Four short fictions less than 200 words each. Set post BDM.

Conflagration

River looked with delight at all the packages on her bed. At last she had done it!

Since Miranda she had become one of the team and had participated in several jobs, assiduously saving her cut.

Today she, Kaylee and a forcibly included Zoë had gone shopping. For the first time in her life, she had chosen, with her friends’ help, her own clothes.

She danced around the confined space piling up all her hated apparel. The too big dresses, droopy jumpers and little girl underwear were all bundled up and taken outside to where Kaylee had built a roaring fire.

This was a true ending to her previous self she thought as she hefted her clothes and threw them into the conflagration.

******************

Acceptance

Zoë sat beside the fire staring into the flames. She knew her friends were worried about her, it was nearly a year since Miranda and she was still bitter.

Bitter that Wash had died, she dreamt all the time of him dead there on the flight deck. She was bitter that she was still here, bitter ‘bout everything. Tired of such stupid behaviour she had allowed herself to be bullied into going shopping.

Surprisingly she had enjoyed her time with the other women. River’s pure delight in buying clothes that fitted had lifted Zoë’s spirits and Kaylee’s buoyant chatter about her love life had started her remembering.

Remembering times past, the fun, the loving, the fights she realised that this was how she should be remembering Wash, not with bitterness.

Determined, she hurled the memory of Wash’s death away and with it went her bitterness. Instead she would remember the man the way he truly was a funny, loving hero that she’d been proud to be married to.

*******************

Flew

“Looks like fun.” Mal remarked watching the women round the fire, pleased that Zoë had left her room first to go shopping and was now taking part in whatever strange thing they were doing.

“What are they doing anyway?”

“Bu