Short Stories
Little moments of magic and inspiration to brighten up your day, challenge your boundaries and reignite the fire in your belly of desire.
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Runner
Shooting stars streaked across the sky in a brilliant display. Starting from here, going nowhere, and proud in their malfunction. “Proud in their malfunction,” he thought. “If only I could find such pride in mine.”
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Jaguar
Your fine feathered wings are damp and broken with the sweat and tears you thought you had long buried, but here they are still today, storming about you like a tempestuous wretch unable to leave you to your own undoing.
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Updraft
The others felt it too. Roots stretched deeper into soil, claws gripped onto leaves, feet dug themselves into bark. The earth expanded slightly. And then the winds came.
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Universal
The day outside held so much celebration; the splashing and swooshing in the glorious mud which tickled at his fur; racing after butterflies and lizards that sprinted and flitted in a constant dance, the wind and the rain that played at his senses, flowers that overwhelmed and overjoyed his nose. How could all that be so wrong? When it was so much fun?
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Between Worlds
All had left as fear rode in unannounced, without fanfare. An invisible wisp of wind in a still landscape, a whisper in a moment of still pondering, an inaudible tap on a shoulder in solitude, a quiet poke in the ribs from nowhere.
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Wings of change
The thin layer of snowy white powder on her delicate wings drifted through the cool morning breeze. They tested the air with the curiosity of a whisper. A hint of gossamer sheen caught rays of sunlight in places and shattered them into rainbow hues. And she hovered, almost weightless, on the fresh sprouts of new leaves in the dappled light. She had been waiting here a while, for her newly opened wings to dry out after a lengthy journey seemingly trapped in very small cocoon. It was so small she hadn’t been able to move, yet her body grew and grew in the tiny casing filling up impossible tiny spaces…
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Right On Track
Sometimes it hiccuped just when her mind wandered, and would trip her nearly clean over. Once she even fell flat on her face, and got such a fright she was actually sick, right there on the path. It never hiccuped again.
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Out Of Time
It was so calm in fact that as soon as he’d pushed his boat out, past the gentle lap lapping of an abominably lazy ocean smacking the shore like a sloppy tongue, the only sound he could hear was his oars digging into the water, a little motor chug chugging like a growling puppy behind the boat.
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Free Falling
Day after week after month he sat watching the creatures of the forest, the plants and elementals, but none seemed to be his kin. He felt alone and helpless, and at the end of his tether reached down into the ground to try and hide his pained self.
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Transition
Dingo’s belly was stirring with something big. Something brutal. A hunger than expanded even as it drew inwards. The vacuum of a black hole reaching out with eager fingers to ensnare all within its grasp.
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Tending the (h)earth
The strange thing was that Jo had no hair. Not on his head, on his face, his chest nor legs, not a whisper of a whisker. He’d been born bald as an egg and had remained that way his whole life.
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The Harmonica and the Bee
Bee was transfixed as the beautiful melodies floating around him, his wings flipping him over in excited little flips every so often. When the saggy face finished his tune, he smiled, as a tear fell gently from his eye.
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Timekeeper
The layers of skin fold like an old accordion around his eyes, feigning a grin of sorts. They threaten to unfold permanently at any moment, sweeping the old bastard into instant blindness.
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What’s Next?
It curled itself up into a tight little ball, just like a little bud. Then fold by fold, it unfurled itself like a rose before the creatures awe struck eyes, then fell out of form like a spent flower. ‘Please finish me’ little beginning whispered, with all its might.
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The turtle and the dragon
For the first time since he could remember, all the cells in his body relaxed into each other. Warmth permeated through his shattered form. And he felt the ultimate release. Of relinquishing control. Of letting go.
