Sirens – Flash Fiction Magazine

One of my short fiction pieces, Sirens, has just been published in Flash Fiction Magazine. Here is an extract…

Flashing their upper lashes with the allure of Sirens, they compete for his attention; mythological creatures, femmes fatales. The attention of a man in his thirties with eyes drooping at the edges hardly seems worth the effort.

‘Katie, can you give me the answer?’ he asks, pointing to the blackboard. Chalk dust scatters to the ground with the excitement of a single indoor firework.

I look up, half listening, ‘four thousand two hundred and eighty six, Sir.’

‘And I thought you might be somewhere else. Good.’

Three of the creatures turn and glare, determination fixed on their perfectly manicured faces. I glance at the magazine. He hasn’t noticed it resting on my school girl knees; he is filling their heads with knowledge. Knowledge is power, Dad had said, unoriginally, at the dinner table. No, I wanted to say, knowledge is freedom, but it was not worth the effort. He was already on to the next topic and facing my brother. You become invisible at the ends of his sentences, left to linger like an old piece of scenery pushed to the back of the stage, or tucked away behind the scenes.

You can read the rest of the story in Flash Fiction Magazine. Feel free to leave comments on their site and to share the story.