I’ve decided to add a flash fiction section to this website. I write a lot of flash fiction during my daily practice writing sessions, and can’t see that I’ll ever have any opportunity to sell it unless I add it to a chapbook someday. In the meantime, I’ll post some of my little stories (500 words or less) here at Perspectives on Writing. Here’s one I wrote a few days ago. The prompt was to “write about something white”.

From the White Light
by Linda Martin
February 26, 2008

Out of the white light, a cloudy, shimmery effulgence, an angelic figure stepped forth. He was clothed in a silky, flowing gown trimmed in shining gold, but there were no wings, so Cassandra wondered if he was a real angel, or only a saint. The man smiled gently, and she shivered, not knowing what would or could happen next.

“You called me forth,” the man said. His voice sounded like peeling, chiming, harmonizing bells going off in her head. “I am here for you, Cassandra.”

“I don’t know what to do.” She felt no fear.

“You don’t need to know. Let me lead you. I know the way.” He took her hand and gently guided her forward, then into the air. They flew together through blue sky looking down at a peaceful green earth. Everything seemed brighter than she’d ever seen it before. Bright, like great joy lit everything from within.

“I just wanted to see,” Cassandra said.

“And now you are seeing.”

“When can I see more?”

“When you know what you want to see.” The man paused in mid flight, still holding her hand, guiding her to a stop in the air beside him. “Your vision is complete, and now you go back to whence you came.”

Cassandra wanted to cry out, “NO! Let me stay!” Decorum prevented it. Instead she felt herself drifting back into consciousness, back to her bedroom where she sat cross-legged before a candle’s golden, flickering flame.