Midnight Snack
October 30, 2025 by Dianna Sinovic in category Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as dark fiction, Halloween, short fiction, writing
At the chiming of eleven bells, the retreat’s evening session began. Squeezed around the table, six people scooted chairs until no one brushed up against anyone else. The room’s reddish glow came from a candelabra on a nearby shelf, and the air hung thick with cedar incense.
Jana coughed into her hand and took side glances at the five others. Duvan, whose laughter burst out at the oddest moments; Metrie, whose face was as pale as the ivory cloth that covered the table; Tartas, who kept shifting among her multiple forms so that Jana wasn’t exactly sure who she was at any moment, and two others, whose names and peculiarities she couldn’t recall.
“This meeting, on Allhallows Eve, marks the time of year when we can at last show our true faces,” Metrie intoned, her voice just above a whisper. Somewhere in the darkened room came the slow ticking of a clock. “Place both your hands on the table, and please remain silent.”
Palms down, Jana let her gaze rove, careful not to engage with anyone. She had heard that one of the five—four, if she didn’t count Metrie, the leader—was a transformed cryptid. More precisely, the Pocono Polecat. Research had pointed her to this Pennsylvania gathering, on this night, when transformers slipped however briefly into their original shape.
A tiny camera, attached as a bead to her necklace, would capture the change when it happened. She hoped. Then she’d have the proof needed for the article she was writing for The Cryptozoologist.
Metrie recited a prayer in an ancient language filled with hard glottal stops and velar clicks. A breath exhaled through the room, bringing with it a rank smell that wrinkled Jana’s nose.
Polecat.
The seat where the black-haired woman wrapped in a white shawl had been sitting was now filled with a human-sized black-furred mammal, a thin white stripe down its nose. It laid its two long, sharp claws on the table.
“Welcome, Shkak,” Metrie said, in English. Duvan exploded in laughter, and Tartas blinked through three form changes in as many seconds. The sixth person at the table, the one with close-cropped hair the color of burnt leaves, collapsed off their chair with a moan.
Jana felt her necklace, rubbing a finger next to the embedded camera, hoping it had recorded what she needed. In response, Shkak bared her teeth at Jana, who gasped. The stomach-turning stench overwhelmed the smoke of the cedar incense.
“You’re real,” Jana croaked, trying and failing to hold her breath. Duvan and Tartas fled the room.
“Of course, she’s real,” Metrie scoffed. She held a lace handkerchief over her nose. “Be careful what you ask for.”
A low-pitched rumble vibrated the table as Shkak stared at Jana. It had to be a growl. The polecat’s claws tore through the table covering, making long slashes.
Covering her mouth and nose with her hands, Jana dropped her gaze. “I’m so glad to meet you … as yourself.” Taking a breath and holding it, she dug out her cell phone, opened her camera app, and turned to Metrie. “Can you snap a photo of the two of us?”
Shkak rose to her full height.
Metrie smiled and put her hand out to take the phone. “Be glad to.” She added, “You do realize that polecats are omnivores, not herbivores, right?”
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Night Shift
September 30, 2025 by Dianna Sinovic in category Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as Dianna Sinovic, flash Fiction, short story, transformation
A crab shell on the riverbank marked the end of day. No crab inside, just the empty carapace and claws, bright objects against the darker sandy grit along the water. Jyr laid thin branches of hemlock around the shell, then watched the river current flickering where the setting sun touched the ripples.
She had gathered bare sticks and limbs to make a fire, but that was for after night dropped its curtain over the landscape. For now, she sat cross-legged on the bank, next to the shell, and waited.
Soon, the heron had told her. The change was approaching. Was she ready?
She’d asked, “Will I like it?” The heron had preened, offering nothing else.
With a weathered branch, Jyr drew shape after shape in the damp sand. Maybe the runic symbols Belna had taught her as a child would help hurry along whatever lay ahead.
Six mallards swam past, their soft quacks of conversation weaving with the low rush of water over stones. A breeze from the northeast ruffled Jyr’s hair and brought the sharp scent of pine sap. Small rocks mixed with the finer sand pressed into Jyr’s bottom, forcing her to shift.
As the sun sank below the horizon, the river darkened. Instead of a fiery glint, the running water now reflected the spangle of stars emerging overhead.
And still Jyr waited, her stomach rumbling in a low growl. When?
As hard as she stared, nothing and no one appeared out of the night. Finally, a crab moved at the edge of the water, and with a quick stab she had it in her beak. Beak? Now standing, she lifted one leg and then the other, her knees bending backward, then she shook, feeling her feathers move and rearrange themselves.
Another crab, another swallow. Jyr resumed her slow stalk along the bank, the memory of what she had been already fading, like the shapes and symbols drawn in the wet sand.
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Roadwork
August 30, 2025 by Dianna Sinovic in category Columns, Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as relationships, short fiction, vacations, writing
Carrie’s SUV coasted to a stop along I-78, the rest of the weekend morning traffic zooming past, hurrying on their way to Dorney Park or the Poconos farther on. The dashboard lights flashed a warning, but she already knew the problem.
“What did the mechanic say about the oil pressure?” She grabbed her phone to call for a tow truck, but first frowned at Hugh. He glanced away and shrugged.
“Maybe a leak.”
“Maybe?” She shot him a glare then spoke to the Triple A contact, who assured her someone would be there within a half hour. A semi passed the vehicle at seventy, rocking the SUV in its wake.
“And did he fix it?”
Hugh did what he usually did when confronted with an example of his failure to carry through. He turned the tables back onto the confronter.
“You could have checked it yourself.”
Five years. Their nickel anniversary. A planned weekend getaway lay two hours north and west, at a lakefront Airbnb. Which now looked like a long shot, given the dashboard oil light and a thirty-minute wait for a tow. And then probably pricey repairs.
Three of those years had been a joy. The last two, not so much. Yet, altogether a major improvement over her ex, who had kept his cheating ways so hidden, she’d felt like the ultimate stooge when she finally learned the truth.
Carrie chose a smile over the irritated sigh that threatened to burst out. “I’m looking forward to our mini-vacay, hon. It doesn’t do any good to point fingers at this point.” Her phone pinged. The tow driver. “Fifteen minutes, he says.”
In truth, she wasn’t excited about the end-of-summer weekend ahead. She’d be back in front of a classroom of seventh graders in just a few days, and had suggested the trip as a way to glue the fractures threatening to cleave their relationship. She didn’t much care for sitting at the edge of a lake, but Hugh fished, and the rental included a dock and a small boat. Her hope lay in what happened between them when he wasn’t dangling his line in the water. Or staring into his laptop.
The growl of a 500-horsepower engine edged up beside the SUV, and then the flatbed truck pulled onto the shoulder in front of them.
Carrie met the driver between the vehicles to confirm the tow details. Hugh emerged from the passenger side and hung back, hands in his shorts pockets. If he spoke, she didn’t catch it over the rush of the highway traffic only a few feet away. Exhaust fumes eddied around them.
She moved to the far edge of the shoulder, and Hugh followed, as the driver readied to position the SUV on the flatbed.
“Allentown,” Carrie said, raising her voice over the traffic noise. “It’s this next exit. There’s a service station that can take a look.” The morning sun beat down on them, waves of absorbed heat flowing up from the concrete. She pulled her sleeveless tee away from her back, damp with sweat. “We’ll be on our way by noon, maybe.”
Why did she always feel the need to be upbeat around Hugh? She was like a defective tire jack, continually boosting up the car of their relationship but never quite able to get the wheel off the ground. Maybe it was time to fold up the jack and let it go.
In the cab of the tow truck, Carrie let Hugh ride next to the driver and she took the window seat. She lowered her window to escape the stifling odor of cigarette smoke.
“Where you headed?” the driver said, putting the truck into gear.
Carrie prepared to give a brief summary of their weekend plans, but Hugh answered first, a surprise.
“We’ve rented a place on a lake,” he said, a hint of eagerness in his tone. “Good fishing. Good weather, we hope. About two hours from here.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand, a second surprise.
When had he last done that?
“Yep,” the driver said. He switched on his signal to exit the highway. “Looks like a fine couple days for you. The station’ll get you squared away. Don’t you worry.”
Carrie squeezed Hugh’s hand back.
The trip looked better already.
Dianna’s Books
Picture This
July 30, 2025 by Dianna Sinovic in category Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as crime fiction, short fiction, writing
When Kristi saw the blue ribbon, she smothered her surprise. Yes, she should have been ecstatic—first place for acrylics in the local arts festival. But the backstory for the painting, “Raging Storm,” was still too raw, too fresh.
“Love that piece,” gushed the festival director, who appeared at her side. “And it sold. Congratulations.”
“Ah … thanks,” Kristi sputtered.
“Those oranges and reds and dramatic splashes of purple,” the director continued. “The person who bought it remarked on the powerful emotions it seems to embody.”
Like searing anger? Soul-sucking depression?
But Kristi didn’t share that. “Yeah, well, I was just letting my feelings flow.”
Looking back, she should have seen the mismatch from the start: she, with her creative spirit—which Trey later dismissed as “flaky”—and he, with his dedication to rules and order. Hah. Their marriage vows had mentioned the rule about being true to each other. Then the news camera doing a feature on beach towns caught him unawares, walking arm-in-arm with a blonde, a senior VP at his company. Neither was dressed for the office. In fact, they were at the Jersey Shore.
Becca had warned her when Trey proposed and she’d accepted.
“You’re so different.” This from her bestie who was still searching for Mr. Right. “I’m trying to be honest but kind,” Becca said. “You won’t be happy with him. As I’ve told you, I always find corpses—those hidden flaws that lead to ruin. That’s what I’m feeling for you.”
But Kristi was positive about Trey. He was the one; differences made a relationship stronger, didn’t they? Being too much alike was boring. And everyone has flaws.
On their honeymoon, also at the Jersey Shore despite the wind-whipped October weather, she’d whispered in a moment of bliss, “Tell me everything.”
He, while amorously tracing the line of her arm, responded coolly. “I don’t have to. We all have secrets.” He continued his line drawing along her body, unaware she had recoiled. “I don’t expect you to tell me all of yours.”
Those first few years were glorious and satisfying, or she pretended they were. She painted and sold a few pieces; he spent long days at the office and climbed the corporate ladder. The whimsy he said was charming about her at the outset soured into a dirge of complaints. She could do nothing right.
When Kristi saw the news clip Becca forwarded, finally understanding what his latest secret was, she grasped that there had been others. She’d been played for a fool.
It’s midnight and I’m blue, she texted her friend. What now?
The reply came immediately. Leave the bastard.
She did, in her own way, by giving into her anger. He had it coming. That’s how she justified it. What had Becca said about finding corpses? Trey’s would never be found.
Then she got out her acrylics and a blank rectangle of canvas. It was too soon to compose an image of her life ahead. First, she needed to exorcise her sorrow and wrath.
“We hope you’ll enter a piece in our next festival.” The director was still nattering on about her painting and the other artwork on the walls that surrounded them. “You’ve got a good eye for color.”
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Dianna Sinovic, Featured Author
July 29, 2025 by Dianna Sinovic in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Dianna Sinovic, Featured author, new release, Scream of the Silent Sun
Author of the Month: Dianna Sinovic
Born and raised in the Midwest, Dianna has also lived in three other quadrants of the U.S. She writes short stories and poetry, and has just released a full-length novel, Scream of the Silent Sun.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, The American Medical Writers Association, and The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC.
Dianna is a contributing author in the last four anthologies from The Bethlehem Writers Group, Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Intrigue, Fur, Feathers, and Scales, Sweet, Funny Animal Tales and Untethered, Sweet, Funny & Strange Tales of the Paranormal. She has also contributed stories for the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable ezine, including “In the Delivery.”
Dianna also has a regular column here on A Slice of Orange, titled Quill and Moss, in which she frequently includes short fiction.
Other books by Dianna Sinovic
Featured Books
ONCE AROUND THE SUN: Sweet, Funny, and Stranges Tales for All Seasons
Stories about winter, spring, summer and fall, and seasons of life, seasons of love, and even seasons of discovery.
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