20 Minute Fiction
The Winds Whispering Among the Trees
“Fucking winter.” Billy spat. “Fuck you.” With every footfall his boots slipped in the snow. He was walking up the hill behind the house with the snow falling even now in the late days of February. “Fuck you.” Billy said to himself. “I hate you,” he said to himself. He stopped to catch his breath.…
Read MoreThree Days Past Full
The moon was three days past full, and Billy used its light in the darkness of the night to navigate to the wood pile in the snow. The snow was fresh but wet, and under the great pine trees it had frozen a thin crust which Billy broke through with his boots, down the hill…
Read MoreAgainst the Dimly Lit Sky
In the night Billy laid on the couch in front of the big bay windows looking out over the valley. A layer of cloud hemmed in the world, cutting off the tops of the mountains and muting the moon that was a few nights past being full. But the moon still lit the earth, it…
Read MoreA Thing on the Dirt
When Billy came upon William he was just a thing on the dirt. He laid there in a ball with his knees drawn to his chest and his left arm around his shins and then his right arm under his head, a very soft cradle. He could have been many things lying there; a rock,…
Read MoreAutumn, deep into it
Autumn, and deep into it. Glowing leaves in an absence of light, yellows to envy and a green so lime and bright, so tucked in, a little bit of sheen against the dark richness of the surrounding pines. Deep into autumn, long past the careening energy of summer, the hustle and bustle, the dragging of…
Read MoreAn Almost Full Moon
Although almost full, the moon was only a muffled speck of light behind the clawing late season clouds, and although barely a spreading reflection above the mountains, a reflection still. It had been raining on and off throughout the day and the ground was wet, and the brush Billy was burning was wet too but…
Read MoreStories in the Hills
Billy had long ago feared that the stories were over, that the well had run dry, that among the trying and challenge of the world his role in it had been engulfed by a feverish pace. And then in the evening with the setting sun made more orange by the wildfire haze, he was walking…
Read MoreDessicated
In the afternoon the sky grew amber and shaded, and in the late afternoon thunder rolled through the clouds to the south. The fires already were close enough that the ash falling from the sky was only charred, intact pine needles that hadn’t disintegrated completely to carbon. But the clouds still rumbled in the heat,…
Read MoreIn a March of Snows
Towards the end of February the clouds began to break and it started to look like winter would begin to wane, but at the end of the month the clouds came back and it started to snow heavily again. In March the snows continued and each morning was grey and white except for the forests…
Read MoreOver
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