Urban Volcano

Fiction by Börkur Sigurbjörnsson

Flash fiction

The rocks

I opened the suitcase and was confronted with a pile of sweaty t-shirts and shorts. I quickly scooped all the clothes into the laundry basket.

The rocks — Illustration by Börkur Sigurbjörnsson
Illustration by Börkur Sigurbjörnsson

At the bottom of the suitcase I noticed the two small rocks I had collected on one of my walks about the island. I shook my head. Why did I insist on the idea that some day in the distant future I would refresh my high-school geology by analyzing rocks and minerals?

I opened the desk drawer and fetched two small ziplock bags. I put a rock into each bag and labelled them “Ibiza 2010”. I opened the wardrobe and pulled out a heavy box. I placed the two rock samples in the box alongside hundreds of similar bags. I closed the box and deep inside I knew that I would never see these stones again.

The flash fiction story The rocks is part of the flash fiction collection Flash 52.

Börkur is an avid storyteller with a keen eye for quirky characters, funny dialogs and vivid scenario descriptions. Much of his writing falls within the genre of realistic fiction and his stories are more often than not based on real events in the author’s life. Although the tales contain grains of truth, they are melded with fiction, making the reader curious to know the line between reality and fantasy.