Flash Fiction
By Karen Kalbacher

The First Dawn
The sun fell down on the trees first, blinding those standing to closest to the clearing. The captain saw it first the glimpse of light on the black horizon, followed by the deepest purple man had yet to see in the night sky. As it lightened to an impossible shade of red it met the trees where the others were standing. Washed in sunset everyone became beautiful for the first time in their lives.

Pale clouds were burned red, then orange, then finally the bright white of true dawn. Crying out in wonder, they backed away from the crashed metal hulk they had spent their entire lives in and stepped gratefully into the light. Laughing they began to dance with the purest joy

Centuries of star travel, generations of children born and raised inside a giant metal egg. Now they were born again into the day, some screaming, others crying, all happy. All free from the hunk of metal that was all that remained of Earth.

They were finally somewhere. They were home. They were finally, truly home, until the second sun rose. Evaporating in the joy of a second sunrise, their bodies fried up like bacon fat on a Sunday morning.

End.

(Here's one that got rejected from FlashQuake:)

John Not Included
Like volleyball, little league, like that popular kid Justin's graduation party, he stood there on the outside. The expanse slowly emptied as lines of people were herded by slick green aliens with power stick weapons onto the invasion fleet's space ship. They banded in knots and groups, together. John stood alone. Every creed and color on Earth taken away and bound for seeding on slaver worlds across the galaxy like a rainbow racing across the ocean and they didn't want him. They were leaving him behind and he didn't even know why. Pushed away by the aliens, John wasn't included, not even in this, the end of the world.

(Here's one that was accepted by FlashQuake:)

Anniversary
The toast was, "Ten more years of happiness together!"

But the woman held panties that weren't hers and her husband held phone numbers that weren't hers.

So, the glasses sat between them, full.

 

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