Anna Tishchenko

“worst job ” by Anna Tishchenko

trigger warning: this story contains both death and drug use.                “Hey, you want to make some money?” Mark leaned over the couch and winked at me. I rolled my eyes knowing he wasn’t really implying what he was so obviously implying.                “What did you have in mind?” I asked. Putting aside the book I had been staring blankly at for the past 10 minutes. I rolled up into ...

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“Red Giraffe in the morning ” by Anna Tishchenko

5 AM found her with wide open eyes and a palpitating heart. A frustrated scream lodged in her throat as she tried to focus on the fact that she was awake. Something had frightened her, something dark and foreboding had been gripping her in its claws and she could nearly feel the terror of it on her tongue. She breathed. Hard at first but then it slowed, the agony subsiding as she calmed herself.                One of these days she thought one of her nightmares would...

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“Rain magic” by Anna Tishchenko

        I woke to the sound of thunder rolling outside my window. A surge of adrenaline coursed through me and with my hand to my beating heart, I rose and walked slowly to the window. Lightning flashed across the sky in display of violence that touched something raw and primal within me. I flung open the window feeling the rain as it began fall headlong from the sky above. I breathed in the electrified air and for a long moment I battled with my wilder half before she took our body out into the darkne...

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“Sea stones” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #101

               Marilla sat on the peer watching the tide as the waves crashed and rippled across the sand. Sometimes as she watched the water, she would feel a strange sense of nostalgia. She did not swim in the sea, it was dangerous, her mother had told her. With the undercurrents and the sea creatures, the sharp stones and the rush of the waves, the sea was no place for a girl like Marilla and she always listened to her mother. Still, she longed for the water in a w...

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“Gift” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #100

At 5 am she rose from her sleep like a rocket breaking the atmosphere into consciousness. As tradition dictated, she looked at the clock, told herself ‘Five more minutes’ and then got up anyway. She knew all too well that once she left the realm of sleep, she could not return until the experiences of the day bought her passage for another journey into unknown lands.                She had things to do, she reminded herself as she switched on the coffee pot, wash...

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“Brave little Seed ” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #98

 “Gramma tell me a story.” Begged Guinna as she fingered the large crystal bowl on the table. The power had gone out and now they sat in the warm glow of a single candle as outside a snowstorm blew snow and ice as though it were confetti. The sky dark grey speckled with tiny white dots as the wind raced them back and from outside the window.               “What kind of story?” her grandmother asked, she put down her knitting needles and adjusted her glasses. Took...

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“As luck would have it” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #98

Darren had never considered himself a lucky sort of person, nothing came easily to him. He fought, struggled and pushed his way through life achieving things despite the way the universe always seemed to conspire against him. No matter what he did, how high he climbed, something unlucky would occur and he felt like he had taken two steps back.                He had made it onto the basketball team but the skin of his teeth, despite the unlucky shot during tryouts, he ...

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“Duty” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #98

  He woke when the ship veered violently to the side, throwing him out of the sleep pod as the artificial gravity caught up with him. Still groggy from the 24-hour sleep cycle he was completing, upon arrival to this check point in space. He yawned, stretched, and reached for the zipper of his cocoon, emerging from it like some sort of unshaven butterfly. The noise of the sirens and alarms hit him first, then the flashing lights. The ship was trying to tell him something. He scrambled to the control pod and slammed himself into the cap...

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“Letters found in Cemeteries ” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #97

Dearest Stranger, I wonder who you are, you have taken the time to read the thoughts of someone you will likely never meet. Will you read to the end? Curiosity getting the better of you as you wonder what kind of person leaves letters for strangers in a cemetery, half hidden in the hollow of a tree? Will you crumple it up, thinking it is some kind of joke. It is not, I assure you, but I cannot account for what kind of person you will be. I do wonder though. If you are still with me, bravo, I thank you for your time and kindness, these thou...

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“Unexpected Kindness” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #97

   Arlen tapped lightly on the window, in bird form he needed to do so with his beak, and he felt awkward and a little sheepish as he tapped away. Still, as soon as she heard him, she rushed toward him, seeing him, she smiled and opened the window wide. He had not planned on coming tonight, nor had he planned on tapping on her window, he had just wanted a look. Just wanted to make sure she had gotten into the castle and was safe. He was not yet ready to admit that it was the warm feeling that she inspired that had brought him back...

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“The Tower” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #97

 It stood, menacing in the gloom of the overgrown garden. The tower that love had built was now abandoned, forlorn. No one would come to visit now that the building was empty and full of shadows. Once it had been beautiful, grand and majestic, painted white and gold with splashes of green vine, and red flowers. Once, it held life, and joy and hope. Now after so many years it has taken on a new feel, one of bitterness, loneliness, even fear. No one went near it anymore and in the absence of love it had soured.     &nb...

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“We Bully the Honey” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #97

We Bully the honey. Round and round it went through her head, meaningless, senseless yet always there. Intrusive, distracting, constant as if melded to her heartbeat the phrase echoed over and over, sometimes quietly, sometimes so loudly she thought that others would hear it too, if only she opened her mouth, she had learned to keep it shut.  She was used to the stares, the watchful eyes, judgmental glares. When she did speak, sometimes it would slip out on its own, as if trying to infect others. We bully the honey. She stuck to commun...

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“Storm Gifts” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #97

The storm howled as she gazed out the window. Across the room the red numbers on the digital clock told her it was the middle of the night. She loved nights like this. Lightning flashing across the sky, thunder booming as sheets of rain brought life to her garden. She sighed contentedly and took a sip of her tea. There would be no sleep tonight, she could feel it. Just as well, she thought, she loved to watch the storm and she would have been sad to miss this. Magic happened during storms like this. It was something her grandmother had told ...

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“Tree Soul” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #96

  When they found the little girl out in the forest, alone, poorly dressed against the cold, how could they do anything but invite her into their home? Heartbroken though they were, searching for the own lost children, they did not expect to find one who had not come from their flock. They fed her, bathed her, even made a bed for her to sleep in.She did not speak at first. Only stared out at the world through huge and frightened eyes. When they asked her questions, she would only nod or shake her head, anything more complicate...

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“Open Mic” by Anna Tishchenko

Submitted to Contest #96

  The guest room is done up in peaches and cream, a large bed in the center dominates the room, the diva on stage surrounded by other furniture, supporting actors in this grand performance. The concierge opens the door and ushers me into this beautiful room, which will be mine now for three whole days. The concierge asks me when my other guest would arrive, and I tell him it's just me. He smiles and I tip him, just to get him to go away.                Later, I...

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