Short Story
The Locket
A quick flash of light catches my eye. Finding any metal, besides a discarded food wrapping, is rare. I try not to draw attention as I don’t want the other scavengers to notice my sudden excitement. My dirty hands sift through the trash heap. I pull out a plastic cup and put it in my knapsack, which was once a bright red, and now is more of a dingy brown. I adjust the sack so that it is in front of me so I can swiftly conceal the unknown treasure to examine later. Quickly, I grab the small object. I place it inside the cup and add a plastic bag inside so that it won’t chance making any noise while I walk. I also cannot risk it falling through a hole in the knitting of the old bag.
By Emily Chhouy5 years ago in Fiction
Ruin
I knew they had it. I knew they had my locket. It wasn’t enough that the world had fallen into rot and ruin, the water tainted, the skies the bleak color of ash and smoke. It wasn’t enough that food was scarce and field rats had become a delicacy. It wasn’t enough that sickness and war and death were now as common as the tulips in the Netherlands used to be plentiful.
By David Paulsen5 years ago in Fiction
STRAYZ
“Ready?” she asks, before pressing play on the voice recorder. The prisoner pulls the oxygen mask from his face and throws it on the table. The wrinkles in his caramel-colored, weathered skin, fold around his mouth as he cracks a smile. He runs his hands through his tightly curled, salt and pepper-colored hair, slicking it back, before reaching for the box of Tasty-Kakes. Slowly, he opens the box and removes a pack. He flips the plastic wrapped Krimpet over and begins lightly rubbing the butterscotch frosted top on the steel table, in a clockwise motion, before unwrapping it.
By Michael Hadfield 5 years ago in Fiction
Minty breath
Minty breath Rotten lime balls came sailing through the reddened sky, and wacked my brother square in the forehead. He was slightly dazed from the impact and didn’t respond, till dozens as hard as golf balls, came sailing through the broken window like a flock of birds. My brother moaned, as we sprinted down the stairs. I did everything I could to shield him from the true risk of invasion that we faced every hour of the day, but at times like this there wasn’t all much I could do. As he began to complain that the bread might become as wet as my dad’s swimming trunks, I told him very firmly to “keep it down!”. If our home was invaded, then we would have no where to live and probably starve as we coughed down dried corn in an effort to stay alive.
By Reality Detective5 years ago in Fiction
Found
When you see it it’s wrapped around the bent corner of a sorry looking chain link fence. As is the case with most found trinkets, it could be something, but it could also very well be nothing. You aren’t as good at separating the junk from the treasure as Ashni is. Ashni’s neighbor is a Forer so they have a better idea of what to look for.
By Emily Louise5 years ago in Fiction
The Community
I've lived in this world since I was 11 years old, where we now live as a new community inside this building. Our world was struck by a plague that many did not survive seven years ago, and we were unable to stop it. For as long as we could, we tried to carry on with our normal lives, but it posed too much of a threat to mankind, and people were dropping like flies. My school had only 150 students when the globe seemed to stop spinning, but by the time the world seemed to stop spinning, there were only 45. My mother and I lived with my grandmother, but she died just as the world was attempting to build "safe houses" to safeguard as many people as possible. She gave me her necklace, a tiny heart-shaped pendant, that my grandfather had given her on her wedding day while she was on her deathbed, and she told me that one day it would guide me through life. Of course, I didn't understand, but she was suffering from dementia, so I'm sure she was just confused. Even so, I've been wearing it every day since her death.
By Makayla Cullum5 years ago in Fiction
