Flash Fiction Round 3 Runner-up: “Stilwell Jr. High School, 1919” by E.B. Schnepp
During the summer of 2017 we continued our annual Flash Fiction Contest series, inviting authors to respond to three different picture prompts. You can read more about the series here. Round 3 submissions responded to our photo prompt with the following criteria: here.
Milo talked about sliding through the air duct, but I only had an eye for the chain link fences, the fountains that kicked on by themselves, caution tape pasted over every entrance to the tunnels. Rita, stopping the elevator to write our names on its sliding lock-down panel,
did you know time everywhere stops when you pause the elevator? That’s why they have to tear down the school, because nowhere should have that kind of power, because kids come here to study before math exams, because it’s more camera free than the small stairs’ corner landing, because—don’t lie to me—even you are starting to get ideas the grownups don’t want you to know you have.
E.B. Schnepp is a poet hailing from rural Mid-Michigan who currently finds herself stranded in the flatlands of Ohio. Her work can also be found in Hypertrophic Lit, Maudlin House, and Crab Fat, among others.
