Micro Fiction Horror
For the month of February 2026, these are the stories of 100 words that intrigue us most.
* Work Til Death by Deanna Davidson
* It Wasn't Without Hardships by Samuel Totten
* Looking Dead by Fatimah Akanbi
* Not Long Now by Kamran Connelly
* The Early Edition by J. Hess
Worked Til Death
by
Deanna Davidson
The hour is inching toward midnight. Deadlines approach as early as the upcoming dawn. White light penetrates my vision as edges begin to blacken. Eyes dry, turning red from the radioactive computer screen. My bloody fingerprints imbed into the worn keyboard, leaving lines of identification above each letter. I close my tired eyes. “Keep going!” Phantom screams echo inside my skull, shattering bone rips through my frontal cortex, leaving brain matter to jiggle inside. Red drops pool in the corner of my eyes, spilling down sunken cheeks. Bloody teardrops hit my keyboard as I keel over in a lifeless heap.
Deanna has received a Bachelor's Degree in English: Creative Writing at California State University, Northridge, as of May 2025. She writes dystopian, fantasy, and sci-fi short stories, as well as children's literature and poetry.
It Wasn't Without Hardships
by
Samuel Totten
The eruption of the genocide here in Rwanda was like a ruptured appendix--horrifying, crippling, and deadly. While our family was lucky, we faced certain hardships.
One morning, as mother drew her bath and stepped into the tub, she screamed. As I reached her, she pointed to the red-tinted bath water.
“Blood!”
“What?”
“It comes from the Kagera River, our water source.”
As the genocidaires beheaded the Tutsis, they chucked them into the river. We had heard rumors that so many bodies had been dumped into the fast-flowing river that it had begun to turn red, with blood.
Samuel Totten is a novelist, short story writer and poet. Previously he was a scholar of genocide studies at the University of Arkansas. During that time he conducted fieldwork in Rwanda, the Chad/Darfur (Sudan) border, and the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. His first novel, All Eyes on the Sky, was published by African Studies Books, Kampala, Uganda. Recently, he has had short stories published by History Through Fiction, Frighten the Horses, New Feathers Anthology, Black Cat Weekly, The Wise Owl and The Brussels Review.
Looking Dead
by
Fatimah Akanbi
When sexagenarian Jaye died this morning, her family didn't know what to do. Her body had stiffened, her heart had stopped, yet her eyes stayed wide open, blinking fine.
Her son was on the phone with the doctor. “She looks dead, Sir, but her eyes are open and still blinking. Please, come over and help us out.”
At the corner of the room, Jaye’s soul leaned against her wardrobe, the eyes shut.
“Will you be quick and come along already, you greedy eyes? You’ve had six decades to look—that’s long enough.”
The living eyes shifted hesitantly before they closed.
Fatimah Akanbi writes fiction and poetry. Her works have appeared or are forthcoming on Sudden Flash, Star*Line, The Hoolet's Nook & The Five-Two, among others. She is @legendary.scribe on Instagram.
Not Long Now
by
Kamran Connelly
As I fire the last bullet and the spent casing hits the floor, a curious wave of relief rather than fear washes over me. Beyond the window, the hoard, unending and unaffected by my efforts, shuffles forward. I swore to fight as long as I had ammo to use, and I have. And for what good? A horrifying sound of hungry snarling closes in on me from every direction, layer upon layer, like a symphony of the undead. Who wants to be the last man on earth anyway? A wretched-looking arm finally reaches through the window. Not long now.
Kam’s short story BLOOD BANK due to be released by Baynam Books and DEATH BED INC accepted by Twisted Dreams Press, is published online at The Horror Tree, Trembling with Fear, WitCraft, and T. Saunders publishing for his works of fiction. Has poetry featured in three anthologies, a novella featured in the Paul Cave Prize for literature. And is shopping around his debut novel, The Extinction Process.
The Early Edition
by
J. Hess
Deep sobs wracked Tess. She had finally told Bill she wanted a divorce, and he had stormed off.
The door swung open, Jimmy bounding in with excitement. “Mommy, look what I found!”
Tess wiped her cheeks and turned to him. “Watcha got there?”
He thrust a tin box into her hand. “Treasure!”
Puzzled, she removed the lid and withdrew a faded clipping from the local newspaper. She read the headline: Family Dies in Tragic Murder-Suicide. Her eyes darted to the masthead, widening as she saw tomorrow’s date.
“What’s it say, Mommy?”
A car pulled into the driveway. Bill was home.
J. Hess enjoys traveling, writing flash fiction and creative nonfiction, and hiking (not necessarily in that order). J.’s work has appeared in Bright Flash Literary Review, 50-Word Stories, and elsewhere.