2025 February Flash Fiction Challenge: Day 20

Write a piece of flash fiction each day of February with the February Flash Fiction Challenge, led by Managing Editor Moriah Richard. Each day, receive a prompt, example story, and write your own. Today’s prompt is to write about the day the world was supposed to end.

For today's prompt, write about the day the world was supposed to end.

(Note: If your story gets flagged for review, be patient—we will be releasing comments every few hours throughout the weekdays of this challenge. Our system randomly flags comments for review, so just sit tight and wait for us to set it free! If you run into any other issues with posting your story, please just send me an e-mail at mrichard@aimmedia.com with the subject line: Flash Fiction Challenge Commenting Issue.)

Here’s my attempt at a story set the day the world is supposed to end:

The Last Day

The day the world was supposed to end, they did all the things they’d never allowed themselves to do. She bought three kinds of fancy cakes—the kind you see people making on Instagram, not the grocery store sheet cakes of the birthdays and anniversaries past—and dished them out onto the good China which they’d never eaten on in all the years they’d had them. He slipped into a lacy thong, a silken robe, a pair of heels ordered from Amazon for this express purpose. She did his makeup and got turned on by the lipstick smeared across her thighs. He fed her by the fistful, watching her laugh as the raspberry jam dripped down her chin to her bare breasts. They danced and kissed and cried, making love on the dining room table as loudly as they wanted, telling each other all the things they’d never told each other before, too embarrassed or afraid of being turned away. That day, they looked at each other the way a gemologist appraises a perfectly cut diamond; awed at each new facet revealed. 

Since obtaining her MFA in fiction, Moriah Richard has worked with over 100 authors to help them achieve their publication dreams. As the managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine, she spearheads the world-building column Building Better Worlds, a 2023 Eddie & Ozzie Award winner. She also runs the Flash Fiction February Challenge on the WD blog, encouraging writers to pen one microstory a day over the course of the month and share their work with other participants. As a reader, Moriah is most interested in horror, fantasy, and romance, although she will read just about anything with a great hook. 

Learn more about Moriah on her personal website.