In the past few days, the sun has produced a landscape of burnt, unyielding trees, here on earth. There is no sign of life. No birdsong. No dragonfly drones. No vivid flowers. As evening haze begins to tangle around branches, Shelby’s vision begins to wane, and he stumbles to the ground. In the first minutes of his stillness, he begins to sweat furiously. He smears his bare arms with dry earth, to cool them, and to help protect them from burning. As he does, he notices his skin has become translucent, and his bones are making a callous attempt to perforate his skin. He knows it’s a sign that his body is succumbing to this earth. He stands up, and continues to tread the rough terrain, in his wild search for water.
©2013.alittlebirdtweets
a little bird tweets 
Succumbing to what? I want to know! 🙂
The character is dying – the sun has destroyed all life on earth.
That’s quite grim but very compelling! The start of a sci-fi story maybe?
Grim is what I do 😉 Yes it could well be the start of a story. All my flash fictions are smaller moments of what could potentially be a bigger story. May be one day I will develop this one as I have had a coupe of comments stating this would work as a novel. Thanks for your comment. Have a lovely weekend.
Flash fiction is a great way to hone the craft and test and develop themes! You have a great weekend too.
Arrrrgh….Very bad nightmare! Brilliant!!
Thanks David. I hope my stories aren’t giving you serious nightmares, and preventing you from peaceful sleep 🙂 Thanks for your comment, it’s much appreciated 🙂
Poetic prose indeed. =) Thx for the like on the OM interview.
Excellent piece of writing, conveyed the horror and futility very well.
Thanks for your inspirational words x