Flash Contest

Our September 2023 Flash Contest was based on Prompt #269 (provided by Stone Soup contributor Molly Torinus), which asked that participants write a story from the perspective of a pet. Our submitters wrote about their furry friends’ crazy and (often hilarious) adventures. There were plenty of escapes, an ant left behind, a search for tuna, and trips into alternate dimensions. As always, thank you to all who participated, and please keep submitting next month! In particular, we congratulate our Honorable Mentions, listed below, and our Winners, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “From ForeverPet to Forever Home” by Nikita Fishman, 12 “Mian Mian’s Untimely Adventure” by Courtney Fong, 12 “I’ll Keep Waiting” by Abigail Lee, 12 “The Life of a Guinea Pig” by Nova Macknik-Conde, 11 “Sticky and the Power of Friendship in Warfare” by Aleena Shaik, 13 Honorable Mentions “Forgotten” by Kyle Chinchio, 10 “The Ocean’s Presents” by Olivia Hsu, 11 “The (Mis)adventures of Butters the Cat” by Dylan Suggs, 11 “The Dogs Who Hated Their Owners” by Helena Xue, 10 “Visit to the Vet” by Eric Yang, 13 From ForeverPet to Forever Home NIKITA FISHMAN, 12 Monday, May 25 was a special date; I knew from the minute I woke up. Sunlight beamed through the windows, casting a gentle glow that danced on the gleaming, polished floors. Nestled snugly within my sleeping chamber, I found myself sound asleep, oblivious to the world around me. A silly smile adorned my face as I drooled. Suddenly, a jarring phone ring erupted from the reception desk, dragging me from my sweet Neverland. It had been like this for months. Ever since the pandemic, my temporary home at ForeverPet Southfield had been transformed into a tranquil haven. Instead of the persistent echoing footsteps, I was interrupted only by the sudden “Ring!” that would inexplicably shatter the calm. I preferred footsteps over phone rings; they offered a more gradual, and thus, more predictable rhythm. With the soothing elevator music in the background, you could almost imagine the person approaching—whether tall or short, slender or plump, young or old. On the other hand, phone rings were sudden and sporadic. I yearned for the old days when the small pets’ aisle basked in peace, while the true hustle and bustle unfolded in the cats and dogs’ sections or within the pet salon. Watching dogs in their overgrown coats being reluctantly dragged into the salon never failed to bring an uproarious comedy spectacle. But, back to my story, the day that changed my life forever. . . Upon awakening, I opened my eyes to find my favorite person, John, one of the store managers, approaching the small pet aisle. I don’t see him often since he’s typically occupied helping out chatty dog owners. However, on the rare occasions I do get to spend time with him, he never fails to greet me with a handful of treats and his signature belly rub. Hamsters are never given much attention. The only other interactions I had with the other store clerks were scheduled cage cleanings, during which my soiled bedding was removed and my food replenished. John was an exception. Donned in a pink polo shirt with the ForeverPet logo, he held a phone to his ear with his right hand, while his other hand opened the Roborovski dwarf hamster enclosure on my left. After a brief moment of inspecting the cage, he said, “Yes, we have quite a few dwarf hamsters available. We are open until eight o’clock this evening. My name is John by the way. Feel free to ask for me when you come in.” He finally hung up. “Over here, John! I’m awake!” I cried out, running a few laps around my enclosure in hopes of gaining his attention. “Hi, little one,” John tapped on my cage. He whispered, “Maybe today will be the day. A girl and her mom are on their way in search of a dwarf hamster!” At that very moment, the world came to a halt for me. A shockwave surged through my spine, as if an imaginary colony of ants were crawling up my neck. Did this mean I would never see John ever again? I immediately started squeaking in protest. “Are you excited, little one?” John asked, adding a chuckle. What? No! Was he out of his mind? I watched in disbelief as he walked away with a smile plastered on his face. He even forgot my treats! My heart thumped against my rib cage like a hungry beast trying to escape its cage. How could you, John? I sank down against the side of my enclosure, drowning in my own defeat. It was at that very moment that I came up with a plan, my last hope—playing dead. No one would want a dead rodent, right? All my life I wanted to be wanted, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I dashed towards a shadowy corner of my cage and began excavating a deep hole, ready to put my plan into action. I’ll bury myself and maybe they won’t even notice me. The more I said it, the more I believed it. Tick-tock, the hours raced past. Between pacing back and forth in my cage and casting anxious glances at the door, it was nearing five o’clock before I knew it. There was zero sign of the girl and her mom. Optimistic thoughts began to surface in my mind. Could it be that they got lost on their way? Maybe, better yet, had a change of heart and opted to go with a cat or dog instead? Holding onto these hopeful thoughts, I dozed off. Maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay after all. The next thing I knew, I was awakened by someone peering down into the cage and enthusiastically bouncing up and down. Huh? What’s going on? Puzzled, I poked my head out, sniffing the air and examining my surroundings. A few feet away from me, I spotted a small ponytail bobbing

Our August 2023 Flash Contest was based on Prompt #265 (provided by Stone Soup intern Sage Millen), which asked that participants write a story that ended in someone brushing their teeth. Our submitters certainly got creative, with one story ending in a zookeeper brushing a tiger’s teeth, and another ending in a super-powered hamster brushing her teeth after saving a family in Thailand. As always, thank you to all you participated, and please keep submitting next month! In particular, we congratulate our Honorable Mentions, listed below, and our Winners, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “Déjà Vu” by Isha Bhadauria, 13 “Brushing Teeth: One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Food” by Jayan Byrapuram, 12 “Pink Magic” by Reese Fujikawa, 12 “Super Peaches: Amini’s Rescue” by Greta Garretson, 8 “A Brush with Destiny” by Milly Wang, 10 Honorable Mentions “The House” by Nandan Chazhiyat, 12 “I Broke My Brother” by Kyle Chinchio, 10 “Toothbrush Vs. Candy” by Chloe Lin, 11 “Camping” by Taj Malinis-Jackson, 10 “Click” by Angela Mu, 13 Déjà Vu Isha Bhadauria, 13 Every human knows that at any given day, hour, second, their life could end. However, hardly any human ever really contemplates the prospect of actually dying. Of course, there’s always a few exceptions – a few have scratched the surface of truth; in turn, beginning practices of various religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and many more. However, the brain of a human is simply incompetent to realize the real. To a human, man is the center of the universe; the smartest being; the only life for many, many miles around. And to every human, there are specific humans that are more important or less important to them than others. They think that what matters to everyone is their love, their friendship, their loss. To someone like me… this is a combination of both hubris and a prodigious lack of brain cells. However, I suppose it’s not really their fault. No human can spend every waking second thinking they may die. They’ll go crazy. A human is given both the gift and the curse of being able to adapt. On the good side, they won’t lose their mind if they know that all day, every day, there’s a possibility of Death, and will get used to it. On the bad side, staying in this inebriated state of thinking everything’s fine makes all humans prone to careless errors, sometimes even resulting in catastrophe. Take Samuel Davis, for example. Being in the military, fighting in what I believe is now World War LVIII, Death is something too close to ignore, but too scary to think about. Even when the bomb hit, his last thoughts were of his favorite people: his mother and father, little sister, friends… Never about me. I had called to him, like I did for many other men lost on the battlefield. He had fought against me, just like everyone else. But somehow, this one seemed… different. I decided to speak to him before sending him away. “Hello, Samuel,” I said nonchalantly as he looked around, bewildered. “Is… Is this heaven?” he panted. Ah. Religion. His file materialized in my hand, and I glanced at the red, bolded letters bearing the word, “CHRISTIAN.” “Is this heaven?” he repeated, grasping my arm. “No, Samuel,” I said firmly, and he released his tight grip, eyes full of worry. “Then am I in…?” “No, Samuel. Not that either.” He frantically checked himself for a pulse, and proceeded to make anxious, squawking noises. I sighed. He wasn’t different from the rest after all. But as I turned, ready to call someone to take him away, he grabbed my arm again. I stared at him, confused. “Where are we?” he pleaded for answers. “You’re in Aleiliae,” I asserted, but then blurted something else out without much thought. “Listen Samuel, I’m going to offer you a choice, as I do for all of my favorite mortals.” He blinked. “Why am I your favorite?” I mentally bashed myself with a club, cursing myself for telling him that as he looked at me like a child given a piece of candy. Since I didn’t want to tell him I was bored of simply collecting and disposing of souls, my response was cloying and syrupy: “Your goodwill is unrivaled, especially in such an important time for humans: World War LVIII.” It seemed to work for him, though. His eyes lit up. “What’s the choice?” “You can stay here with me,” I lied, “or choose to be reborn into a new life. What do Hindus call it… Reincarnation?” “Reborn!” he quickly chose. I breathed a quick sigh of relief as I painted a big, obnoxious smile on my face. This should be adequate entertainment after all, I thought. I hastily opened a portal to the mortal world. “Well, this is it, then. I hope to see you again, Samuel.” He looked at the portal, then rushed toward me and gave me a hug. My jaw clenched and locked in its forced grin, I removed him from me as he thanked me profusely. Samuel waved and stepped into the portal. As soon my face dropped into its usual frown and I closed the swirling vortex, my mouth flipped over once again as I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. The naïvety of a human is truly something. *** At that same time in the human world, a beautiful baby girl was born in France. She was chubby, healthy, and very, very happy. If it weren’t for the visions… Her parents, beaming at the time, had no idea what was coming their daughter’s way. Every night since the day she turned three years old, she began to have the same recurring dream: a man dying from a bomb in war. She’d scream and awaken, but only after she’d see the dying man up close; his uniform splattered with blood, his eyes open but unseeing, his friend shaking him and screaming his name: “Samuel