Release of SPIRITS IN THE WATER Anthology! #amwriting #shortstories #flashfiction

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

Hey, hey, I've had a short story release! That's always loads of fun :) Spirits in the Water is chock full of fab stories that are all kinds of fun from the amazing authors at Untethered Realms. Check out here for the full list. And, if you feel like snagging a copy, it's only ninety nine pennies :)

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Read some excerpts from Spirits in the Water.

And, even though I've shared this before, here's a little excerpt from my story:

The Flood

“Do you think my ability is just to repel men?” I asked Kristen. She was sitting at my counter, glass of wine in hand, the other perusing through a wedding magazine and making the occasional grimace at the photos.

Abilities. The kind where someone’s lucky in one particular little thing: they never hit a red light, they always remember where they left their keys, their toast never falls butter side down. Generally, special abilities are insignificant and a little dull. It would totally be my luck to have the ability to repel every possible eligible bachelor.

Of course, that would be better than the really lousy abilities. I once read about a kid that blew up milk every time he got close to it. And milk’s in everything.

Some poor souls are just screwed.

“You do not repel men, Kelly. Not even a little. And why is it that all of these women have to look like emaciated waifs with horrible hair? This is a damn classy magazine, isn’t it?” She swept her long, blonde ringlets back from her face and took another sip from her wineglass while flipping to the front of Modern Bride, as if to make sure it hadn’t turned into Redneck Bride on its own.

“Sure, it’s a classy magazine. The whole boho-chic thing is in right now. But, yeah, that dress would look better on a beat up Barbie doll.” I pointed my string cheese at the offending article in question. Wedding dresses shouldn’t have patches. Or swatches. Period.

“Well, it’s ugly,” Kristen insisted. “I’m going to have to find something else to use for inspiration.” When she sighed like this it was the most annoying thing on the planet. Her giant engagement ring (“Ten damn karats!”) caught the lights in my kitchen.

There were days when I kind of wished she’d cut herself on that ring. I mean, I was happy for her, but also all kinds of green with envy. Davy was a total hottie, and head over heels in love with Kristen. The two of them kind of made me ill. But, besties are besties, and Saturday morning wedding planning was going to be a tradition for the foreseeable future.

Logically, I wasn’t going to have to do this forever. I mean, it couldn’t be that long until they got hitched, right?

God, I hoped not.

Kristen, already a bit tipsy from the wine, went to gather more magazines from her bag while I turned to my sink. The plates from last night’s meal were still there, and I sighed and decided to rinse them before dropping them into the dishwasher.

Which was when the nozzle on my sink broke off.

I stared at it for a long moment, the weird angle of the wand of metal in my hand not translating in my brain for a long moment.

That seemed to be the cue for my sink to start gushing water.

“Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t.” I tried to re-attach the handle but managed to make the spillage worse. It nearly filled my sink, and I could envision it flooding my kitchen.

Keeping up a steady stream of curses, I dropped to my knees and yanked open the cupboards I’d hand painted robin’s egg blue. Under the sink I’d stashed about a year’s worth of grocery bags and just about everything else I didn’t use in my kitchen. Chucking things out onto the floor, I managed to reach the cut-off valve for the sink.

It took all my strength to twist it. The water stopped. I took a deep breath. And then the water started to seep around the nozzle under the sink.

“You’ve got to be sh*tting me.” I wanted to close the cupboard door and pretend this hadn’t happened. Instead, I snatched a stack of hand towels and after sweeping out the last of the crap under there, jammed them around the base of the sink.

“What are you doing?” Kristen asked, her arms laden with magazines and her too-tall platform sandals giving her an odd appearance from my position halfway under my sink.

“I broke my kitchen,” I groaned.

Kristen dumped the magazines, which slid across my white countertops and slinked to the ground. She came to scoot in next to me for all the world like she’d figure out how to fix it herself.

“That looks bad.”

Because Kristen and I had been friends since third grade when I’d made her eat her own booger, so I let that slide. “Any idea on who I can call to fix it?” I asked with a groan.

***

Hopefully that's a bit of fun to get you thinking of what more may come in the anthology!