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January 15th, 2026
Flash Fiction Canada Contest #1 – First Place
by Mary Anne Griffiths
Even the rhythmic crunching of gravel under my steps can't stop it. Every night these past few months I walk this road under desolate, cold stars and a stoic moon. In the rain or in the clear darkness. It doesn't matter.
In the distance a train is moving along its tracks and you're there beside me asking if I remember when we took the one to Quebec City, first class and I can taste the port they served after the great meal. "Yes", I say, but you're gone just as soon as I turn my head to look at you. There's just the ditch lilies swaying in the breeze and the tall weeds whispering.
And I know they talk. People will make stories up but it doesn't explain things, not for them or for me. So I keep walking because there are no answers, only the headlights cresting the hill, only the flash of passengers' faces in the dark windows of the cars as they drive by.
About the Author
Mary Anne Griffiths resides in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada.
Read the writer's biography and Flash Fiction Takeover publications
on Mary Anne Griffiths's Artist Page.
Flash Fiction Takeover Collection
This short fiction is also featured in
Flash Fiction Takeover Collection #1,
published in the Flash Fiction Takeover Library.
Keywords: loneliness, grieving, relationships, Quebec City
Previously published in Flash Fiction Canada:
This is the first story published.
Flash Fiction Canada is part of Flash Fiction Takeover and waxpoetryart.com.
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