Selkies' Skins

Selkies' Skins
Current book in series Temple and Skinquest. Enjoy Castle and Well from Amazon, B&N and Smashwords while waiting for that and the prequel's audiobook "Pearls of Sea and Stone: Book of Seals".

Sunday, May 12, 2019

Flash Fiction Fridays #11: The Sock Drawer

You can also listen for when it uploads to the Podcast at www.flashfictionfridays.com. Sadly, that I cannot automate because of the host.

The Sock Drawer
By Teresa Garcia


The warm night always came to an end. Day by day the drawer would be pulled out with a deafening rumble. Every day they would loose at least one pair and sometimes more to the giant. Sometimes a fresh pack would be nestled in among them, the babies too young to be released into their cottony swarm. When and if the giant returned any of those it took they always returned worn and battle scarred, smelling of bleach with tales of horror. Not every pair returned whole.
Marriage, though the usual social arrangement in their colony, was not permanent. Nor was it forever. Mates wore out, gaining gaping holes from too tight shoes, unshorn nails, and the teeth of dogs and cats. This did not even scratch the surface of the threat of drowning and dashing to pieces in the washer. Dissolving happened all to often to those they knew, as did washing over the side of the tub into the unknown depths below where the screams of the damned still sounded.
Collectively each pair and single shook themselves as the drawer once more slid out. Who would it be today to suffer abuse and possibly die? Everyone prepared to cling to everyone else, never giving up the hope of peace. An especially venerable pair was ripped from the mass to the pained gasps of the horde. Weakly they flopped goodbyes. The new patriarchs, a mated pair of threadbare right socks saluted their predecessors. No one hoped for their return. It would be a final walk somewhere, and either dissolving in the wash or a languishing fate in the Bin.
Stifled wails choked in flattened and rolled throats. Rustling came from the half open bag on the left hand side where the thicker ones tried to ask the elders for an explanation.
No one dared answer them. The drawer was still open and they must never let the giant hear them. Only bad things could happen, like the day it overheard the underwear jeering about getting fat. An entire drawer, wiped out in a matter of minutes!
Why was the drawer open so long?
A thin, sad plastic bag nestled down on top of the pile, full of new denizens of this layer of hades. The door finally slid shut and the socks all looked at each other in horror. Surely these new inmates, so thin and delicate, would only see a matter of days when it came to their use. But was that a blessing or a curse?

Full Podcast content Podcasts.com: http://www.podcasts.com/mythical-minstrelsy-flash-fiction-fridays-and-ames-bookshelf-1a06920c4 iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mythical-minstrelsy-and-flash-fiction-fridays/id1461538463 Google Play: https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&isi=691797987&ius=googleplaymusic&apn=com.google.android.music&link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iregmi7sag7o3fg6p3e32k5ghwq?t%3DMythical_Minstrelsy_and_Flash_Fiction_Fridays%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16 Flash Fiction Only Pods Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/teresa-garcia-34 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1vLsYYcHOkDdasTFvqe9Ph Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/Amehana THG StarDragon Publishing, Mythical Minstrelsy & Arashiryuu Productions Discord: https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://discord.gg/hvswe2A Ko-fi: http://www.ko-fi.com/amehana DeviantArt: http://amehanarainstardrago.deviantart.com Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Teresa-Garcia/e/B009Q938VE Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/TeresaGarcia Storenvy: http://thgstardragon.storenvy.com/ Check now and then for new things, some I can't list just yet. Paypal: http://paypal.me/thgstardragon Publishing Website: http://www.thgstardragon.com Publishing Blog: http://www.thgstardragonpublishingblog.com Commissions Info: https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/journal/Commissioning-Information-566657935 Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/Amehana Livejournal: http://rainstardragon.livejournal.com Dreamwidth: http://rainstardragon.dreamwidth.org