flash fiction

Fifty Shades of Pink

/ roughwighting / 135 Comments

lingerie, laundry room Paula stepped away, holding back a scream when the neighbor who had just moved into the apartment above her entered the shared laundry room, saying softly: “Is there a problem?” (In the Laundry Room, continuing from last week…)

“Oh. Um. Hello! It’s Stefan, isn’t it? Hi. I’m Paula.” Paula nodded her head as if in a business meeting, berating herself silently. He’s creepy!

Stefan ignored her as he glared at the laundry in her hands. “I believe those are my jeans. And Darlene’s nightgown.” Continue reading →

Orphan Plants

/ roughwighting / 153 Comments

office plants, PixabayAt first, they were all silent.

After all, they’d been alone before, on what the “Others” called “weekends.” And sometimes they were alone for a longer time when a particular Other went away on something called a “Vacation.”

But they’d never been left for this amount of time. And they’d never been all together in one large room. Continue reading →

Men in Black

/ roughwighting / 145 Comments

cop, policeman's wifeI’m alone again. Toby is out on patrol. I accepted that he was a police officer when he asked me to marry him two years ago. I accept that he puts his life in danger every day for public safety. I accept that the men and women he works with on the police department are, as he says, “his family.”

But I am not accepting his third stint in three months of the late night shift.

Continue reading →

The Grocery List

/ roughwighting / 148 Comments

baking, ingredients, grocery list“Chocolate squares (unsweetened), check.
Flour, butter, check.
Sugar, eggs, check.
Heavy cream, check.
Bottle of red, check.”

Samantha sighed as she mentally checked off her grocery list. The essentials only. She didn’t have time for non-essentials, like milk or cereal or pasta. She swiped each container with a Lysol wipe as she unloaded her grocery cart at the store, and then swiped the seven items again when unloading the grocery bag once she reached home.

Safe. Continue reading →