“A Nightingale Sings” • by Sylvia Heike

On your ninth birthday, I take you to the Holo Zoo. You love every second of it. You eat ice cream and giggle at the pandas and tell me how you want a flamingo in your room.

The animals play and wander in natural enclosures, their holo projectors hidden among grass and leaves. A nightingale sings, so lovely, I almost forget it’s not real.

But I can’t not hear it. The slight static between the notes of its song. In your voice, between the words.

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Sylvia Heike is a writer from Finland. Her stories have appeared in Flash Fiction Online, PodCastle, Nature Futures, and other publications, including Stupefying Stories, of course.. When not writing, she enjoys knitting, gardening, and watching birds. To find out more, visit her website https://sylviaheike.com or follow her on Twitter @sylviaheike 

 

 

 

 

 

▲ Return to Main Post

► “A Nightingale Sings,” by Sylvia Heike
► “Angels,” by Sophie Sparrow
► “My Name is Static,” by Christopher Degni
► “Symmetry,” by Gustavo Bondoni
► “Sound Effects,” by Kimberly Ann Smiley