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“Anything Helps”

#flashfiction #writer #indielit #altlit
“ANYTHING HELPS” There was no shade on the median. He held a weathered piece of cardboard in his hand, statements scrawled in permanent marker on either side. Red light: up and down the median he tread, stopping here and there for a few bills. Sun-soaked, his gray tank looked soiled, and the cargo shorts hung loose around his hips, begging to stay up. In my pockets I fidgeted for my wallet, and felt within them a lack of bills, then the light turned green.
September 12, 2026 at 12:02 AM
surfnoircowboy.bsky.social
A Return

#flashfiction #indielit #altlit #writer
A RETURN Followed the evening route up the hidden staircases. On the corner they built a chateau-inspired home. Wrought-iron gate 10-feet tall circled the property. Every night the same: lights out, vacant garage, no signs of cooking or music or laughter or garbage cans filled and tipping over. Then, passing it by, I noticed somebody had pushed the automated gate open.
September 10, 2026 at 11:31 PM
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Good News

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September 9, 2026 at 12:05 AM
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Discovery

#writer #indielit #altlit #flashfiction
DISCOVERY To avoid the holiday rush I parked further along the road where there was no beach access. A dozen yards behind me a car emitted a shrill beeping like a triggered alarm. I grabbed my bag and began to climb down between the mangroves. Clutching a branch for balance as I navigated the shifting sand, I found etched in the bark a pair of initials. My fingers caressed the wound crusted over by salt and time.
September 7, 2026 at 7:47 PM
surfnoircowboy.bsky.social
Hunt

#flashfiction #indielit #altlit #writer
HUNT Looking for a sign, I shone my flashlight against the base of the palm tree. Stuck in time: illuminated against the bark several cockroaches appeared. Afraid they scurried under the roots, into the dirt and sewer, and I away, rubbing at the skin of stale mosquito bites.
September 7, 2026 at 12:03 AM
surfnoircowboy.bsky.social
Abandonment

#flashfiction #indielit #altlit #writer
ABANDONMENT Overnight raccoons overturned a neighbor’s garbage cans. Sheet music, vinyl records, guitar picks, and separated strings lay strewn across the asphalt. Deemed inedible, the raccoons left them for the hope of a banana peel. The ink on the sheet music began to fade in the sunlight.
September 5, 2026 at 9:06 PM
surfnoircowboy.bsky.social
Envy

#flashfiction #indielit #altlit #writer
ENVY Through the window I watch the tree sway. Its leaves lie limp, allowing the wind to mold them, rising and falling with its breath. The branch bends, then rises again, then bends without complaint. The late summer flowers bloom for the sun and promise renewed growth. Year after year it does this: rises taller in the same spot.
September 4, 2026 at 11:10 PM
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A Pause

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A PAUSE He pulled the car over to the curb. One hand on the wheel, one on the phone, waiting for a response, staring at his last message. His heartbeat became overwhelming. Sudden claustrophobia struck. He shook his arms out and tried to engage the muscles in his legs. A traffic cop pulled up behind him. Looking in the mirror, he cursed under his breath, then pulled back into traffic to search for another place to wait.
September 4, 2026 at 12:50 AM
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Last Lighting

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September 3, 2026 at 3:18 AM
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Reset

#flashfiction #indielit #altlit #writer
RESET Shoulders down and back, arms extended to the ground. Tense the muscles in the chest, shoulders, and upper back. Brace the core. Trace the journey of the breath: nostril to trachea to lungs to alveoli to blood, then back. Relax the muscles and exhale. Count backwards from ten.
September 2, 2026 at 12:03 AM
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Saturday, 4am

#flashfiction #indielit #altlit #writer
SATURDAY, 4AM Someone folded a newspaper clipping and placed it under his wiper while he was away. The Drifter came back, fresh from an outdoor shower at the beach, holding his dripping flip flops in his right hand. He paused in his tracks upon seeing the car, then leaned in: the clipping from the want ads listed several business addresses. He twisted his head to read them, then reached out with his left hand to pull it closer. One of them had been circled in black ink. When he lifted up the flap, he saw scrawled across the newspaper a date and time.
September 1, 2026 at 3:01 AM
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Pool

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POOL Between planks of wood I caught a glimpse of the surface of the neighbor’s pool shimmering in the sunlight. A cowboy hat, partially darkened from water, floated across, rotating in the current. A pair of snakeskin boots lay toppled by the side of the water. Outside the fence line, a trail of fresh footprints pressed into the mud.
August 29, 2026 at 6:49 PM
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A Birth

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A BIRTH Between two palm trees I watched the Earth eclipse the moon. Its shadow slid slowly, carefully, partially across, leaving a crescent sliver at the top. As it passed, the moon’s fullness again was revealed. Neighbors gathered on the sidewalk to watch the ceremony. I would learn later a friend’s son was born at that exact moment, 2,700 miles away. I imagined the child’s first view, through the hospital window, of the moon slowly escaping the shadow, and my friend missing it entirely.
August 28, 2026 at 11:26 PM
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Saint Alphonsus

#flashfiction #indielit #altlit #writer
SAINT ALPHONSUS They erected statues to the saint in the church parking lot. Around these, the church had placed pallets, trash cans, shovels, toppled ladders, and abandoned planks of wood. The stone statues teetered on the edge of parking blocks, his arms outstretched to the passersby on the sidewalk. Through a chain link fence I pressed my finger as far as it could go.
August 28, 2026 at 1:12 AM
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Parting

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PARTING “I love you so much,” the man said, pulling the other in close. A pair of suitcases sat beside them. They kissed for a moment, then two. They pulled apart, and he ran his fingers through the other’s hair, looked in his eyes, sighed with the breeze in the pines. “You stay. Just stay here.” In the distance the ferry crawled to the docks.
August 24, 2026 at 2:20 PM
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Shadowboxer

#flashfiction #indielit #altlit #writer
SHADOWBOXER The sea crashed against the shore, rough after last night’s storm. In the early morning the thundering rain passed and the first blue sky for days emerged. I stood in the sand, then, as the waves landed and pulled me in, the ground shifting beneath my feet, toes plunging inches. A few yards down the shore, the only other man stood atop a dune, lunging forward and hopping back, keeping his arms blocking his face in defense. He danced with the ocean.
August 23, 2026 at 8:42 PM
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Sanderlings

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SANDERLINGS With three toes they scurry up the sand to avoid the coming wave. They follow in stride as the water recedes, scampering after it, plunging their deep, black beaks under the sand. In the intertidal zone sand crabs hide just beneath the surface, prizes waiting to be found.
August 22, 2026 at 4:02 PM
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Contact

#writer #flashfiction #altlit #indielit
CONTACT Ahead of me on the highway the sedan began losing its tire. The rubber wore away from use and the metal rim scraped against the asphalt. Orange and yellow sparks erupted from the contact. I pressed on the gas and moved around the car, wondering if they’d make the destination before they lost it.
August 21, 2026 at 2:25 PM
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Punctuality

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PUNCTUALITY I gave the host my boss’s name and sat at a table with five place settings, feeling rare to be the first to arrive, and right on time. The diner had few customers, and the two waiters ambled from one to another, refilling coffee mugs, taking payments on the mobile receiver. Ten minutes pass, then fifteen, and I ordered a meal, checking my email, my Slack—no messages. The waiter came over with the plate of food, saying he sees the reservation was dated for tomorrow.
August 20, 2026 at 2:55 AM
surfnoircowboy.bsky.social
Call

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CALL “Bryan’s turned his camera off and he’s on mute. That means he’s taking a phone call. This might be an emergency—his mother’s in the hospital; he’s been waiting for a call. I should walk down there and see how he’s doing. Let’s wait—oh, he’s back. We can continue.”
August 18, 2026 at 11:44 PM
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Answer

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ANSWER Half the stores in the mall were empty. Lone workers stood behind the counters, using their personal devices. The other stalls sat empty, abandoned, closed. Voices echoed from the food court on the bottom floor. Down a hallway, a forgotten payphone, never decommissioned, began to ring.
August 18, 2026 at 12:18 AM
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Recollection

#flashfiction #writer #indielit #altlit
RECOLLECTION One in the morning. Up with a drink. Stuck late working, blank template staring back. The event the event. To have lived it then dissect it. The ditch the pipe the collapse the body the legs the screaming the call the race the lever the ropes the hand the lift the water the drag the tourniquet the relief. Another sip and it’ll come back, it’ll come together.
August 14, 2026 at 4:53 PM
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Thermal Misalignment

#flashfiction #writer #indielit #altlit
THERMAL MISALIGNMENT Extreme heat threatens the 10-year-old tracks. Steel expands and bulges out, damages the surrounding concrete, misaligns the rails. A water truck runs along either track, spraying gallons of water to cool the hot metal. As transit riders wait in the shade and watch the road transition from dark to light as the water evaporates.
August 13, 2026 at 6:56 PM
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Control

#writer #indielit #altlit #flashfiction
CONTROL The man sitting across from me had just gotten back from North Carolina, and already he needed to go again. He never flew, instead choosing to drive cross-country, spend the time. He held his backpack tight against his body, and his legs shifted beneath him seeking a comfortable position. The driver departed the bus to use the bathroom. The man looked around and asked if this was how it always went.
August 12, 2026 at 11:21 PM
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5 Hardcore Books. One Filthy Author. No Safe Words.
You’ve stroked to my vids. Now wreck your brain on the stories. 🖤 Read ‘em raw on:

Amazon www.amazon.com/stores/Hardt...

Apple Books books.apple.com/author/id180...

#GayErotica #FetishFiction #FilthyFiction #KinkLit #GayFetish #AltLit
April 2, 2025 at 6:02 PM