The Equinox has arrived, and it’s been a pleasure to see the FlashDogs back in action with their latest flash fiction competition, FlashDogs Equinox. The challenge is to write a flash fiction story up to 250 words in length on the apt theme of Equinox, and inspired by their gorgeous photo prompt. There’s already some great stories submitted so head on over there now to read the entries and submit your own. You’ve got until the end of today to get your entries in.

As I’ve been privileged to be a part of the team behind setting up the challenge, I’m not entering directly but in the spirit of getting involved I’ve done my own take on the prompt. Read it below and as always I love to hear your thoughts.

When the Corn Cuts

Her bare feet are dusty with yesterday’s dirt. The kind of dirt that clings to your skin and smells of moss, and rain, and the sweat of a day spent outside. Dirt that gets under your nails and into the whorls of your fingertips and the tangles of your hair.

It’s the dirt from an afternoon spent losing herself in the field of corn behind her da’s house. Nothing between her, the ground and the leaves but the rush and rustle of whispered futures.

Today, futures are whisked away as the cold, clinical room introduces her to the sounds of someone leaving. She picks at her fingers and yesterday’s dirt drifts to the floor. A gentleman with a kind face and worn hands sweeps it away so there is only shining tile again.

Tomorrow, she roams unwashed across the field. The corn is gone, shaved bare and jagged like an old man’s stubble. It scrapes her soles, yet there’s no tears in her eyes as she scuttles along the furrows, searching for whispering husks where only short stubs survive.

She runs until the corn cuts the webbing between her toes, and the dirt marries blood beneath her feet. As the sun goes down and the arc of the moon leans over her, the day shares an equal helping of her soul with the night and she holds her breath in the stillness.

And she waits. Waits for the wind to share its stories once more.

245 words