My First Day As A Stalker: Flash Fiction Review

On my quest to find a short story to read, I found the most interesting image of a man with two faces on his body. This picture immediately caught my attention and so did the title of the story, “Nettle.” Usually, I would try to read the entire piece of writing, but the story was too confusing two sentences in! This got me thinking…

How can I read something quick, understandable, but it will have me leaving with questions and questions?

Completely forgetting about flash fictions, I tried to continue my short story, but it didn’t work out, which is perfectly okay. Changing directions, I looked towards flash fictions to get my dose of reading from.

So, with that being said I have a really creepy review for you today.

Flash fictions are pieces of the moment, pieces that should be savored and enjoyed instead of rushed and long. So, after my short story search and fail, I found a website completely dedicated to flash fictions! The story that caught my eye is called, “ My First Day as a Stalker.” Yes, yes it does read as creepy as the title is. This particular flash fiction gave me “You”  vibes. 

If you know…you know.

The story opens with the narrator recounting his time watching his prey, Claire, a nice young woman. The narrator followed Claire throughout the day, telling the audience about what he saw her doing. He got so picky about what she was doing that he revealed everything she did; from the moment she got in the shower to the moment she got out. He watched her from afar and learned and observed her routine, so he could adapt to her and learn her ways.

Creepy right? It gets even crazier.

After a day’s worth of following Claire, the next day he went to the place she worked and said all the right things, inevitably getting Claire’s attention just from stalking her. Of course, he said all the right things…he took what she liked and desired and put it in his own mouth. In a non-creepy way, it was actually pretty smart of him in my opinion.

Now this story was not very long at all, probably no more than 500 words. It wasn’t the length of the story that got me, but rather the feeling I got after reading it. I even checked my windows and all places someone who could be hiding. To feel like someone is watching me just from reading a few paragraphs of a story is amazing. The story had a complete beginning, middle, and end and was very well rounded.

The content was there and on point. It interested me, hooked me in, and entertained me all at the same time. I wanted to read this story.

I will admit that a tiny bit of me wishes that the story could be extended, simply because I think even more detail about the narrator and what he saw while stalking Claire would enable the reader to get a greater sense of just how and why this man was stalking this woman.

In general, I wanted more. I wanted more time with Claire and her life without her knowing of her stalker. I wanted to know what made her so special. Alongside that, I wanted to know more about the narrator! I wanted to know why Claire was the one to him. What did she have that he didn’t not only want but need. I simply wanted more.

Considering it is flash fiction, I guess wanting more would cause a complete change of the nature of the story, which is what I don’t want to do.

The author of this flash fiction, A. M. Morrell, isn’t the most known author, but this story is truly captivating; I would love to see it as a  movie or TV show!

Overall, I loved this flash fiction and will definitely be looking for some more on the website I found it on. This gave me the motivation to write the flash fiction I have been struggling with for a while now! 

Inspiration truly does come from the most unexpected things!

Here’s the link to the flash fiction! I hope you enjoy it!

My First Day as a Stalker

Author: Morgan Love

Just a girl trying to find out who she is :) Follow me on this journey of MSA and hopefully this will help you just as much as it helps me. xoxo

One thought on “My First Day As A Stalker: Flash Fiction Review”

  1. Miss Love,
    Well you have done it. A flash fiction about stalking that I want to read and it’s not because it triggered my morbid side to come out. (it didn’t). I found this blog very enthralling. I really don’t like reading blogs because I have a very picky reading style, so I was already bored when I saw the title of this blog. I gotta admit, you are one of the last people I’d expect to stalk someone. So, when I saw the title, I was confused. My first thoughts were, “You openly admitted to stalking on the internet? I gotta read this.” When I heard the line, “Usually, I would try to read the entire piece of writing, but the story was too confusing two sentences in!” I thought, uh oh. My headache is going to get worse and Is this a Poe story? I mean, you can guess why I asked if it was a Poe story. Stalking and being really confusing only two sentences in? Poe. So, when I started to read it, I was like, “ooh, this is interesting.” And as I got further into it, I was hooked. I searched high and low for the name and author of the short story when I realized you had put it in the bottom of it. 🙂

    Thank you, as always,
    Mick

Comments are closed.