Five Minutes explores five minutes of a life in one hundred words. Five minutes is edited by Susanna Baird, with editorial support from managing editor Maria s. picone, newsletter editor kate meen, and founding reader bobbi lerman, plus our rotating team of guest readers, who you can meet in the latest newsletteR. Five Minutes was founded in October 2020, with the Salem (Mass.)-based writing group Carrot Cake Writers supplying the journal’s first pieces. We’d love to read your five. Submit here

The Flood

The rain had been incessant and biblical for days and weeks and nearing a month. When finally it stopped, we emerged from our homes into the November night to inspect the world that had kept us indoors, cut off from one another. Everything had changed. An alien soundscape greeted us: crackling walkie-talkies, cries of alarm, shouts of despair, and in the distance, a gushing torrent of water. A chill flowed through my veins as I realised that the river had breached its banks. Blue flashing lights approached, piercing the darkness. Evacuation, they said. You need to leave.

Emma McEvoy writes short stories and flash fiction. Originally from Ireland, she now lives in Yorkshire with her husband, teenage children, and naughty beagle. Find Emma on Twitter @Corkyorky.

Death Song

The Right Thing