2025-2026, Flash Fiction

"A Forest Stroll" – Anonymous '29

The quiet emptiness of solitude only disrupted by the deafening voices of anxiety is a rather troubling situation to find myself in taking a stroll through the woods in the dead of night. A spike of adrenaline rushed through my body prompting physical activity. The release of energy could be bottled inside and drive one mad or could escape through the window and into a little lonely wander.

The pines’ fragrance and crunching of gravel underfoot eased tension and slowly faded into a comfortable background. The breeze swirled and shuffled as a nearby stream chuckled. 

However, a strange commotion was brewing. The crackle of the trail morphed and slowly became louder until it was clear that perhaps it was not the sediment. The moonlight lit the trail, but the blaze became brighter as if day had come early. The chattering of the brook shifted to screams of horror.

An inferno had spread upon the trees, consuming the stream. Gusts of smoke rose like storm clouds. The wind had morphed into a tornado nourishing the scorching flames. Leading the blaze were silhouettes, dark from the ashes. Their raucous yells tainted the forest’s harmony with their greedy hands clutching gasoline tanks.