100

A short, short story every day. No more than 100 words. No less.

The Rules

Only one story per day.
Only 100 words per story.
No post-publication editing, save for spelling errors.
Sudden illness, lack of internet access and emergencies only temporarily excuse the author.

100 was created by Melissah Burt but is probably not an original idea. All work is protected under a BY-NC-SA 2.5 Creative Commons License.

The author accepts challenges, which can be submitted via this form.

Interested in the process? Check out melissah.net | Writing every Sunday for author commentary and your opportunity to offer opinions and feedback.

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Thu Oct 4

Goodnight Teddy

When Teddy’s mother described her son, she used words like ‘sickly’ and ‘not doing well’ and ‘I don’t know how long’. She said them in whispers when she thought he was asleep; she didn’t want him to know she said them.

He knew anyway. He was tired and it hurt to breathe. He often woke up gasping for air, like Elizabeth had. She was dead. Mother said Teddy wouldn’t die, but he, at Seven, knew better and he wasn’t scared. He was maybe even a little excited to go to Heaven, where there were lollies, no pain, and Elizabeth waited.