Short Stories - A Collection Of Flash Fiction

Summer Midnight

As I silently open my window, the fresh summer air comes in and I hear the cicadas. It's only a few feet from the ground so I checked my bed to see if my pillows really looked like me - they did - and detached the screen. I've practiced doing that a million and one times in preparation for tonight. This isn't just an impulse decision, it was planned by me, Jackie, Elliot, and Kylie. My phone was on 97% when I hit the ground and put the screen back on after shutting the window to a crack.
     I decided I would turn my flashlight on when I got to the road but the street lights provided plenty of light on this quiet neighborhood cement. I took a picture of the double yellow lines for no reason and then came up on Elliot and Kylie, who live next to each other a couple houses down. Jackie, on the other hand, lives a couple streets down but still in the same neighborhood, she just had to ride her skateboard.
     Not a word was said between us till we all sat down at the picnic table at the small park area. It was the first full moon of the summer and we planned to meet here for the rest of the full moons this year.
     "Sorry if my skateboard was making noise," Jackie said, "I couldn't get my bike out without waking someone up or being suspicious." She just graduated sophomore year, a grade above me and just moved into the neighborhood three years ago.
     Elliot, who I've known my whole life, is a grade below me. He was the one who planned all of this but wouldn't have actually done it if Kylie, who has lived here for about six years, pushed us all into it.
     A couple other things were said, but we mostly just listened to the sounds around us. Life is so quiet and peaceful when it's midnight on a summer day. Elliot pulled out a Polaroid he got last Christmas, which broke the silence.
     "We need to have some sort of physical way to remember this each time," He started, "Tonight we can each take one of these, but we'll have to think of other things we can hold for next time." He was always living in the clouds with his feet just an inch from the ground.
     "No matching scars or tattoos," Jackie laughed.
     "I agree, but I like this for a start. What happens if any of us get caught though? Either this time or the next?" I tried not to seem too worried because I liked the idea of starting this tradition.
     "Well, we're not smoking weed or giving each other those matching tattoos Jackie loves so I think they'd just tell us not to do it again," Kylie was a couple months older than me but we were in the same grade. She always wore edgy clothing but that's just one side of her, she can be sweet and funny when she wants to be.
     "True," I said right before we started discussing the best way to take a group Polaroid picture. The end result sounded like a good idea but all of our eyes were shut due to the flash. It was a perfect photo, it somehow even captured the moon.
     Our time there was short but we promised each other that we would dig up the guts to make next time longer than fifteen minutes.

While laying in my bed after I got back inside, I stared at the picture I took on my phone and the Polaroid picture. Instead of texting the group chat we had called "Moon Rising Plan 🌕" I just went to sleep, feeling content with how I did something rebellious.