Flash Fiction (Stories under 1000 words)

A Day in the Life

Jasper couldn’t remember when he fell asleep. Last he remembered he was sitting at camp with Montee, Clarke, and Bellamy trying to think of what to do next about the grounders. Now he awoke on the ground-wait, not the ground. It was too soft to be the ground. Confused, Jasper grabbed at the mattress under him, and opening his eyes, found himself laying on a bunk bed. He got up and looked around to see a TV, a small white desk, and two chest-of-drawers covered in...decorations? One was fully decorated with all kinds of animals, especially the one he’d learned was called a horse. He’d never seen so many.

As Jasper slowly got up from the bed, he wondered where he was, where his friends were. “Hello?” he said quietly. He was a little worried this had something to do with the grounders. He cautiously walked to the door, when all of a sudden it slammed open. 

“Hey!” shouted a blonde girl. She did not look happy. “Berea, Mom said it’s time to get ready. We’re gonna be late for school.” 

“School?” Jasper said. The girl just chuckled at his remark. 

“Uh, yeah school. It’s Friday, we have school.” Jasper was confused. He hadn’t been to school in a long time. 

The girl shut the door behind her, and Jasper’s eyes widened as she did something shocking. She started changing her clothes right in front of him. Bold for sure, but strange, he didn’t even know her. She noticed he was staring, and he quickly looked away. 

“Are you going?” she asked. He nodded nervously, and then headed out the door. 

He walked down a small hallway, and then turned the corner in what seemed to be a bathroom. He jumped at what he saw in the mirror above the sink. 

It was him standing there, but it wasn’t him in the mirror. It was a tall girl, with short light hair and a shy face. He put a hand on his face, just staring at the girl wide-eyed. He realized it wasn’t just some girl. He was the girl. How was this even possible?

The blonde girl started walking down the hall past him, and he quickly stopped her. “Hey…” he didn’t know her name. “...you. I need to know what happened. I was on the ground with my friends, and then..I don’t know. Are we still on the ground? Are we on the Ark?” He looked down at his body which was no longer his. “How did this happen?” 

The blonde girl rolled her eyes. “Berea, I’m not in the mood for this right now. Get dressed.”

“Berea?” he asked. “Is that me? Or her?” He pointed to his body. 

The girl just answered, “You’re so weird,” and then walked away. 

Before he knew it Jasper was at the front of a large brick building with “Venture High” in silver letters. 

“Okay,” he said, watching kids move in and out of the building. “School. Right, school, on the ground.” He paused staring at everything around him. “Wait a minute.” He ran up to a nearby kid and asked, “Hey, what year is it?”

“2015?” the kid answered with a confused look. “Duh.” 

Jasper looked around with wide eyes, and a smile slowly spread across his face. “2015,” he whispered. He looked at the school and laughed loudly. “2015! I’m in the past! I can time travel!” 

People around gave strange looks, but Jasper was blind to them because of the utter joy he was feeling. “Wait till I tell Montee. Wait, I need to find out how to get back to Montee.” He started walking into the school, when he stopped, seeing his reflection in the mirror. 

“Oh yeah, and I need to find out how to get my body back.”

Jasper sat on the stage in the commons of the school, trying to enjoy his pizza as he puzzled over his situation. A blonde girl nearby started calling, “Berea!”

He continued eat his food, wondering why Berea wouldn’t answer her friend, and why the name Berea sounded so familiar. All of a sudden, a girl with curly blonde hair stood right in front of him. “Berea,” she said. “Are you coming to sit with us, or what?”

Jasper looked behind him, making sure she was talking to him. “Me?” 

“Yes, you! Come on!” She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the table. 

He was quiet for all of lunch, just listening to the girls talking about stuff he didn’t really understand. Driving and Sage Tests. He learned that the blonde girl’s name was Meg, from what he heard the other girls saying. After they were done eating he followed her to her locker. When it didn’t look like anyone was around, he said, “Meg, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Of course,” she answered nonchalantly, but she seemed surprised when he grabbed her by the arm and took her back behind the staircase where no one could hear. 

He looked around one more time to be sure no one was listening, and then looked her straight in the eyes. “Okay, I know this is gonna sound really crazy, but I’m not really Berea. My name is Jasper, and I come from a totally different place than this. Again I know it’s crazy, but it’s-”

“I believe you,” she said calmly. 

“Really?”

“Yeah, it makes sense actually. You’re nothing like Berea. You’re not even wearing her glasses.”

“No wonder that book in Shakespeare was so hard to read.”

“But I do have one question. If you’re here, where’s Berea.” 

“That’s the question of the day.”

Berea looked at her reflection with joy.

“Jasper! Are you coming?” Octavia called. 

“Yeah, I’ll be right there!” She put her hand on her hips and gave a sly grin. “One day in my favorite TV show ever. Best wish I ever made!” 

She ran off to join her new friends for a day full of exciting adventure.