Short Circuit - Short Circuit #19

Children's

Tale 3 min

The Girl With the Glowing Heart

Once upon a time, there was girl born with a glowing heart. Everyone could see it tucked behind her rib cage, pulsing like a pink lighthouse. She didn't need a night-light, because her heart glowed ... [+]

Children's

Tale Friendship & Family 3 min

The Starship of Random Acts of Sparkles

Amy Power Jansen

Cleo curled up on the rainbow-coloured beanbag next to her mom's desk. It had been bad enough when she had to go back to school to finish out the term after Dad's accident. But adding insult to ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Love & Loss 4 min

Finding Hope

Corrie Haldane

My wife went to bed fifteen days ago, and she's been there ever since.
We came home from the hospital dazed and empty-handed. Eleanor climbed the stairs, rushed past the freshly painted second ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sci-Fi & Fantasy 4 min

Watchdog

J. Millard Simpson

Tonight, like most nights, James Shelby woke in the small hours and listened to the silence.

He pulled on his robe, went to the kitchen, and made tea.

Moving quietly so as to not disturb the ... [+]

Short Fiction

Romance Sci-Fi & Fantasy 4 min

Roping in the Wind

Ej Sidle

Olivier Brossard had been hanging men for the best part of a decade, and he'd never seen the rope break. It wasn't uncommon for folk to try, usually magicians spitting fire and brimstone as they ... [+]

Short Fiction

Magical Realism Sorrow Love & Loss 4 min

Across the Board of Time

Heather Santo

Lena walked through the soccer field and to the edge of the woods. The large oak greeted her, outstretched branches bursting green with the early spring. "Hello," she said, patting its trunk. She ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sci-Fi & Fantasy 3 min

Moonmouse

S.L. Harris

We brought them with us accidentally, or maybe they were secret smuggled pets for someone who worried they might get lonely. They'd've been right to worry: it's really lonely on the moon.
Howeve ... [+]

Creative Nonfiction

Portrait Reflection 1 min

Menopause is a Portal

Ayesha Mattu

Menopause is an unraveling. All the selves I knew, shed upon the floor in sloughed off skins from which I step out gingerly, naked.
They tell me I am invisible now. Is that another word for free? ... [+]

Creative Nonfiction

Society 3 min

Failing Bath Time

Susan Lendroth

Everyone knows how to take a bath, right?
I thought I did, until I visited Japan for the first time.
Japan has elevated bathing to an art form, complete with accoutrements like wooden buckets ... [+]