In a FLASH...

The tricky thing about going to school for writing, is that I have to do a lot of, well, writing - which somehow cuts into the time I have to just write...

But in my coursework, I have been introduced to what we 'writer types' call Flash Fiction.

So now I'm writing all these fun short stories, but I have pretty much nothing to do with them after I'm done. Sure - I COULD shop some of them out to journals, magazines anthologies seeking to get the work 'published.'

But honestly, at this particular moment in time, it's just more a time issue than anything else. So, I figure, why not nurse my own 'market' for my writing - right here?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the first in what I'm pretty sure will become fairly routine installments of "In a Flash!" entries, where I will share with you some of my Flash Fiction.

These are short pieces, just for fun! Please enjoy them as such! I welcome thoughts, feedback etc. Mainly, I just feel I've been cranking out way too much work not to share some of it!

This first piece is a glimpse at how the future might view us as a part of their past. I offer you nightly news piece about life in the 21st Century "Frozen in Time..."

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Today, in the ruins of what archeologists agree used to be the city of Orlando on what remains of the northern reaching peninsula, a new mystery has come to light regarding how pre-polar shift peoples lived their lives here in Mexerida. Researches are working to unearth a newly discovered fully intact complex they are calling a ‘Gold’s Gym.’

Lead archeologist Dr. Jacques Smithsuela believes the complex was an augmented form of punishment for early criminals in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

He explained his findings to news crews on site earlier today.

“What we know about pre-polar shift people, especially in the center of the continent, was that they were obsessed with crime and punishment. They had many, large internment facilities. Evidence even suggests they regularly broadcast stories revolving around particularly violent crimes and the methodology by which these criminals were hunted down and then punished. This may have either been for entertainment or education or even as a cautionary measure to deter further crime.

So this society was engulfed in crime, and, as a byproduct, various punishments. What we see here in this ‘gym’ facility – and this is the first one we’ve discovered with intact bodies actually positioned on the machines – are some very brutal torture devices. You can see people are actually strapped in to some of the machines. You can see the straining of their muscles and looks of pain on their faces. So in spite of some of the documentation that suggests 21st century society did not favor torture, complexes like the Gold’s Gyms were obviously places where maybe the very worst of the worst were sent to endure excruciating physical punishment. “

Dr. Roberto Saint-Brown offered an alternate explanation that perhaps the people frozen in the gym during the sudden emergence and eruption of the Mexican Gulf Super Volcano were there voluntarily for augmented physical conditioning. Dr. Smithsuela however dismissed this competing theory.

“Included in the complex are rooms full of lockers where the personal belongings of these people have been removed from them, kept under lock and key, and they are wearing clothing that was obviously intended to embarrass them on another level of psychological torture. Besides, a people this advanced would have understood human physiology well enough to know that regular calisthenics would be safer and yield better results than these bulky machines. I find no evidence to support the idea that these people were here voluntarily.”

Since its initial discovery in 4007, the Orlando site has provided an unprecedented look at what life was like on this continent during the Fossil Fuel Age. It has enabled scientists to begin sifting through the mythology surrounding that time-period, and offers us a glimpse at our own past. For Mexerida South District 1 News, I’m Antoinette Walkeros. Good night.