Reluctant Autumn follows the enigmatic Farrell Jenkins—a boy possibly raised by cats—on a prowl through the strange spaces between growing up and letting go.

Farrell holds his cupped hands under his mouth and flashes of green reflect on his pale chin. That’s how I know he’s holding a firefly. I’m trying to get my history paper done, the one I was supposed to be working on all week but didn’t start until tonight, but it’s hard to ignore a boy on a thickamore mumbling to a bug outside your window.

Fantasy. Flash fiction (765 words). Published in Worlds of Possibility, April 2025 (Version One).