Living a Lie by Allison Symes
The animal crept into the cottage, ensuring no creature saw him. It was fair enough he shouldn’t be here. That was obvious. But how to explain to fellow creatures he’d learned years ago how to use a human door? No. Best not go there.
Was it his fault he’d crossed some witch years ago and she’d roundly cursed him? Turned out she did more than swear at him. He caught sight of himself in the hall mirror. Ugly did not begin to cover it.
Bit ironic really. As a human he had been a charming prince.
Ends.
(Copyright: Allison Symes 2016).
Flash can be a great way of writing your own take on a fairytale. The above is my take on Beauty and the Beast. I've found writing flash helps me get to the nub of a story and sometimes I will take a flash piece and expand it out to a standard length short story (1500 to 2000 words) for a competition. I also discuss the advantages of flash fiction on my This World and Others website under Short and Sweet - Or Not as the Case May Be.
Flash fiction and fairytales are a very good mix, I think, and I've found them huge fun to write. Hope you might do so too.