My friend and fellow author, Katy Hammel, convinced me to sign up for the NYC Midnight Micro Fiction challenge. It’s a challenge where you write a tiny flash fiction story – 250 words. NYC Midnight gives you a genre, an action, and a word that all have to be part of the story. Plus, you have 24 hours to write it.

I received my most hated genre! Ugh. I’m not a fan of writing fairy tale. However, I had recently purchased a drawing from my friend, Emina, and I used that as the inspiration behind my story.

My complete assignment was – fairy tale and/or fantasy; action: littering; word: adapt.

Cinder my Flash Fiction

Cinder stalked across the park, her glass stilettos digging into the grass. She kicked them off and kept going.

“Hey! You can’t do that. That’s littering!” the man feeding the pigeons yelled.

She turned to face him. He got up from the bench, walking away quickly. Either recognition or the sword in her hand had shut him up, but he was right. She couldn’t leave the magic stilettos behind. 

She cut a swath of her ballgown, used her necklace of pearls as a handle, and wrapped the shoes. She could adapt.

Now, where was that witch?

“Are you looking for me, deary?” 

“What have you done with him?”

The witch held up a bird cage. Even being miniaturized, Cinder recognized the prince wearing his purple cloak from the party. 

“What do you want?” Cinder asked.

“I want you to be a good little child and go home. Your step-mother is expecting you.”

“And what if I don’t?”

The witch shook her head. “My sister would hate me if I hurt you, but I will turn you into a toad if you don’t leave.”

Cinder remembered what her fairy godmother had said about the shoes. “So shiny that they reflect everything.” 

She slipped them out of the makeshift bag.

“Try me!” she yelled.

Matilda curled her lip and sent a wave of magic at her. Cinder held up the shoes and the magic wave turned back on the witch.

“Damn you Cinderella!”

“The name is Cinder Block.”

What’s Next

I’m hoping my story makes it to the top so I get into the next round, so fingers crossed! I might also turn this into a longer story. If that interests you, please let me know in the comments. Looking for more stories from me? You should probably start with Toy of the Gods.

And, if you’re looking for a contest, the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge wil probably be coming up in January.