Flash scifi – The Call by Jason H Abbott

Jason H Abbott is an extraordinarily talented author, who first came to my attention on the socials a few years ago. His stories are hauntingly original and at times just a little bit creepy – in a good way! I am proud to feature Jason as my inaugural author of the month.

Here is a beautiful example of his flash fiction.

The Call

Hands tremble as she puts coins in the payphone and dials her childhood number.

“It’ll work,” she gulps, waiting for a ring. “Caller I.D. isn’t invented yet.”

“Hello?” her mother answers.

“Mrs. Pryor?” she asks, heart in her throat.

“This is she.”

“I-I’m Mrs. Weymouth, your daughter’s teacher. You need to get to the school right away!”

“What?”

“There’s been a terrible accident!”

“Oh God! Is Amy okay?!”

Her hand begins to vanish. “Please hurry—”

“What’s happened?!”

The handset falls and swings.

“Hello?!”

The woman now made paradox disappears from the booth.

***

She opens her eyes, a child hugging her mother’s waist.

“It’s alright, Amy,” her mother comforts.

“I missed you,” Amy says between sobs.

“Missed me?”

A memory of a future no longer to be, fades to nothing.

“I, would have, missed you.” Amy corrects.

Their home burns as firemen fight the gas explosion. “Oh Sweetie, Mummy’s fine. We’ll be okay. But if it weren’t for that prank call, I… I’d…”

“If you’d died,” Amy vows with tearful eyes returned to innocence, “I would’ve built a time machine to save you.”

Copyright © 2020 by Jason H. Abbott, All Rights Reserved.

Jason H. Abbott is an author of fantasy, science fiction and more. Born a lobsterman’s son in a small coastal town in the US, he spent his youth exploring the woods and rocky beaches of Maine pursuing make-believe and adventures. These journeys led him down many paths less traveled, and to a storyteller’s life where the power of myths both ancient and modern are his inspirations.

You can learn more about Jason and his writing on his author’s page. His daily microfiction shorts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are read by tens of thousands monthly. In longer works, he currently has a short story and a novelette available in print and eBook, and several novellas set for release later in 2020 ahead of his first novel.

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