Flash Fiction Aficionado -- Issue 004 by W3Enterprises

VOLUME 003

THE WINTER ISSUE

FLASH FICTION AFICIANADO THE WINTER ISSUE

THE SCIENCE OF OUR DESTINY THE WINTER ISSUE

Flash fiction Aficianado

CONTENTS WORDS FROM THE EDITOR 6 WORMS DO HAVE HOLES 10

PUBLICATION SUPPORTERS

THE HORRIBLE WORLD OF SHIRLEY CURLEY TOWN PT. 1

WRITERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SPOTLIGHT

ADAMN EVERTON

Hello & Welcome

Hey there Fiction Lovers, Once again, I welcome the chance to bring you another issue of Flash Fiction Aficionado. Our contributors have worked nonstop over the last quarter to ensure that they have crafted stories that not only entertain but inform our readers of worlds within our creation. This magazine was created to provide a viable option for those seeking to explore flash fiction as a genre of literature. Contributors to this magazine have thought long and hard about what it takes to compose writing with a finite number of characters and come up with some of the best short stories in the world. The Science of our Destiny is dedicated to "science fiction" or stories that deal with original concepts as a way of explaining the unknown. Science fiction often explores the consequences of scientific and other innovations. We at FFA thought this would be the perfect genre for our first Winter Issue because it's sufficiently complicated while maintaining the reading ease with which our readers have come to know and love. Remember always be BRAVE, be BOLD, and WRITE ON!

Celeste R. Williams Editor

Picture by IG:@ALWAYSUTV

Worms DO Have Holes

Worms DO Have Hole By Amy Perkins

“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you travel in time.”

The students sat in the large, lecture-style room, eyes full and mouths agape. After a few seconds of silence, everyone simultaneously burst into laughter.

“Can you believe this kid?” whispered one student to another.

“I heard his whole family is a bunch of crazy science freaks,” said another.

“Well I heard he qualified for the doctoral program but had a nervous breakdown,” said another.

Dunstan Lomax stood in the front of Lecture Hall 3 of The Edward Alexander Bouchet School of Physical Sciences at the Springdale STEM University and felt his cheeks begin to glow with the sting of embarrassment. He dropped his head low, hoping that his classmates couldn’t see the tears start to well in his big, green eyes. He looked over at his professor, wishing that a giant black hole would open up in the middle of the floor and swallow him. Dr. Ingram shot a warning glare to the room, who quieted instantly. “Thank you, Mr. Lomax. That was uh, an interesting perspective. That’s all the time we have for today, everyone. I’ll see you all next week.” As the students began packing up their belongings, Dr. Ingram locked eyes with Dunstan and mouthed “we need to talk.” Dunstan took a seat and felt his stomach in his throat. It was bad enough to have all his classmates laugh after his presentation, but when the professor says he needs to talk to you after class, it could never be good news. The last student filed out, and Dr. Ingram took a seat next to Dunstan in the student’s chairs. “I know this must be difficult for you,” he began speaking slowly and empathetically. “The holidays can take its toll on us, especially after having lost a loved one.” Dunstan silently rolled his eyes. He would rather be anywhere else instead of having this conversation. He didn’t understand what the big deal was. Sure, his father had just recently passed away during the summer months. And sure, his dad had been institutionalized at the time of his death. And yeah, his dad had devoted his entire life to science and chased the proverbial rabbit hole of time-travel for most of his life, and missed significant family gatherings like birthdays and school plays all in the name of science, but what did any of that have to do with him? Dr. Ingram’s soft, baritone voice brought Dunstan back to the present. “I have to share with you, Lomax, that you’re a brilliant student with a lot of tpotential. But as a result of this, uh, obsession with

Flash fiction Aficianado

Worms DO Have Holes

time travel, you have missed a lot of the assignments during the last half of the semester. If you don’t ace the final exam next week, you’re in danger of failing and would have to repeat this course.”

bright lamp. Dunstan opened his eyes and saw his Modern Physics professor standing over him, in his bathrobe, shocked and growing increasingly frustrated.

Dunstan found his voice, and spoke up to “Lomax! What the blue devil are you doing his very caring professor. “Thanks Dr. Ingram, I in my bedroom?” understand. It won’t happen again, and I’ll ace the Dunstan jumped up, waved his arms final next week.” fanatically, practically jumping up and down on the Dr. Ingram smiled, nodded once, and got up bed with his dusty, muddy shoes. “Dr. Ingram!! Dr. from the desk to walk to his office where he softly Ingram, it worked! I solved Einstein’s final field shut the door. Dunstan instantly dropped his head equation and applied it to my project! I was just in on the table and softly cried until the weight of the our classroom and got transported here! Worms world was off of his shoulders, allowing him to feel a DO have holes, Dr. Ingram!” moment of peace long enough to fall asleep. Dr. Ingram’s jaw dropped, but he said, Dunstan awoke several hours later to a dark “Impossible! Dunstan, look, you’re a smart kid and room and a stiff neck because of h in the chair. He all, but we’ve been over this-” rubbed his eyes, then thought for a moment, If I “If you don’t believe me, check your front can solve the right equation I know I can create a door and your windows! They’re all still locked. wormhole. He walked over to the wall, turned on How else could I have entered? You even felt my the lights, pulled his project which was still sitting at fall from the ceiling!” the podium and went back to work. Dr. Ingram paused for a minute, considering Three hours later, Dunstan could hardly what he was seeing and hearing. “All right,” he said believe his eyes: his project had used kinetic energy after a minute. and faster-than-lightning speed from a slingshot and “I’ll drive us to the school in my car, go created a wormhole, which he was looking at before his very eyes. Before he could pinch himself, the back to the classroom, and we’ll see if it works!” power got ahold of one of his long, red curls and He speed walked over to his closet and pulled on sweatpants and a T-Shirt. “Oh, and Lomax?” he yanked him into another dimension. said to Dunstan. Dunstan flew through brightly colored waves “Yes, professor?” Dunstan responded of energy, screaming his head off, excited and terrified at the same time. He was finally tossed excitedly. into a magnetic force field, falling down a dark hole “You owe me another pair of sheets! That’s and landing on something soft. He must have hit 700 thread-count you ruined with your muddy something on the way down because he connected shoes!” with something hard and heard a loud, piercing yell. When he had stopped moving, he felt another person move next to him and turn on a

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Writers Spotlight

he newest addition to the Flash Fiction Aficionado universe continues as we spotlight, Amy Lauren Perkins this quarter. A

graduate of Howard University in Washington D.C., currently, Amy works as a Speech Language Pathologist for Howard County Public Schools. Why do you write?

I write because my mind is filled with so many stories to tell. Characters within my conscious seek me out within the corners of my mind and

compel me to tell their stories. For a while, I had gotten busy with work and other things and had stopped writing. But one day, my best friend

asked me to co-write a book with her. I went back to my mind’s writing office, and there was a line wrapped around the building of characters that had piled up during my hiatus! I write because their stories need to be told. How has writing changed your life?

Writing has changed my life in a number of ways. Writing shapes how I think, and how I react. Writing has taught me how to be an effective

communicator. By describing people, situations and ideas in great detail, I’m able to take those same principles and apply them when trying to

describe my thoughts, feelings and emotions to others. Writing has helped me learn how to communicate the same message to different groups of people. It helps me remember my target audience, and helps me to share information in a way that each group of folks would understand. If you could write a letter to your biggest influencer, what would it say and why?

My biggest influencer was an African-American woman named Leslie Esdaile Banks, also known as LA Banks. She was a Science-Fiction,

Romance, and Mystery author who passed away in 2011. I met her in 2005 at a book signing, and she and I had kept in touch through the years. In

the short time that I knew her, I never told her that I was a writer, but she had unknowingly taken me under her wing. If I could write her a letter

and send it to Heaven, I would tell her that her writing pushed me, challenged my way of thinking and opened doors within my imagination that I never even knew were there. I’d tell her that I’m incredibly appreciative of her warmth, her sage advice and her ability to tell amazing stories. When did you first realize that writing was your creative outlet?

I first realized writing was my creative outlet during my sophomore year in high school. My English class was reading The Piano Lesson by

August Wilson, and we were given an assignment to write a monologue from the first-person perspective of one of the characters. I chose Bernice,

who was played by Alfre Woodard in the movie adaptation. This teacher was known to grade harshly, so I had a lot of anxiety completing the

assignment. When she returned our papers back to us, she had commented that I did an amazing job and gave me a 100. I had never gotten a

perfect score in my life! I thought to myself, I may have something here! After that, I started writing poems and short stories and sharing them with my friends, who then encouraged me to write more, and I’ve been writing ever since. Where do you see your writing career in 5 years?

While I do enjoy writing fiction, I also enjoy writing non-fiction. Within the next five years, I hope to publish a book series on relationships and dating for single women. Ideally, I’d like to complete the book and also an accompanying workbook/journal for individual or small group study.

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TheHorribleWorldofShirleyCurleyTownpt.1

The Horrible World of Shirley Curley Town pt. 1 By Celeste Williams

Normality: After the people of Shirley Curley Town voted to repeal the Laws of Man, peace was declared all over the land. Crimes of every kind were officially outlawed, but it was more than that. People were forced to be kind and considerate to each other. Neighbors were required to be friendly and raised voices in anger was prohibited. It sounds terrible, but Shirley Curley Town was in a rough place before the change. Rapes occurred in broad daylight; people were being lit on fire for infractions as small as cutting off someone in traffic. Mass shootings were at an all-time high, just because the police were afraid to do their jobs and arrest criminals and violent repeat offenders. At first, it was a rough adjustment. People bucked the new system, to try the limits of what they could do under the new laws. However, judges often imposed such harsh punishments under the law, that the rebellion quickly faded away. For many years, there was peace and tranquility in all of the land, that is until the law changed. The police were given specific powers to arrest any troublemakers without reasonable cause or justification. Under the new law, just being arrested was enough for a judge to sentence that person to the harshest of punishments. Perversion: Two years later, in the land of Shirly Curley Town, anyone who disagrees with the law is summarily removed by the police and punished unreasonably. The world is officially a scary place. Shirley Curley Town is worse now than it was before the change. Now, the police fear no one. One day, the Crowned Prince of Shirley Curley Town, Jamarius Brangolie Sancoover, son of Martellavious Brangolie Sancoover, or JBS and MBS as they were known by the townsfolks respectively, was walking down the Madison Road with his army. He passed the front window of the Rose Bakery where he saw the owner’s wife, covered in flour, pulling a tray of bread out of the oven. He walked into the bakery and propositioned her on the spot: leave your husband and come live with me in the palace as my bride. She smiled nervously just as her husband came from the rear of the store. JBS reiterated his proposition to the woman’s husband. The woman’s nervous laughter was near inaudible at his insistence that she leave with him immediately. Enraged at the thought of his wife loving another man, the nam politely declined JBS’s proposition and asked him to leave, giving him a few loaves of bread for his trip back to the palace… the rolls that fell on the floor before his arrival, of course.

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JBS extended his offer to the woman once again. This time, she politely declined and clung tightly to her husband before returning to her work. Once he arrived back at the palace, MBS, the king of Shirley Curley Town, began mocking JBS for not being able to capture the attention of a simple village woman… something that angered JBS outrageously. His anger was rooted in the fact that JBS didn’t just want a physical relationship with the woman, he was in “love at first sight.” The idea that she chose her husband over him was like a slap in the face. The fact that her husband was bold enough to claim her after he expressed his desires towards her was like a kick in the testicles. Lost in that anger, JBS drafted a new law: one of the duties of the Crowned Prince. Under this new law, any woman JBS found to be attractive must serve as his concubine for twelve months. After that, if her husband wanted her back, she could go, if not, she must go to Traffickers Row, a section of Shirley Curley Town near the highway, where she could earn her survival on her back. As his concubine, she must serve his every need and desire sexually upon command, and if she refuses, she is subject to imprisonment in an underground sex shop used to service male criminals and the corrections officers who guard them for the duration of their sentence. Anyone who tries to help the woman escape her service is imprisoned and forced to serve as a sex slave in the same manner as the woman. Esmerelda Riverton had no idea what kind of world she stepped into on that fateful day... but she was about to find out... TO BE CONTINUED…

Adamn Everton

“All we need to do is grab some rakes, and then we can tackle this forest fire.” Those were the words Maya heard from the television before she immediately shut it off. She hated the fact that she lived in a country that chose to elect a fool for a president. “I could have done better in my sleep,” she mumbled before resuming her robotics homework. Maya loved school and jumped at any opportunity to step outside of the box and wow her teachers with her creativity and passion. But on this November night, as she sat at the dining room table, shaking her head at her country’s foolish leader, she questioned her decision to watch the news to generate ideas for this project which was due in June.

When the physical body was complete, Maya started working on his speech and the words that he would say. She wanted him to sound educated- a trait that she recognized the current president lacked- while also being able to speak to the citizens with limited education. She constructed the qualities she appreciated the most in the people in her life and the politicians that she admired. She was spending so much time on her creation that her parents were beginning to worry about her. They shook their heads as she grabbed food here and there and then dash away to her private work area in the basement. Maya had no life outside of school and this creation. She canceled every appointment and avoided her friends. No one would ever understand, and even if they did. So she worked diligently in secret until her masterpiece was complete. By Spring, her creation was complete. She stared at his physique as he stood tall and erect in her work area. She had gotten some suits from her father’s closet that she knew he was planning to give away. She had groomed and prepared her creation to the tee, having even created a resume and historical background for credibility. She had done all her research, and she knew what voters liked to hear about their potential candidates.

By Michelle Early

As she drew the schematics for her robotic president, she acknowledged that her idea was utterly insane. In the days and weeks after creating the plans, Maya began to carefully construct what she hoped would be the next president of the United States. She worked meticulously on every inch of his body and design, ensuring that there would be no physical flaws to reveal his true identity.

Adamn Everton

As she continued to stare at the now blank television screen, a weird, yet oddly doable idea popped into her head. “Maybe I could…,” she contemplated to herself. “No; that would be crazy!” She declared. “But, it couldn’t be worse than what’s currently there… ok, I’ll do it!” Maya ran upstairs, grabbed her father’s toolkit and some extra paper, and sat on the floor to work out the logistics. Maya was going to build a man and enter him into the next presidential election.

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Adamn Everton

Against her original desire, she did reach out to a friend for help. Matt was a computer genius and well on his way to being the best computer hacker of their generation. With his help, Maya was able to give her creation a background and a history- two things she was not able to do on her own. Matt helped her to get her creation on the ballot for elections and now Maya’s plan was coming into fruition. As Maya continued to stare at her finished project, she recalled a conversation that she and Matt had. “What will you name him?” asked Matt. “I hadn’t thought about that yet,” replied Maya. “How about Adam? That was the name of the first creation God made.” “Yeah, that’s kinda dope. Dope and common at the same time.” Matt remarked. “Ok, Adam what, though? Adam, Adam- Adam Everton! The last name is like a play on Eve, the second creation!” exclaimed Maya. Matt nodded in agreement and then said, “Yeah, that’s a name that will get elected.” With the name, background, and robot complete, Maya sent her creation into the world. She had designed Adam in such a way that his words were controlled and monitored by her and Matt. While Adam spoke without direct prompts from either of them, his responses were formatted to fit a standard rubric that they had created. Primarily, his speech was controlled, and he could not go off-script. At each level of the elections, Maya and Matt sat back and watched as Adam continued to woo the voters. Since her project was live and no longer with her, Maya had to quickly create something else for her science project, but she enjoyed watching her original plan succeed right in front of her. Voters loved him, and he continued to advance in the polls, winning over every person that he had met. When that Tuesday in November arrived, Maya and Matt sat in her basement work area and watched the election results together. “The results are in, and it looks like the projected winner is Adam Everton!” exclaimed the news reporter. Maya and Matt jumped to their feet in excitement and hugged each other. Neither of them was old enough to vote, but they were excited to see that America loved their creation. Matt had developed an acceptance speech and was ready to upload it to Adam’s system when Maya dropped her cup and stared at the television. Adam was at the microphone, and he was talking to America, with words of his own. Maya and Matt stared, dumbfounded as to how this was happening, but as Adam continued to speak on his own, they turned and looked at each other. “He’s talking on his own,” they said in unison. At that moment they knew that, yes they had created a president, but they had also created a monster.

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