What Lies Beneath – a flash fiction (the Fifty Word Story Challenge!)

Once upon a time, the lovely Lillian Keith (at the Introspective Introvert) started a fun new writer’s tag called the Fifty Word Story Challenge, which is exactly what it sounds like!

(*coughs* Meaning you have to write an entire story in just 50 words. That’s literally, like, a single paragraph.)

Lillian literally started this tag a year ago in June, so I can really say I’m impressively late. But I was rifling through my dusty blog archives and stumbled across this…and couldn’t resist.

May I introduce you to my shortest flash fiction to date, What Lies Beneath.

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the rules

• Nominate a blogger with fifty or more followers (social media or a newsletter is fine as an alternative.)
• Write a fifty word story in any genre
• Include the theme or element of gold in your story
• Don’t forget to link back to the person who nominated you (as well as the original creator please!).

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What Lies Beneath

It sits under a dark sky. Mud, pebbles, and insects swarm its surface.

None pay it any mind.

Only the stars know.

Dawn flushes the horizon, and now it sits under a bright sky. The dirt can be washed away.

But none pay it any mind.

Only the sun knows.

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If you have 50 or more followers (blog or newsletter), I nominate you to do this challenge!

I realize that was very subtle and rather mysterious…but did you catch the meaning of what the sun and stars know? (Hint: my story obeys all the rules of the challenge.) Was it too vague for you to see the symbolism? (If so, then let it suffice to say I was inspired by Cimorelli’s new single “Skin.” 😭) How did I do with such a small word count???