In Short – Issue 4 (Winter 2026)

January 31, 2026

Image credit: Kara E Riggleman

Pressed into the Past

By Kevin Stonness

Our house was built in 1870, back when this was a booming town. Today it’s quieter. The mills are gone, the factories emptied out, but this house and others remain, holding on to their golden years like glimpses into a life that hasn’t completely let go.

The walls are red brick, likely made here. Some hold tiny cat footprints, pressed into  the clay before firing. I wonder if the bricklayers noticed them, whether they left them as a joke or just let them pass.

Either way, the house wears them like a secret, a story baked into its bones.

Kevin Stonness writes flash fiction and micro nonfiction steeped in obsession, memory, and quiet unease. He lives in a Victorian house where stories gather in corners, brickwork, and shadow. His work has appeared in Flash Phantoms.