Micro Fiction Horror
For the month of February 2025, these are the micro fiction horror stories that interest us the most.
* The Final Say by Donna Gum
* Lost by Deborah Sale-Butler
* Rescheduling Next Week by MM DeVoe
* Smile Violation by Ed Kratz
* Fame by Brain Rosenberger
* Reflection by Jacek Wilkos
* Grown Things by Jaclyn Hogan
* Incandescent by Christina Connor
* Endless Tracks by Angela Nolan
* The Comforting Lie by Nicholas Amundson
The Final Say by Donna Gum
Dark, bloody tears streamed down Amelia’s face, and she smeared them away. I’ve never belonged in this group.
“I don't have anything in common with you. We're as different as night and day. There's never any support when I talk about my trauma!"
The timid group leader asked, "Can anyone respond to Amelia?”
No one answered in the cold silence. Amelia knew they feared vampires, and she left, sobbing. The sound of her fluttery wings echoed.
"Well," Amelia heard Jesse quip, "at least she never needed a ride."
Wings raged back to the room as the group looked for escape.
Donna Gum began writing in non-fiction with several published articles and ghost-writing, but couldn’t resist the call of fiction. She enjoys writing flash fiction in the Appalachian Mountains. Borderline Tales and CafeLit published her latest fiction in December 2024.
Lost
by
Deborah Sale-Butler
“Can you help me?” The little girl with puffy eyes sniffed up at her.
Janet searched the empty sidewalk. “Are you lost?”
The girl nodded her head, wiping her nose on the sleeve of a bright yellow hoodie.
“Where’s your Mommy and Daddy?”
The little girl pointed to a bakery Janet hadn’t noticed before. “Over there! Can you take me?”
“Sure, sweetie.” The little girl led Janet by the hand toward the door and the smell of fresh-baked pie. “Oh, apple pie—my favorite!” Janet stepped into the shop.
The girl waved goodbye and waited for the next soul.
Deborah Sale-Butler is a Portland Oregon based writer whose stories have appeared, or are forthcoming in numerous publications including the "Dead Girls Walking" anthology, “Underside Stories,” "Flash Fiction Magazine," and “Amazing Stories.” You can find links to all of her published work at https://deborah-sale-butler.com
Rescheduling Next Week
by
MM DeVoe
I’d been in therapy two years. Beach scents no longer made my stomach clench—coconut, sunscreen, salt—but I still had nightmares of Ravi on our honeymoon, softly apologizing before the unprovoked stabbing.
I guess we’re still married? When Ravi vanished, the permanent scar bisecting my trapezius was all that he left.
Therapy helped. His unknown motivation for attacking me was becoming less of a black hole; more an ominous planet to explore guardedly.
Today, when I arrived, the previous patient was hurrying out, muffled by his ubiquitous parka.
Stepping aside, he muttered sorry.
It was the same voice. Exactly.
M. M. De Voe is an internationally published multi-genre writer. More at mmdevoe.com
Smile Violation
by
Ed Kratz
A crowd rushes the government-authorized ice cream truck while a guard watches. Guards are always watching now.
I take a cone and stand to the side.
A woman with a little girl comes next. The child gets a cone. But as they leave, the little girl glances at me.
I turn my face away.
No, dear God, don’t.
Too late. She smiles.
The guard blows his whistle. Her ice cream falls. Her mother just watches as more guards come and drag the child off.
I stand there. No one can do anything anymore. That’s the way it is.
Ed is a retired computer specialist who has been published in Everyday Fiction, Bards and Sages Quarterly, and a few other places.
Fame
by
Brian Rosenberger
Jessie desired fame and had little concern about the cost.
Enter the man who could make that happen – Satan.
Well, not exactly. Satan was busy, ruling Hell and all.
Otis served in His Dark Master’s stead.
Jessie said, “I want everyone to know my face. I want it everywhere.”
Otis nodded. Jessie’s had a nice face as far as faces went. He’d seen his share, usually in grim masks of agony.
“We can work with that. Sign here, here, and here,” Otis responded. “In blood. It’s more binding.”
On milk cartons everywhere, Jessie’s face appeared just below the word Missing.
Brian Rosenberger lives in a cellar in Marietta, GA and writes by the light of captured fireflies. He is the author of As the Worm Turns and three poetry collections - Poems That Go Splat, And For My Next Trick..., and Scream for Me. Email: brosenberger@earthlink.com
Reflection
by
Jacek Wilkos
He watched his reflection with a mixture of anger and helplessness. It had been weeks since he had an impression that it had been mocking him, but only on the edge of his vision, so he wasn't entirely sure. Was it true, or was he going crazy?
Releasing his anger, he punched the mirror, which broke into pieces. The reflection smiled mockingly at him.
"Thank you," it said, "this is just what I was waiting for. You opened a passage to your world. Now I'm free."
He watched with fear and disbelief as hands emerged from the cracks, reaching for his neck.
Jacek Wilkos is an engineer from Poland. He is addicted to buying books. He loves black coffee, dark ambient music and long walks while listening to audiobooks. His stories were published in numerous anthologies by Black Hare Press, Alien Buddha Press, Black Ink Fiction, Insignia Stories, CultureCult Press, Wicked Shadow Press, and others.
Grown Things
by
Jaclyn Hogan
“No such thing as a vegetarian zombie,” said Dr. B. Silly words, but a serious plan. He called his technique The Enting Process, but it was not kind. Didn’t seem much better than being a zombie, really. Rough bark ruptured skin. Legs pulled out of sockets as they fused. Toes divided into roots. Green limbs split tongues that still tried to talk. They bled for a long time. But their blood became sap, and the zombies weren’t interested. It is better, I think. I bend toward the sun, my thoughts get slower, and my leaves turn the color of blood.
Jaclyn Hogan is a graduate of UAB, and a librarian assistant at The Birmingham Public Library in Birmingham, AL. Her poetry has been featured in From Whispers to Roars, Tofu Ink, and Hole in the Head re:View. Her fiction has appeared in the The Quarter(ly) vol. IX: In the Dark. In her free time, she reads, plays with her niblings, and considers the destruction of the patriarchy.
Incandescent
by
Christina Connor
I waited until midnight to settle cross-legged on the dewy lawn behind our house, pulling Ollie in my lap and snuggling him.
“I’m tired, Momma.”
“I know, baby, but look—" I drew invisible lines connecting the stars and told him tales of the constellations until the sky grew too bright to see them.
“Mommy, the sun—" Ollie pressed a chubby fist to his eyes and blinked.
“The comet,” I corrected, hugging him too tightly. “It's beautiful—I just wish they'd been wrong…. Look up, baby."
The atmosphere sizzled around us a moment before the shockwave hit.
Christina Connor is a writer and educator in Florida. She is also a contributing editor to the journal Studies in the Fantastic (UT Press).
Endless Tracks
by
Angela Nolan
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
I've been on this train for much too long. It should only take twenty minutes to travel home.
It's been more than four times that so far.
I can't ask the other passengers. They're all glaring at me. Even those further away are craning their necks at uncanny angles to lock their eyes on me.
When I tried to tell the ticket inspector that the train hadn't stopped where it was meant to, he just shook his head and moved on.
I don't know what to do; it's getting dark outside, and everything looks the same.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
Angela started writing seriously during the pandemic lockdowns after taking part in ghost story writing courses. So far her writing has appeared in several anthologies and her favourite podcasts like Creepy and The No Sleep Podcast. Her personal Instagram @anginolan is updated with her writing news.
The Comforting Lie
by
Nicholas Amundson
Think of all the times you have been walking alone at night. For some, it might be all the time; for others, you think you would never do that. At some point in your life, you’ll find yourself all alone under the cover of darkness. You might think you hear your footsteps echoing behind you or the skittering of the nocturnal wildlife. You’ll reassure yourself that everything is fine. Besides, you’re almost home anyway. There’s no need to panic. You just have an active imagination.
Keep feeding yourself those little white lies.
Because that’s what it wants you to think.
Nicholas resides in Texas, where he was born and raised. He has been fascinated with horror for as long as he can remember and credits his grandfather 'Boss' for pushing him further into the genre. He has previously been published on Flash Phantoms. This is his second published work, "The Comforting Lie."