Experimenting with Flash Fiction

Wb. Im Frühling durfte die damalige M2e im Englischunterricht an einer doppelstündigen Schreibwerkstatt zu Flash Fiction teilnehmen. Flash Fiction – in den USA sehr etabliert – ist eine literarische Gattung von ganz kurzen Texten. Die Autorin Caroline Couderc besuchte die Klasse, vermittelte Grundkenntnisse zum Genre und liess die Schüler*innen selbst ausprobieren. Im Folgenden lesen Sie die literarischen Experimente, die dabei entstanden sind:

I should have seen the signs. Their house, majestic and glamorous as it was, was almost flawless. The hedges perfectly trimmed as if someone was looking after them all day. The blooming flowers I used to pick when walking by. The couple, embracing each other as they stood in front of their home waving at me. The shallow smiles. Back then, I thought when people raised the corners of their mouth, they smiled. The way he was holding her a little too tight. The pat on her arm, the way the smile disappeared from her face. The flashes of overwhelming fear in her eyes, the way the façade began to crumble. One night, I watched her sitting on the bench in front of the house with tucked up knees and a cigarette in her fingers. I had never seen her smoking before. As the sun rose the next day, I heard howling sirens, crying people. People were saying, “We had no idea”. We were too busy looking away, I added silently.

Anonymous

Dainty Doilies

Behind the doors of a cosy cream-coloured cottage lived Iris, the sweetest little granny. Iris had spent a fair share of her past years by herself, yet she’d never felt truly alone. For conversation, she turned to her two dogs Gladys and Elsie who always seemed interested in the creative stories Iris would tell them. She enjoyed spoiling her two beloved terriers with home-cooked treats and hand-knit jumpers. Gladys and Elsie followed her everywhere, even to sleep at night. Her bed smelled of puppies whose paws had yet to be exposed to rough concrete roads. On colder days, every room of the house was filled with the most divine smells of what Iris was currently experimenting with in her kitchen, be it lavender shortbread or sweet citrus tarts or something else. Yet, warm spring days were still her favourites because she almost always spent them in her garden, either reading the most captivating romances or knitting dainty doilies which she filled her house with.

Camille

Going ‘Round

He was just standing there, staring at a wall. In his right hand he had a hammer and nails and in his left a painting. He was puzzled as how to hang the painting and terribly annoyed. His back hurt from ducking in the shower that morning. He really felt that his life had got worse since the government decreed that all new houses had to be round to look more futuristic. Eventually, he gave up on his task and tried to get some rest with the same pains and sorrows that he had woken up with. But he couldn’t. A thunderstorm was whistling and howling outside his doors. He didn’t see it as it was dark outside. He didn’t hear it either as he couldn’t open his windows because of the rain. The reason he knew was because of little shakes that threw books off the shelf and would have caused his painting to fall off, too. These shakes were getting increasingly severe and became hardly bearable for him until the house wasn’t just shaking anymore but it was rolling and he knew that this would go on until it had reached the bottom of the valley.

Kai

My Lost Childhood Friend

One night, I walked past the Smith’s house. It’s a very old, abandoned house at the bottom of the road. You can tell that no one has lived there for many years. Every night when I get back from work, I walk past this mysterious house. My friend and I used to play there. We would climb up a nearby fig tree to get onto the roof and enter the house through a broken window. Today, the plants have taken over. Raspberry bushes cover the front yard, the grass is as tall as a small child and the vines of the ivy which started off as a small plant thrive on the walls of the house. Even the window we used as an entrance is no longer accessible. I just caught a fleeting glimpse of the Smith’s house, but it was enough to bring back all these memories. Then, I turned round and went on. I put my headphones back on and as soon as they had reached my ears, I heard a sweet giggle. I stopped again and listened carefully. The giggling continued, but there was no one around. I followed the sound when I noticed it was coming from the abandoned house. I pushed my way through the thorny bushes. The giggling became louder and clearer and eventually turned into gleeful laughing. I reached the door, which was full of cracks, mould and tiny holes made by wood worms. Without tiptoeing I was able to look through the window. The moment I saw a little boy playing on the kitchen floor, I was dragged out of my daydream by my wife calling my name.

Frédéric

Blackout

I trip over his foot and fall face-first onto the grass three metres in front of the goal. The whistle. The ref points to the place inside the box. Fans all over the stadium scream and whistle as well. I pick myself up, brush the dirt off my shirt and shorts and take the ball. I put it down onto the white spot, go three steps back and two steps to the left. Breathe in and out. The whistle. I start to run and then the world turns into a nightmare. The goalkeeper transforms into a black shadow, bugs start crawling out of his sticky gloves, slime starts oozing out and four slimy arms reach out of his back and start coming towards me. Very rapidly. The goal turns black, everything in front of me does. I can’t see anything. My head is a mess. The sounds of the stadium have faded away. Suddenly, there is a loud beep in my head. Number 17 taps me on my back and I wake up. The roar of the stadium returns. The grass is greener than it has ever been before. Now the whistle, but the real one. I breathe, run, get faster, kick the ball and….it’s in!

Olivia

Curiosity = a Tree

I watch a large shadow accompanied by the screeching noise of dead wood and a mouldy scent creeping its way down the street. The shadow’s owner is an old crooked house that is known for its strange inhabitants. Not a soul has ever caught sight of the Sallenders, even though they have been living on their land for centuries. My disbelief in immortality is weakened by a tingling inside me and turns into an interest that should be shoved down the drain. Now, I’ve put myself in an uncomfortable situation. A being-tied-to-a-tree situation.

Anonymous

No Words

I absently shut the entrance through which I had come moments ago. After emptying the mailbox, I went through all the letters, most of them bills, when this particular one caught my eye. My whole body erupted in a shivering fit when I read the name. It can’t be. We promised each other never to get in touch again. Why would she break that promise? I left the letter on the kitchen table. Being shaken by the whole situation, I had to sit down. Tucking my knees under my small frame, I slowly let myself down on my brown leather couch. Suddenly, I was freezing although the temperature hadn’t changed. Everything around me reminded me of her. I wanted to scream. Tears welled up in my eyes. Unsteadily, I stood up and made my way over to the kitchen table. Without realising, the letter had got into my hands again. My eyes drifted to the cracking fire in the chimney. I watched the letter burn and thought about how I never wanted her back in my life. It didn’t matter what she had written in the letter. No words could repair what she had broken in me.

Mia, F2a (F3a)

The Waiting Room

The nice secretary from the school leads me to a room where I am supposed to wait for the headmaster. “He’ll be with you in five minutes,” she says as I walk through the door into a simple room awash with light looking like a classroom. I nod and she smiles at me once more before she closes the wooden door, leaving me standing on the doorstep. My eyes wander through the room. There are a few desks with chairs behind them. The smooth surfaces of the desks reflect the bright light so that I have to squint my eyes in order to see and take it all in. It is hot. The temperatures are scorching and the air dry, the grass is rather brown than green and you can see kids eating ice-cream. I walk across the room to the big windows and open one with a little crack. The hot air slams into my face like an overwhelming crushing wave. There is a knock on the door and I turn round. I look at a roundish man with round glasses and a round head standing in the room, smiling at me.

Linda

Somewhere in Nowhere

At the end of the road, there is a house that stands slightly apart from the others. The kids like to imagine that it’s inhabited by a witch because it disappears in the dark of the many trees. One night, I walked past the house and saw that the door was open. There was a creaking noise as the wind pushed open the old wooden door. When the wind passed by me, I heard whispers accompanying it. I didn’t understand. Shivers ran down my spine. I just stood there for a long time. Then, it was very quiet again, only an owl could be heard in the distance. I took a deep breath and decided to go in. As I approached the door, I didn’t hear the owl anymore. It smelled more and more like old, almost wet wood. When I had finally entered the house, the door slammed shut. My heart started pounding in my chest and my legs trembled. All of a sudden, the floor under me was gone. Darkness. I fell. Where was I? 

Alina

Ghosts

One night, I was walking past the grumpy house down the street. It’s nearly falling apart, the wood is old and brittle. Windows do not exist anymore, but the door looks brilliant. Legends say that the house is haunted by ghosts. Of course, I had to find out! The knob of the door was as cold as ice when I touched it. The opening sound of the door hurt my ears. The house was empty. Lucky! There was an awful smell. Surely, ghosts wouldn’t survive that! A cracking noise came from the cellar. I went to check. Nothing but old furniture. Back upstairs, I found a new wheelchair with a hospital smell. I didn’t know ghost could get injured. Suddenly, out of the dark, it appeared. It flew towards me and, believe me or not, it hit me with an old wooden baseball bat. Obviously, I hadn’t thought about the fact that there still could be people living in the house.

Anonymous

No One

On a rainy day with large cotton-wool clouds in the sky, I walked over to my neighbours’ house because they had asked me to babysit their daughter. The girl has got incredibly long shiny hair and absolutely adores talking and telling my every detail about her life at kindergarten. The front door was already open which was quite odd because usually, everything is locked. The family always pays close attention to locking every door. They even have security cameras everywhere. I stepped inside, a rosewater smell swept over me and the light reflected on the glass door. No one was there, no one was inside. I was wondering where the girl and her parents were. As I was looking in the kitchen for them, I heard a noise coming from the office. I walked over to the office, gathered all my courage and opened the wooden door. And there, I heard a rare loud noise…again.

Celia

The Letter

As I opened my mailbox last Sunday morning, I found a letter. The envelope was beige with black sprinkles. I was confused because I hadn’t expected a letter. I saw that the sender was an old friend of mine. We had been at university together, but then we had had an argument and I never wanted to see her again. I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I open the letter? Or should I throw it away? On the one hand, I wanted to know what she had written, but on the other hand, I was afraid that the letter could bring back the pain I felt years ago. My curiosity was stronger. I opened the letter. The paper had a weird scent which reminded me of my friend’s perfume. It seemed very old. I could hardly read the letter as the handwriting was angular. It was an apology. Enclosed was a note. My friend had sent the letter years ago, but it had got lost. Suddenly, I realised that if I had read this letter earlier, we could have been friends all these years.

Sara

One Split Second

Cassie lies on her queen-size bed as the smell of the lavender in the back yard fills the air. Their back yard is one of the most important places for her. It might be because of the playground and tree house her dad and her older sister built before she was born or the garden her mom takes such good care of on sunny weekends. Or maybe it’s because her best friend, her old dog, is buried in the left corner next to the pond. The outside of the house is made of cold stone, but the inside makes everyone feel warm and welcome. The house smells of freshly made coffee because her dad is addicted to it. Her childhood room has turned into an adult-like place and her clothes and belongings are packed away in a suitcase. As she sees, feels and thinks about the heart-warming memories of her childhood, she reconsiders for a split second. Then she gets up, turns off the lights and leaves all that behind as she sets out for college to make new friends and family.

Emma

Prejudice

I walked past a huge grey house. There were large trees and small bushes all around it. I hid in one of the bushes and looked through the kitchen window. On the stove, there was a large pot with something bubbling in it. It smelled of pumpkin soup. A vase with colourful flowers was on the kitchen counter. Impressive paintings hung on the walls. A record player was playing classical music in the background. Two lovers were dancing around the counter. Hand in hand. One of them called for dinner. Two children rushed into the kitchen and took a plate of food. Everyone sat down at the table and Dave and Robert gave each other a kiss full of love. I had seen enough and left.

Giulia

Three Years, One Letter

I was sitting alone at the dinner table at eight o’clock with my freshly cooked pasta I was about to eat as I saw the pile of mail from that day next to me. I looked through the mail and saw something addressed to me. It was a letter. At first, I was a bit confused because I never get letters from people I know. There were a lot of creases in it and generally not in best form anymore. As I turned round the letter, already excited to see who had sent me a letter, I saw the name: Elisa Baker. My emotions went from happiness to pure anger. Why would my mother send me a letter after we hadn’t spoken for three years? I immediately put the letter out of sight. My anger went away, but shortly after, I felt frustrated. With that, I decided to leave the past behind me and throw it away without even looking at it anymore.

Vera

The Woman in the Room

I am in room 106. Patiently observing. The light isn’t on because sun shines through the windows. I sit at a desk in the left corner of the room. The teacher has just assigned a task to the group of young ladies. There are only girls in the class. All of them seem very concentrated. The teacher, too, observes the class in silence. There is this one girl who keeps looking at me curiously. I hear her whispering to her friends.

Anonymous