It’s Him

Jeff got drunk after she told him, “It's not you. It’s me.”

But Jeff knew it was him. It always was.

He got so whiskey drunk that he woke the next afternoon tasting chalk. He couldn’t remember downing all those pills, but he must have because the bottle was half empty. Not half full—definitely half empty.

He spent three minutes on the help hotline he found on the internet.

“Dude,” the counselor said, “maybe it really wasn't you.” That’s when Jeff hung up. Probably just some college kid volunteering for a class project.

Jeff would survive. He always did.

From Guest Contributor John Sheirer

John lives in Western Massachusetts and is in his 30th year of teaching at Asnuntuck Community College in Northern Connecticut where he edits Freshwater Literary Journal (submission welcome). His work has appeared recently in Wilderness House Literary Review, Meat for Tea, Poppy Road Review, Synkroniciti, Otherwise Engaged, 10 By 10 Flash Fiction, The Journal of Radical Wonder, Scribes*MICRO*Fiction, and Goldenrod Review. His latest book is Stumbling Through Adulthood: Linked Stories. Find him at JohnSheirer.com.

Authors And Readers

It became obvious to the Minister of Culture that everyone wanted to be a writer, and no one wanted to be a reader. When the Minister of Culture collected statistics, she noticed that most of the stories published by reputable publications remained unread. With the support of Parliament, the MOC instituted a new rule: for every story published on the internet, the writer was obliged to read ten stories by other authors and write a summary and critique of each story. This practice led to a number of happy authors and readers, who turned out to be the same people.

From Guest Contributor Anita G. Gorman

Numbers

Josh always watched the lottery alone, his door locked to keep out his roommates. He’d been playing the same number for ten years, and after writing down Saturday’s numbers, he checked his ticket against them ten times. He had thought if the moment ever came he’d scream, maybe dance. Now he sat holding his winning ticket, terrified.$825,000,000.

What on earth would he do with that? And what about when his family and friends came for him? Could he trust anyone any more?

He quickly endorsed the back of the ticket and quietly checked the Internet for tickets to Australia.

From Guest Contributor Ran Walker

Ran is the author of 18 books. He teaches creative writing at Hampton University in Virginia. He can be reached via his website, www.ranwalker.com.

Library Literate

I was the kid who sparkled when they walked in the door. The bookish brat who would make her father chuckle while balancing a mountain of literature above her head.

There, I discovered the internet’s secrets. Every minute on their computer spent in obsession.

My friends and I chattered like hens between the book shelves. We scavenged through comics like vultures through the teenage fiction.

I read novellas under the summer sun. I ate my lunches before memorial statues.

Every trip was coming home and every inch towards the door was a step back in time.

Until it was gone.

From Guest Contributor Alexandra Sullivan

Roswell Café

Occupants of the flying saucer are being chased by their archenemy. Desperately looking for a safe place to hide.

Radar shows a habitable planet nearby. After scanning the surface they decide to land in a town called Roswell. They wait until late at night, create a thick fog, and then land the spacecraft. They scan the Internet and soon have the information they need. As the fog clears one of the aliens puts a sign on the front hatch that reads “Opening Soon.”

Billy and Betty Simms drive past the saucer. “Looks like another new restaurant,” Betty says to Billy.

From Guest Contributor Denny E. Marshall

Internet Freedom

“Worst case scenario,” solemnly begins my lawyer, looking up from his papers to fix me with his most sobering stare, “They will seize your computer, hard drives, thumb drives, charts, journals, everything.

“They will want the details of everything you have ever worked on, all your current work in progress, every project you plan to work on in the future.”

“I’ll go into hiding.”

“You can’t hide. They will track you down to the ends of the Internet. They want it all. They will scan everything inside your head.”

“I will cut off my head to stymie the Thought Police.”

From Guest Contributor Barry O'Farrell

Barry is an actor living in Brisbane, Australia. Barry's other stories can be found at Cyclamens & words, 50 Word Stories and of course here at A Story In 100 Words.