2026 February Flash Fiction Challenge: Day 6

Some first-week reminders:

1. There is no sign-up. All you need to do is visit WritersDigest.com every day this month and click on the day's prompt.

2. You share your works in the comments section. To find the comments, just scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, write your story right in the text box or copy/paste (whichever you prefer!), and hit submit.

3. You don't need to share your work to participate. A lot of writers aren't comfortable sharing their work here. That's totally OK! The main thing is that you're writing something every day.

4. The system will occasionally flag stories for review. There is nothing wrong with your work; our platform does it randomly. We will be going through and releasing stories periodically between the hours of 9 a.m.–5 p.m. EST Monday through Friday. If your story is flagged, just sit tight. It'll be released!

For today's prompt, write about someone who’s taken a detour.

(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.)

Detours

They sit in silence, trying not to stare at each other. Eventually, he clears his throat.

“It’s not like this is a surprise.” He coughs into his fist, goes to take a sip from the paper cup, lowers it again. “You’ve been together quite a while.”

“That’s true,” she says.

He tries a smile but it fits oddly on his face. “I’m happy for you.”

Are you? she doesn’t ask. Instead, she swallows some of her own caffeine and says nothing. The engagement ring sits heavily in her pocket, but she knows he doesn’t want to see it, though he would probably feign interest if she asked to show him.

“You’re still my favorite ex-wife,” he says.

She rolls her eyes, some of the awkwardness thawing between them.

“And my favorite co-parent.” His grin is more normal, this well-worn teasing taking them back on track.

“Yes, yes, I’m amazing, no need to wax on about it,” she says. Her smile is easy.

“This isn’t how I thought our life would look,” he says suddenly. “But I’m—glad. We’re both happy, where we should be. Where you should be. It’s nice.”

The old love rises, shortening her breath, burning behind her eyes. The ghosts of who they used to be to each other are sitting at the table. But they’re just ghosts; they can’t hurt her, not anymore.

“It is nice,” she finally says.

They drink their coffees, words washing back to custody swaps and school schedules, taking them further down the road of who they are now instead of who they thought they’d be.