Flash fiction

“Flash fiction is a fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers character and plot development.” – Wikipedia

Flash fiction is to readers, what a candy bar is, to a starved urchin. Though small in quantity, it is uninhibitedly savoured. The main idea of flash fiction is to present a story in the least possible words. There is power in words. Words can have an irrevocable effect, and it is based on this principle that flash fiction works. It conveys the action of a story in the compression of poetry, and the overall effect that is thus created is so heartbreakingly poignant that it inspires one more than any elaborate eloquence ever could

Here’s a piece of flash fiction that I’d like to share today:

THE SMOKE

The smoke billows up from the burning pyre, chasing the murky clouds. My cheeks feel wet. My small hand holds daddy’s larger one.
“That’s the spirit of your nani,” maa says, pointing at the smoke. Her brown cheeks are wet too.
Looking at the smoke, I imagine nani’s wrinkled face, her kind eyes. Till there’s none of it left.

Years later, I run and run, chasing the smoke as it chases the clouds, floating above the pyre. Someone’s holding me. Not letting me move. Letting maa’s twinkling eyes and comforting smile fade away. Till there’s none of it left.