Near Zero Blog

Category: Micro fiction

  • A foggy, moonlit night scene on a winding road. Two sedans, a silver Honda Civic and a dark Toyota Camry, curve toward each other under the glowing full moon. The road is damp, reflecting the headlights, while twisted trees cast long shadows over the pavement. A crooked mailbox leans at an odd angle by the roadside. The atmosphere is eerie and dreamlike, evoking a sense of anticipation.

    Circle Road

    A mailbox throws another mailbox at Ben’s car. It had warned Ben’s car to not drive past again. Ben had heard the warning, but the car must not have listened. He swerves left to avoid the mailbox. A tree slaps at Devin’s car, and Devin swerves right. The crash creates a space and time that…

  • Close-up of hands holding dark suit jacket in warm window light

    The Suit

    Katy runs her fingers over Von’s secondhand suit on his first day as an appliance salesman. In the weight of her sacrifice and grief, a son discovers that some gifts can never be repaid.

  • Painterly scene of philosopher Daniel Dennett III in his office surrounded by floating books and projected neural diagrams, symbolizing a world where consciousness tries to explain itself away.

    The Third-Person That Wasn’t There

    A colleague from the Philosophy Department sat down across from him. “Talking to yourself, Dan?” she asked with a smile. “There is no ‘self’ to talk to,” Dennett corrected. “This is merely one narrative stream commenting on another within the same biological system.” His colleague rolled her eyes. “Of course. Silly me, thinking there was…

  • A meteorologist in a kitchen pointing at weather instruments while storm clouds form over the breakfast table, with an exasperated family in the background.

    Weather Inside

    Darryl began with the kitchen. Morning barometric pressure: falling. Humidity rising near the coffee maker where Sarah stood silent, measuring grounds with the precision of someone avoiding conversation. ‘Storm system developing over breakfast table,’ he announced to his phone’s weather app

  • A barn scene showing a woman kneeling in hysterical laughter while a farmer works obliviously with his pitchfork near a wheelbarrow, with straw scattered on the wooden floor.

    The Barn Speaks To Debbie

    There stands Frankl, beaming like a fourth grader who has conquered three-syllable words. The same look Harold Pinshetter gave her when he beat Debbie for the fourth grade spelling contest. From her gut: explosion…