This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 6, season 2, for Monday the sixth of October 2025. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Safety Catch

by Elizabeth Guilt

When the invasion came, we ran. We tried to settle, we ran further, we hid, we fought through snow, and ran again. Most of us survived. We tried to help each other, tried to reassure ourselves we'd be safe one day.

"What even is safe?" asked Asha, bitterly, as we watched the patrols get closer to the caves we'd huddled in for a week.

"Stories," said Mimi.

Asha's eyes blazed. "Stories?"

"Yes. One day, we will talk of something other than survival, and have room in our hearts to care about people we don't know. Only safe people share stories."

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I am lucky: in my lifetime, my home has not been threatened by invasion. I've never been a refugee. Perhaps it is not like this at all.

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Take care, everyone, and I'll see you tomorrow for episode 7.

https://www.elizabethguilt.com/drabbletober/s2episode6