Micro Fiction Horror
For the month of April 2025, these are the stories that intrigue us most.
* Healthcare Horror by Zenith Knox
* Jack the Ripper's Bagpipes by Andy Lavender
* Pride by Ken Poyner
* Otherwise by Alaina Hammond
* Curried Libations by Paul Lewthwaite
* The Only Man for CHarlotte by Donna West
* Becoming by Bill Cox
* Tight Prose by Marinda Kotze
* The Look on the Groom's Face by Tom Little
Claim Denied
Healthcare Horror
by
Zenith Knox
I pause at the bathroom door, drawn by the sound of vomiting. My hand trembles on the doorknob, stench seeping into the hall.
"Daddy, you okay?" I ask in a little girl's voice, missing its usual teenage sarcasm.
He peers up from the side of the tub, his face beaded with sweat, his mouth tinged with blood. Without responding, he rests his head. His sickness requires someone wiser than me—Mommy.
When I turn, she’s already there, gripping a gun and a letter. Stamped across the letter—Claim Denied—in ink that might as well have been my father’s blood.
Zenith Knox is a Korean-American writer from the DC metropolitan area. Her stories are published in *Suddenly, And Without Warning*, forthcoming in *BULL* and *101 Words*, and shortlisted at *Flash Fiction Magazine*. Visit her at ZenithKnox.wordpress.com.
Jack the Ripper's Bagpipes
by
Andy Lavender
The last-minute lot had caught Luka’s attention. Described as goat hide, it came with a certificate of authenticity.
“Interesting lot,” said the auctioneer. “Jack the Ripper’s bagpipes. When played, it’s reported they soothe violent tendencies. Fifty pounds?” The room was silent.
“Forty?” Nothing. “Twenty … ten?” Luka’s hand went up, the hammer went down.
At night, the bagpipes whispered to Luka. He stroked the bag, his fingers caressed the drones, and finally, his lips slipped around the mouthpiece. After the first blow, Luka knew they soothed nothing. He grabbed a long black coat and headed out into the night.
Andy Lavender is from Plymouth, UK. He mainly writes flash fiction. His writing has been published in Dribble Drabble Review, WestWord, 101 Words, Fudoki Magazine, Visual Verse and various Flash Fiction Anthologies.
Pride
by
Ken Poyner
We think Jersey’s dog ate the little boy. The dog is huge and rumored to be one-quarter wolf. He behaves with most of us, but you can see in his eyes that what he sees as prey is beyond anyone’s protection. Jersey can be seen walking him most afternoons, or the dog can be seen walking Jersey. In some ways, he is an unofficial town mascot, embodying what many of us secretly wish we could feel with our hearts. The boy was annoying, the parents short in grief, the blood and bones soon scattered. No one saw anything.
Ken’s nine collections of brief fictions and poetry can be found at Amazon and most online booksellers. He spent 33 years in information system management, is married to a world record holding female power lifter, and has a family of several rescue cats and betta fish. Individual works have appeared in “Amsterdam Review”, “Analog”, “Rundelania”, “The Cincinnati Review”, “Best Micro-Fictions 2024”, elsewhere. www.kpoyner.com.
Otherwise
by
Alaina Hammond
The teacher was bleeding, but the students all ignored it. They’d been taught that was the proper and respectful thing to do. They hoped he wouldn’t die, though. They had already lost two teachers that school year, and it was only February.
“I’m OK,” the teacher said, as he dabbed his bleeding eyes with paper towels. He certainly looked OK, as much as anyone did, these days. Spontaneous bleeding was just something everyone accepted and lived with—or died with—along with the burning rain.
They knew it hadn’t always been like this, but they couldn’t imagine it being otherwise.
Alaina Hammond is a poet, playwright, fiction writer, and visual artist. Her poems, plays, short stories, paintings, drawings and photographs have been published both online and in print. Publications include Spinozablue, Third Wednesday Magazine, [Alternate Route], Paddler Press, Verse-Virtual, Macrame Literary Journal, Sublunary Review, Quail Bell Magazine, Superpresent, Clockwise Cat, Ranger Magazine, Troublemaker Firestarter, Fowl Feathered Review, The Ravens Perch, 10 By 10 Flash, Waffle Fried, House of Arcanum, Synchronized Chaos, and Well Read Magazine. @alainaheidelberger on Instagram.
Curried Libations
by
Paul Lewthwaite
Sweat and spice mingle as I weave between tables, clutching plates of steaming curry. The stench of garlic is sickening, but the money I’ve saved will enable us to escape this withered town.
I swerve to avoid drunken idiots trying to pinch my bottom. This is the last late-night shift I’ll ever do.
“Ermina!” my boss shouts, snapping his fingers. “Four pints of lager, table nine!”
I nod, mouth parched.
Lucy, my ancient pale friend, licks her pointed teeth. I grin, knowing what she’s thinking.
She flicks the lights off. I lock the front door.
Time to slake our thirst!
Paul is a retired physician living in Scotland. Occasionally, stories ooze from his imagination and can be found festering at Crepuscular Magazine, 100-Foot Crow, Dark Moments and others.
The Only Man for Charlotte
by Donna West
Charlotte bustled about the kitchen, humming as she made certain her traditional roast beef with all the trimmings was oh-so-perfect.
She poured glasses of red wine for her husband William and herself and settled into her chair across the table from him.
“I can’t believe we’ve been together forty years,” Charlotte said with a smile. She raised her glass in a toast. “To our anniversary… You’ll always be the only man for me, William.”
William returned her smile, his gray teeth protruding from mummified lips. He didn’t raise his glass. His fingers had fallen off long ago.
Donna Marie West is a Canadian educator, translator, author, and freelance editor. She
has published over 500 drabbles, short stories, and non-fiction articles in a wide variety
of Canadian and American magazines, web sites, and anthologies. She loves the unusual,
mysterious, and unexplained, and often finds ways to weave these themes into her stories.
She has two novels currently available as paperbacks and ebooks at the usual book-
selling sites. The Mud Man was published in 2022 and Next in Line in 2024. Both feature
conspiracy and alternative history themes. Donna spends her precious free time reading, writing, and doing research for her current projects. She lives in Québec, Canada, with her long-time partner and three beloved kitties.
You can follow her on her Amazon or Goodreads author pages or her public Facebook
page.
Amazon author link: https://www.amazon.com/author/donnamarie.west
Goodreads author link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7876668.Donna_Marie_West
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063300395509
Becoming
by
Bill Cox
Clarence thought he was doing a good thing when he started feeding his garden birds. He’d watch them eat the seeds he laid out, but then the rat appeared, and it fed, too. Suddenly, there were baby rats and Clarence fed them, but poison this time. Imagining the sick, dying babies and their frantic mother, he found himself excited in an entirely unexpected way.
Clarence became obsessed with these thoughts until one day, he found himself sitting on a bench by the playpark, holding a bag of homemade sweets, his mind filled with awe at the monster he was becoming.
Bill Cox lives in Aberdeen, Scotland with his partner Hilary and their daughter Catherine. Writing was a childhood sweetheart that he lost contact with after he left school, only to rekindle the romance in his fourth decade. He writes poetry and short fiction and his work can be found in various places, if you look hard enough.
Tight Prose
by
Marinda Kotze
The ink of my red fountain pen bleeds into the cotton rope as I write my story onto it. The editor jerks against the bindings, making my letters streak onto her arms.
“Keep still! You’re ruining it,” I hiss.
She flinches and a single mascara-stained tear runs down her cheek. I turn her around to finish another sentence on the rope around her waist.
“See, this is what happens when you tell me to ‘bring something better next week’.”
She moans softly into the duct tape.
It feels good to finally be the one who wields the red pen.
Marinda Kotze is a South African writer currently residing in the Republic of Georgia. She writes in English and Afrikaans. She loves to write flash and short stories, mostly in the horror and science fiction genres. You can find out more about her work at https://marindakotze.com. Follow her on X, Facebook and Instagram.