Flash fiction is a story in 1500 words or less. This first appeared in my Writer’s newsletter that I send out every week. If you would like to be a part of that newsletter, you can sign up here.
To tell a story in such a small amount of words is no small task. This one is based off of my daughter, though I added some details about gazing at stars, which she didn’t object to, and about a daughter she would have one day, which she did object to. She will have boys, she told me. To which I replied, Ah, yes, just I once thought, too.
Enjoy.
There once was a little girl who had her own room. It was a good room. Full of books and a sturdy bed pushed up against the corner where she could look out the window to see the stars at night or watch the lightening when it stormed. Which was often in this new house.
But her room was not the best part of the new house, despite the indoor swing she received for her birthday that hangs in her closet. No, the best part of the house was the room in the attic where her mother works. At the very tippy-top of the house, so high up that the window looks out over the tops of the trees and the rain can be heard hitting the roof. It was hot in the summer and cold in the winter, but it was the best place to hide and do her homework. It had a large computer monitor with a funny, cut-down-the-middle typing keyboard. The little girl liked the way the keys snapped and clicked when she pretended to type on them. One day she too would have an office at the top of her house. A place where her little girl could pretend to be bigger when all the world told her she was small.