Sherri Moorer

“Burn” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #180

“I can’t believe our credit card got hacked,” Kyra said. “Thanks for picking up the tab. The bank said we should get a new card soon, but until then we’re on a budget.”“It’s no problem,” Cinia said, sipping her white wine and studying the people bustling about the elegant restaurant. “I wouldn’t miss our monthly dinner over a trifle like money.”Kyra drank her wine and stared at Cinia. “I heard that everybody who got gas at the station outside of the neighborhood was hacked in the past six weeks, except you and Harlan. We’ve all learned to pa...

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“Forget About Jane” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #170

Siena jerked when her phone rang on the small table next to her recliner. She blinked, wiped her eyes, and picked up her phone. “Hello?” she said. “You really are sick,” Brenna said. “I thought you made it up to get out of the bachelorette party.” “Why would I make it up? Jane is my oldest friend.” Siena sniffed and looked around her den in the failing light. She snapped on the lamp next to her chair. “Was my oldest friend. I’m out of the wedding. Jane was furious when I told her I couldn’t come to the party because my doctor told me to...

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“Memento Mori” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #165

Aylsia stared out of the window at the rings of Saturn glowing into the space station, mindlessly fumbling with the small, square device in her hands.What’s that? Braxton smiled impishly. “It’s a device driver that overrides station systems. I can control everything with it.” Her eyes glittered. “How?”“I can get these computers to do whatever I want. Hack into secure files, monitor communications, jam communications, override system commands, change the kitchen menus, add to supply orders, open and close secure doors and ports, whatever I wa...

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“Periphery” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #164

Golden sunlight sparkled in the sapphire sky, raining sparkles on the sliding board and shiny chains of the swing as Elora pumped her legs into the air. It was exactly as she remembered it, from the freshly mown grass in the yard to the green and white and green playset that her father and grandfather built for her. How she missed this! You can never go home. “Says who?” she laughed, hearing her childish voice on the cool fall breeze. A maroon sedan pulled up in the driveway next to the house. She recognized the tall woman who stepped ...

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“Mean Girls” by Sherri Moorer

The flames cast an ethereal glow in the warm night air. Ashes joined the stars glowing in the clearing of trees circling overhead. Why am I here? Cinia breathed in the breeze blowing through the trees. The crossroads were supposed to have answers, to grant wishes, to control the energy of life. Control.  Control over what? I’m tired of being beaten. I’m tired of losing. I want a change. Something new. Something better. I want freedom from the vicious circle of life. Freedom. The shadows of the woods danced around her, swirlin...

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“Truth” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #156

Emilyn stared at the harsh green light glinting on the silver cuffs around her wrists. She knew that people sat on the other side of the mirror studying her, but what was there to see? A defeated and broken person, guilty but not of what they accused her of? One thing was for certain: she didn’t belong here. In more ways than one. The door opened. A tall, skinny man and a dark, stocky woman walked in, sitting across the table from her. The man consulted a file, then closed it and dropped it on the table in front of him. “Emilyn Miano?” ...

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“Blink” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #154

How did I survive the apocalypse? Cindra stared into the endless black sky. The green and purple auroras were still flashing beneath the white anomaly illuminating the rocks from the rogue planet raining from the spatial anomaly above them. The ground had stopped shaking. She found that she could move again; she could breathe. She inhaled the metallic smell of the collapsing world and rose to her feet to study the dark ruins. What have I done? Cindra blinked, and she was standing in the sun. It was the day of her doctoral hooding. Her fa...

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“The Age of Migraine Medicine” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #153

“Detective Kinslee, you have a visitor,” Sadie’s soft voice said over the telephone. Jain rubbed her eyes. The clock in the corner of her screen read ten o’clock a.m. No wonder she was getting a headache. She had been staring at this case file since she came in two hours ago. “Who is it?” “A Mrs. Ella Hines,” Sadie said. “She’s here with information on the Hebert Hines case.” Hebert Hines, the man who was allegedly shot while tacking 4th of July bunting on the eaves of his house three days ago. He was her first homicide case since being...

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“Free” by Sherri Moorer

🏆 Winner of Contest #150

Zelina walked in the middle of the train track. She and her sister used to lay in bed listening for the comforting whistle of the train that passed at three o’clock every morning. Their father was a conductor of a shipping train that ran overnight runs. They would listen for the whistle and wonder if it was Dad’s train. Now her sister was buried at the cemetery up the hill from these tracks. What now? Would she ever be happy again? Would this sadness sit on her soul ever leave? What was she supposed to do? How would she manage without on...

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“Beyond” by Sherri Moorer

Some promotion, Alyssa thought as she stared at the shimmering pinpricks of light through the viewport window. I’m beyond hope of anything here. “I don’t see the spatial anomaly I’m supposed to investigate,” she said as she shivered against the metal bulkhead. She didn’t care how well they built these space stations: space was cold, and there was no cure for it except the light and heat of the sun. Unfortunately, she specialized in the darkness. That’s why she was sent to this forsaken outpost on the edge of the heliosphere. Into the...

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“Radiant Reality” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #146

I didn’t think it would end this way. I thought the ability to transcend space and time would elevate humanity to a new level of existence. Now, everything is ending.  I don’t know where this message will find me. Perhaps there’s a version of me in these nexus points of reality with the wisdom to learn from these mistakes. Unfortunately, I cannot see the potential of each version of myself. There are countless branches forming the tree of existence that continues to expand from every decision made. It is the balance of reality. It gi...

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“You Should Have Worn Red” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #144

“Senator Lizer, don’t look so serious,” Aileen said as she looked through the shudder of her digital camera. “It isn’t every day that your only granddaughter gets married. Smile!” The wedding party loosened up and relaxed for the photoshoot in the garden of the Governor’s Mansion. Aileen suppressed a sigh as she continued to position and photograph the posh group. So this is my breakthrough, she thought. I retired from working in the Senator’s office to take pictures of his granddaughter’s wedding for the society news outlets. “Outstandi...

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“The Bird Sang” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #143

That bird has come to that same spot on our back deck every day for two years, I thought as I drank my coffee and watched the sunrise in the woods around my house. It was no coincidence. Two years since the world shut down. Two years since Dad was diagnosed with cancer that took him three months later, leaving me isolated in a frightened, chaotic world, with nothing but the trees and this sole bird singing on the banister to remind me that the world still turned. Two years since the life I knew came unraveled and wove into a new tapestry o...

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