2025 February Flash Fiction Challenge: Day 27

For today’s prompt, write about a puzzle.

(Note: If your story gets flagged for review, be patient—we will be releasing comments every few hours throughout the weekdays of this challenge. Our system randomly flags comments for review, so just sit tight and wait for us to set it free! If you run into any other issues with posting your story, please just send me an e-mail at mrichard@aimmedia.com with the subject line: Flash Fiction Challenge Commenting Issue.)

Here’s my attempt at a story about a puzzle:

Missing Piece

The hardest thing about her mother’s passing was visiting her house after. She expected it to be emotional, but the half-finished puzzle on the dining room table, a cup of tea gone cold next to it, brought her to her knees.

She’d never been a puzzler, but that night, she found herself working on it late until the night, a raunchy audiobook playing through her headphones, one piece slotting into the next.

When she was down to the last piece, she sat back, feeling its dips and ridges with her fingertips. She laid it down, tears streaming, leaving it unfinished.