I explained about my newfound love of Storyzine in a previous post (a digital magazine of flash fiction stories), and here I have my first bit of exciting news around it: I’ve been published in their September issue!

I’m posting this now because, while it was for their September issue, the downloads for the non-subscriber public are available a month later—October 31, in this case (issue was emailed to subscribers at the end of September; available to public at end of October).

For this month, the Storyzine staff offered up as a prompt four images, from which we could choose any one and write a story inspired by it. I chose number 2 below, the hot air balloon traveling over the ocean on a starlit night. The piece is entitled “Tethered,” and it is reproduced before for your perusal and enjoyment (I hope!):

Tethered

I will never harm again.

My large hands grip the side of the wicker basket that keeps me tethered to the dark and cloudy sky, far from the icy waters below. I left the mainland days ago in search of a new world, an escape from the horror that lives inside me. A curse. A sickness beyond all hope.

Heaviness descends upon me as I think of the damage I’ve caused. I don’t much care about the danger this affliction brings myself, but that young girl stuck in the hospital last month? The families of the boys now tarnished with my disease? And the countless others…

It’s more than I can bear.

I check the burner and adjust the size of the flame—could the weight of my memories pull the balloon down, or is the weather shifting? The bright fire blinds me for a moment. As my eyes adjust, the inside of the balloon fills my vision, blocking my view of the starless sky. It’s like a whole other world in there. A world within a world, just like me. A beast tethered to a man’s body.

I’m searching for somewhere I can keep the monster at bay. Somewhere I can live in peace.

Peace, I think. Yeah, right. I can almost hear the beast within laugh in derision. I’ll never be free of this sickness, even if I untether myself from civilization. I’ll forever be shackled to this burden.

I look out over the horizon. I can see it now, a bit of land in the distance. I’m almost there—even if I don’t know where “there” is. Somewhere uncharted, somewhere deserted. Somewhere I can let the beast roam free. As if in response, the island brightens. I can now see the faint highlight of mountains and the tufts of trees.

It’s the perfect paradise for my prison.

A stark realization hits me. Why can I see the island so clearly now? I glance up, dreading what I will find: the clouds have dissipated, and the sky is filled with shining stars and a big, bright moon.

A full moon. I must have lost track of the days. How many have I been out here, exactly?

It doesn’t matter now. The moonlight shines on my skin as my pale arms sprout thick bristles of hair. My clothes shred as my body grows. My skull elongates to house the snout of a wolf, the jaws and teeth of a killer. I lose all sense as I thrash about, shredding the ropes that keep me tethered to safety.

I fall into the icy waters below. In the back of my mind, I know this is it. The island is too far, the water too cold. I’ve reached the end of my journey.

But all I can feel is the release of my binds.

All I can think is, I’m free.