10 75- and 100-word Stories Collected

"Escape Artist"

Former stage magician and master thief Nathan Archibald sat in his cell, twiddling his thumbs.

A particularly nasty guard approached.

"Try getting out of this one," he sneered. The magician chuckled.

"What's so funny?" demanded the guard.

"I'm not really here," Archibald replied, "I'm on a beach in Bali."

"Keep telling yourself that, escape artist," said the guard mockingly.

"Actually," said Archibald, grinning, "I'm more of an illusionist."

Then the image of him vanished.

"Not Yet Your Time"

"You've been in a coma for three years," the doctor told me.

"It felt like minutes," I said, "and I swear I saw a woman."

"What did she look like?" he asked.

"Red hair, kind of short," I answered.

"A pearl necklace?"

"Yeah. Named Darla. Why?"

"A woman matching your description just passed this morning, one room across."

I couldn't believe it. I saw something.

On the whiteboard was a message: FEEL BETTER. LOVE, DARLA.

"Heel Turn"

Dear Priam and family,

My sincerest apologies for Hector. I pray thee will one day find solace. He was a good man, and, moreover, a brave fighter, next only to me. May he be accepted into Elysium. I have made a vow with the gods to kill no more, but only after I took my last victim: Agamemnon. Encased in this box is the head of my leader, along with some of the treasure he stole.

P.S. Odysseus, my crafty former companion, has had his people build a giant wooden horse with wheels. Do not trust it; burn.

Sincerely, Achilles

"Unfinished Business"

George took shelter from the storm in the unfinished church, the same one where he and Angela had killed her mason husband. He stared out through the entrance. What he saw threw his heart into high gear.

The mason was approaching, jittery in his sickly approximation of life, looming closer with each lightning flash.

George's heart gave out. The revenant put the capstone over the arching entrance. Mission complete, he happily returned to his grave.

"Shock Therapy"

The Director led the crowd down a long hall. Soon they were in an area surrounded by cages containing men, all seated. They were strapped with black devices over their jumpsuits.

The Director showed them to a man imprisoned for the attempted murder. They adjusted their dials, all varying, and pressed their buttons. He was moderately shocked.

He showed them a man who had killed ten people. The electricity went through him, leaving him howling.

They saw the engineer that had made the devices. He'd given up his profession to distance himself from his inventions.

They shocked him to death.

"The Brilliance of the Bellwether"

The visiting witch had enchanted the ram's bell, giving him magical charisma. He spoke in Baa to his congeners from a knoll.

"A change of diet!" he bellowed.

The other sheep cheered.

"No more shearing!"

Again they cheered, more passionately this time.

"Complete freedom to wander this world and rise above the two-legs!"

Then a dreadful thing happened. The sheep turned away from the bellwether and continued their eating.

They were, after all, just sheep.

"Captain Kidd in Fiddler's Green"

In 1701 London, Captain Kidd silently renounced his past moments and

asked for forgiveness from God. Might He display his famed mercy?

He hung there, struggled for a moment, and hung a second time.

Kidd awoke to a pleasant breeze and a captivating tune. He blinked. This

was Fiddler's Green?

The land was barren and black. Smoke hung thick in the air. Everywhere he

looked, he saw men with faces desecrated by a life of wants never met.

The buccaneer turned to a gloomy man nearby.

"What happened here?" he asked him.

The man shrugged.

"Pirates happened here," he answered.

"Never Turn Your Back on a Venusian"

The Venusian floated stilly on her space-cycle in Martian space. She felt the telltale poke of a gun.

"Looks like you've lost your way," said the Martian, "Don't turn around. Hand over your crystals. Now."

The Venusian did as she was bidden, undaunted. The Martian prepared to leave, but found himself frozen in action.

"Ever hear of the anti-motion gun?" the Venusian asked wryly.

She scanned the Martian.

"Quor Hinkoi, robber brigand. You ought to fetch a nice price for me. Didn't you know that Venus births the most cunning of bounty hunters?"

She grabbed him and headed towards home.

"Birds of a Feather"

"You're fired," the man said to the stork, "This is the fifth time you've delivered the wrong baby!"

The stork tried to remonstrate with him, eventually flying his way home and coming to the house to whom he'd given the baby. The couple there knocked on the window.

"This isn't ours," said the woman, "But we like his doe eyes!"

They opened the window and the stork went in.

"Maybe it's too sudden," said the man, but we were thinking that if you ever needed a place to stay, you can roost here."

With tears of gratitude, the stork accepted.

"Were the Moone Indeed Made of Greene Cheese"

1762. England and the Colonies had constructed clockwork Mechanisms to reach the Moone. Once there, they found it was indeed made of greene Cheese. It came back to Earth in Millions of Pieces. It was the most delicious Foode they'd ever found. Unfortunately for them, they had only found out to get there before they learned how important it was to Earth. The Moone became a Globule, and Earth entered an Ice Age once again.