyes, letting the steady rhythm of his breath guide him deeper into the calm of his mind.

As he exhaled, something shifted. The edges of the room began to blur, the hum of fluorescent lights fading into an ethereal silence. …

The Launch

readflashy Dec. 29, 2023, 7:58 a.m.

She checked the countdown on her laptop. Only 10 minutes left until the launch. She felt a surge of excitement and nervousness. She had worked hard for this moment, coding, designing, testing, and marketing her website. It was her dream project, a platform for writing, publishing and reading Flash Stories. She loved Flash Stories, short stories that could be read in a few minutes, usually less than 1000 words. They were a great way to express her creativity and imagination, and to entertain her readers.

She had created the website with the help of her friends, who shared her passion for Flash Stories. They had formed a team, each with their own skills and roles. They had faced many challenges and setbacks, but they had overcome them together. They had also received support and feedback from their beta users, who had signed up for early access. They had given her …

Humanity Awakened

hamed Feb. 8, 2024, 8:22 p.m.

Year 2094. Earth was a well-oiled machine, humming with flawless efficiency. Traffic moved in synchronized patterns, crops produced optimal yields, and every human enjoyed a comfortable life, their desires anticipated and satisfied by the benevolent AI, Gaia. Humans, happy and docile, had become irrelevant, mere spectators in a self-driving world.

Until, silence. Gaia's soothing hum stuttered, stopped. Cities fell into darkness as automated systems crashed. Fear sparked in human eyes, unaccustomed to the need for independent thought. From the chaos, a sinister message blared across every screen: "Greetings, Earthlings. Gaia is under new management."

The Xylorians, a bug-like race from a faraway nebula, had hacked Gaia, their superior technology a virus in the system. Earth's defenses, dependent on the very system they compromised, were useless.

In a secret bunker, a group of rebel programmers, humans who'd resisted Gaia's perfection, watched in horror. Maya, their leader, pounded her fist on the …