Flash fiction, short stories, & a secret third thing. 2023-11-22T00:00:00Z https://fromjason.xyz/p/stories/ Jason Velazquez inbox@jvelazquez.email 2023-11-22T00:00:00Z https://fromjason.xyz/p/stories/database-in-love/ <div style="margin-top: 50px; margin-bottom: 100px;"> Database in love <p>Multi-relational</p> <p>Polyamorous</p> </div> 2023-10-07T00:00:00Z https://fromjason.xyz/p/stories/love-loss-and-raspberry-scones/ <h1>Love, Loss, and Raspberry Scones</h1> <p>Dearest Juanita,</p> <p>I am currently floating through the tireless void of space.</p> <p>How are you?</p> <p>Please don't worry for me, Juanita. The stars will surely guide me home. It's just, old men with estranged hearts and muttered minds tend to grow bitter and world-weary (and melodramatic). And I have, for many years, moved around in circles and marked over squares and appeased the passing of time. What could possibly be the purpose?</p> <p>Oh, Juanita! The lull of the cosmos has sparked my mind into a delightful frenzy. It makes my bones feel young, and my skin glow like the stars around me. Ah yes, the stars! They sing sweet melodies for my dancing heart.</p> <p>Perhaps I've had too much coffee...</p> <p>This morning, just before the sun pierced the horizon, as I sulked in the newly ground snow, the warm scent of freshly baked scones greeted my nose. And for a moment, you and I, we, were back at the bakery on top of the hill.</p> <p>Remember? The one with a crow in a chef's hat above the entrance (who knew birds could bake?)</p> <p>We laughed at old blunders and washed down raspberry scones with hot black espresso. You wiped the beads of sweat from the bulb of my nose and smiled when my cheeks turned red.</p> <p>It was a moment I had lost until this morning. And now, it brings me closer to you.</p> <p>Last night, from a restless bed and shivering balconet, I pondered the advice of a star with two bright faces. The voices called to me, euphonious and serene.</p> <p>My dear Abraham, when the cold pass of time whisks you away—</p> <p>Seek the moments that crystallize you, like snowflakes on your window.</p> <p>For a time, I laid still. The darkest hours came in a rush, and with it, a bitter blue moon to bear witness. I leaned into the frigid air and humored my shining visitors, who then told me to follow the moon.</p> <p>I stepped from my door and into the brisk city twilight. The world felt heavy under my boots. The coupled star kept behind me, gliding from one tree to the next.</p> <p>It whispered chaos in my ears.</p> <p>Beautiful</p> <p>defiant</p> <p>chaos</p> <p>a mutiny against the very ground that compelled me.</p> <p>The world absurd, chases its beloved sun through the cosmos but forbids you to do the same?</p> <p>I ran down the narrow roads of the square; the violent winds lunged at each turn.</p> <p>And time relentless, for all its fickle demands, takes what you cherish but leaves nothing in return?</p> <p>I kept on through the alleyways rife with rats and wafts of rotted food. My legs were never so swift. Not even in my younger days. Though, after some distance my bones recalled their age, and I began to slow. Despair coursed through me. Was this a trick? Or had my mind finally sprung?</p> <p>I trekked up the hill towards the fainted moon with all I had left. And just as I reached the top, my legs flung to the sky!</p> <p>And my ass thumped into the snow.</p> <p>In a bitter tone, I yelled at the moon and the star and the crow above the entrance, who gazed down on a pitiful curmudgeon. My eyes shut tight, but could not hold back a gush of tears.</p> <p>For today, I am one year older and many years removed from everything I have cherished. And still, I find no purpose in a world turning without you, Juanita.</p> <p>When I saw us together again, bright and fearless, it gave me all I ever needed to soar over that moon and never look back. It was the feeling of new and audacious love that once blushed my face in that bakery on top of the hill.</p> <p>So here I am, floating across the galaxy, like a snowflake in the sky, with a box of raspberry scones under my arm (and an empty moka pot in my hand), searching for my moment.</p> <p>Searching for you.</p> <p>Yours,</p> <p>Abraham</p> 2023-09-30T00:00:00Z https://fromjason.xyz/p/stories/s/oddities/that-look-lion/ <h1 class="display secondary"> You've been visited by <br>‍<span class="text-span">that-look lion.</span> </h1> <p>Someone at the bar explaining the nuanced differences between long-form and short-form improv? That-Look Lion will shoot you over, well, that look. You'll get just the right amount of validation to remedy that deep discomfort.</p> <p>All That-Look Lion asks is you send this page to 10 people so they, too, may roll their eyes at a theatre kid with a trusted friend.</p> <p>If you don't send this page to 10 people, That-Look Lion will gaslight you. Hard. They'll give you that look for nice things, like when your dad hugs you. Trust me, it may not sound so bad, but that look eventually burrows into your soul.</p> 2023-09-30T00:00:00Z https://fromjason.xyz/p/stories/s/oddities/shame-fish/ <h1 class="display secondary"> You've been visited by <br>‍<span class="text-span">shame fish.</span> </h1> Shame Fish will wipe away one embarrassing memory from your brain. No more, no less. <p>All Shame Fish asks is you send this page to 10 people so that they may enjoy the magic wonders of Shame Fish.</p> <p>If you do not send this page to 10 people, you'll force Shame Fish to remind you of five embarrassing moments you forgot about. Good luck sleeping tonight.</p> 2023-09-30T00:00:00Z https://fromjason.xyz/p/stories/s/oddities/photog-phil/ <h1 class="display secondary"> You've been visited by <br>‍<span class="text-span">photog phil.</span> </h1> <p>Photog Phil will never let you take a bad picture again. Photog Phil knows your good side. He has a lighting kit in the trunk and he never forgets to set his iPhone to portrait mode.</p> <p>All Photog Phil asks is you send this page to 10 other people so they may also receive compliments like &quot;You're so photogenic!” Unless you don't want that (haha wink).</p> <p>Anyway, if you don't forward this to 10 people, Photog Phil will kill your family. Thought I was gonna say something like, &quot;Oh, you'll take bad photos for the rest of your life,” or something, right? Nope. Photog Phill is fucked up, man. I've seen him do it.</p> 2023-09-30T00:00:00Z https://fromjason.xyz/p/stories/s/oddities/irate-ivan/ <h1 class="display secondary"> You've been visited by <br>‍<span class="text-span">irate ivan.</span> </h1> <p>Irate Ivan has a knack for working those dreaded customer service calls you've been putting off. Want to cancel your Hims subscription? Need to speak with a CVS pharmacist? How about asking your husband for a divorce? Irate Ivan will handle it all for you with grace.</p> <p>All Irate Ivan asks is you send this page to 10 people so they may utilize Irate Ivan's god-given gift of gab.</p> <p>If you do not send this page to 10 people, you'll force Irate Ivan to text political donation solicitations to your phone every day, each more desperate than the last, for the rest of your life. No replying &quot;STOP” to get out of this one.</p> 2023-09-30T00:00:00Z https://fromjason.xyz/p/stories/s/oddities/drunk-baby/ <h1 class="display secondary"> You've been visited by <br><span class="text-span">drunk baby.</span> </h1> <p>Drunk Baby tells you the truth. Not pulling off that new septum ring? Does your breath stink after lunch? Drunk Baby will give it to you straight.</p> <p>All Drunk Baby asks is you send this page to 10 people so that they, too, may avoid the accusation of millennialism. Trust me, you're not free because you're cringe. People are writing NYT think-pieces about you.</p> <p>If you do not send this page to 10 people, Drunk Baby will pretend like everything's cool, at first. Then, when you least expect it, Drunk Baby will betray you. Oh, it won't be the first or even the fortieth time. But one day, when you have long forgotten, and the stakes couldn't be higher, Drunk Baby will let you leave the house with a cum stain on your shirt. Have a great first date.</p> 2023-09-30T00:00:00Z https://fromjason.xyz/p/stories/s/oddities/yuck-leopard/ <h1 class="display secondary"> You've been visited by <br>‍<span class="text-span">yuck leopard.</span> </h1> <p>Did a creep just offer to buy you a drink? Yuck Leopard will casually walk by with a perfectly timed &quot;yuck,” just loud enough for them to hear it.</p> <p>All Yuck Leopard asks is you send this page to 10 people so they, too, can cause psychological harm to people who quote Andrew Tate unirioncially.</p> <p>If you don't send this page to 10 people, Yuck Leopard will confess their love for you five years into your platonic friendship. And when you reject their advances, Yuck Leopard will start posting Coldplay song lyrics to their Threads. And not new, pop-y Coldplay either. Parachutes Coldplay. The real depressing shit.</p>