“The Stories We Tell Each Other” • by Matt Krizan

The guards chitter as they approach, and we wait for them to pass. We’re not allowed to speak, but, in those in-between moments, we tell each other stories, passing them from cell to cell.

Fictional stories are best. The Vyths and Dajkhuul have never heard of Star Wars, of course, and I’ve never heard of their favorites either. They gasp to learn Darth Vader is Luke’s father; I laugh when Hgluun steals the Duke’s underclothes.

True stories, about life before the Xyloatl came, are harder. We don’t tell many of those.

The guards stop in front of Fr’k’s cell, his tale about the child who ate the Book of Creation hanging half-finished in the air between us. He says nothing as they haul him away. Neither does anyone else.

Afterward, silence lingers like a weight on my chest.

The guards come and go.

Eventually, I turn to Kevanth’s cell.

“This is a story,” I whisper, “about the Boy Who Lived…”

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Matt Krizan is a former certified public accountant who writes from his home in Royal Oak, Michigan. His short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in various publications, including Factor Four Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and Martian Magazine. Find him online at mattkrizan.com and on Twitter as @MattKrizan.

If you’d like to read more of Matt’s stories, we also have “Working His Way Back to Her,” “The First Stage,” and “Christmas Collections” on this site.

This week’s Pete Wood Challenge was to write a 150-word or less story that includes the line, “[character] had never heard of [name of a movie].” To see the previous winners of previous challenges, click this link. 

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“Do you miss Firefly? Do you like The Expanse? If so, then Privateers of Mars is exactly what you need. [...] Structured as three loosely interconnected short stories, it reads like three episodes of a great science fiction show that you wish someone would make.”

—Amazon reader review