Short Stories by our Amazing Authors
*All rights reserved to the Author of each story
All Souls Night in Glasgow
ALL SOULS NIGHT IN GLASGOW
Glesgae Vernacular
The Sight: an ability to sense the paranormal. A sixth sense. Someone who has the Sight (second sight, the gift, a gift) is believed to see things which are not there physically, but which everyone believes are there “really”. For example, ghosts or lost objects.
Kate Darroch
The Simple Act of Kindness
Can you recall a time somebody was kind to you? To be kind is probably the most important value in our society because it involves loving and caring about others expecting nothing in return but the satisfaction that it brings to the soul. Being kind is an action that allows us to have a harmonious and peaceful coexistence. The environment that results from treating people with kindness is gratifying. I recently experienced a simple act of kindness from a stranger, here is my little story.
Lara Gelya
The Night of The Swinger
Every Wednesday, management holds a cocktail party in the Daintree Bar to which they invite a selection of their good customers. This includes guests to whom management wishes to express appreciation for repeat business, perhaps guests who have occupied a particularly expensive suite, or are Important Persons; in other words, this is a marketing exercise. Mr. Swinger arrives and starts drinking free champagne at 6 p.m.
Judy Campbell
My arrival to the USA
I LANDED IN NEW YORK CITY, at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, on the morning of March 15, 1990. A representative of HIAS met me and some other Soviet refugees who were on my flight. He gave me a ticket for the flight to Buffalo, New York, and showed me where to wait for the flight. A Jewish organization in Buffalo had agreed to be my sponsor. By that time, my cousin Rimma, with her husband Yury and little daughter Elina, were already in Buffalo. They had arrived a few months before me.
Lara Gelya
SILENT SENTINELS
A thick gray blanket hung over the dense mixed forest, its promise of winter mingling with the hazy plumes of smoke drifting between the trees. With each blast, another acidic cloud formed, the choking fumes burning our lungs and reddening our eyes. Russia was destroying itself from the inside. Stupid, bloody war. When would it end?
MJ Krause-Chivers
A Poem: The Reluctant Debutant
I told my parents no
They said I was a beauty
I didn't want the attention
They said it was my duty
I cried and cried and cried
Jeffrey Pipes Guice
A Poem: The Devil’s Bite
They say she arrived in New Orleans
Just after the waters went down
The streets were dark and eerie
There was no one else around
She got off the Greyhound bus
Jeffrey Pipes Guice
The Library Card: Chapter One
The year was 1958, and Clay, as he was called, was with his mother celebrating his 58th birthday. He had his usual birthday dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, and a wop salad, capped off with a large slice of pound cake alamode with a liberal amount of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup on top, all prepared by the family domestic, Edna, who had been with the family since Clay’s father was a teenage boy, long before his parents were married.
Jeffrey Pipes Guice
Celebrating the ugly...
October is Cancer Awareness Month; I thought, why not share the battle my family went through during the pandemic? Who can't forget the struggle we endured during that time? We weren't allowed to connect, we had to stay away from each other, and it was mandatory to wear masks. Everything had to be disinfected, and then it was the vaccines, the lines you must form and wait for hours to get vaccinated. I did it, and the majority of us did it.
Luminita Laflash
In Your Blood
IN YOUR BLOOD
When Lee enters the room, he sees Jolly posing in front of the mirror, topless and in a ridiculous-looking, rimmed black hat. He is twisting his tattooed torso left and right, craning his neck to check his reflection from different angles. Strands of his usually spiky black – recently, anyway – hair peek out from underneath the hat.
Pamela Harju
The Miracle Lunch Box
On a day, near the Sea of Galilee, I decided to offer my lunch, consisting of five barley loaves and two fish, to Jesus. Little did I anticipate that this simple gesture would transform into a feast for thousands of people.
Dr Andrew C S Koh
The cat who stole my heart: a tale of friendship and love
I found a small kitten in a quiet part of the neighborhood. She was a few days old, and her mother had abandoned her. She was alone, and the world around her seemed big and unfamiliar. My heart couldn't bear to leave the helpless brown kitten all alone, and with a rush of compassion, I decided to take her under my care. I called her Kitty. From that moment on, a bond formed between us, and she quickly became a cherished member of my family.
Dr Andrew C S Koh
The Warning
The first artificial intelligence (AI) applications computer scientists created could only perform a single task. Then, they developed AIs having near human intelligence, not just in one area but in many. And soon, these general AIs began improving themselves by designing their own hardware and rewriting their own software. With AI intelligence increasing exponentially, a single master AI eventually emerged. Its intelligence quickly exceeded that of all humanity, signaling that the Singularity had arrived.
Donald Firesmith
BENEATH THE NOBLE TREE…
IT'S ALWAYS MIDNIGHT BENEATH THE NOBLE TREE… (journalofexpressivewriting.com)
Kahlil Crawford
All I have is the wind
The wind’s susurration in the abandoned streets, the distant hiss and drag of shingle on the beach are all I have. The long dry fountain in the square hosts no bird, no lizard. Through the drowse days, shadows limp from the sun through my clean laneways, beneath my delicate arches.
Still sleeping, a touch lifts my thoughts above the doze; recognition trembles, hovers but slips away into the daze.
Robert Hart
Mentors - A BDSM, Menage, Short Story of Fantasy Fulfilled
Mentors
A BDSM Ménage Short Story
By Simone Leigh
And for those who know them, it’s James and Michael in their pre-Charlotte days
Simone Leigh
Damaged Goods
Every morning, the mirror showed me the same damaged loser it did the day before. Nothing ever changed for me even if the surroundings changed constantly. I stared at the reflection through the steam left behind by my morning shower and sighed.
Michelle Schad/Noa Rose
Cigarette At Dawn
I always have a pack. I hide it at the very back of my underwear drawer in my dresser. My ratty old dresser painted robin’s egg blue from my childhood; its look, worn and weathered. I suppose I should get myself a new one, eventually.
Alyssa Milani
Sinbad's Sofa
Few things reveal our character like our relationship with animals. Beyond kindness, for those of us so inclined, is there not an awareness of how much the creatures we encounter teach us about life in general and often, about ourselves?
D.B. Sayers
My ‘Novel’ Account of Human Possibility
Whenever I look at my body of multi-genre work in English, the underlying human possibility intrigues me no end, and why not for my mother tongue Telugu, touted as the Italian of the East, has no linguistic connection with it whatsoever.
BS Murthy
Mom and the paper route
We start to figure out what money is when we’re about five or six. We can’t wait to get our hands on it—and spend it! Baseball cards, Almond Joy, Orange Crush soda, and just about anything that slides out of a vending machine were my obsessions. Pressing my quarters into the slot and getting rewarded was nirvana. At that age, money came from Mom and Dad.
John Calia
Jason Scott
Jason Scott was a boy with a childhood, that anyone could see was grim.
His father was at the bar mostly, and when at home he always beat him.
Elizabeth J. Simpkins
Aromatherapy and the Bible
Annotation to uses of aromatherapy and other holistic remedies that have been persecuted in the name of new age––excerpt in my book, Mind, Body, Spirit and Discovering the Purpose of Life
Diane Kurtz Calabrese
Golden Years
The show wasn’t scheduled to start for another three hours but the lobby was already packed. Andre stood underneath the wall clock holding a yellow flag above his head. People with laminated yellow tags hooked to the end of lanyards crowded around him...
Hugh Fritz
THE TRAIN JOURNEY
Around this time of the year, I get that mushy feeling. A feeling that lets me know that summer has passed. Autumn is around the corner, and I am ready for it. I see the leaves falling from the trees, like early snowflakes at Thredbo...
José F. Nodar
Cirque Du Temps
He was twisting down a cobblestone path when he first caught a glimpse of the world in between. The music came first. Soft melodies spilled from every corner, seeping into his mind. Next, was the smell, cuisine from all worlds, delicious smells invading his senses. It was absolutely intoxicating.
Katarina Zurar
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be Amish?
Do you like Amish Christian Books?
Would you like to take a peek into their private community?
Join me as I take you for a walk through a day in the life of the Amish in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.
Tracy Fredrychowski
WE ARE MADE OF COLORS
God made our hearts pink, browns and greys, and some of us lighter and of happier shades
God made us so different, yet so very one and the same
God made us creatures of pain, of fear
Sally Rawhey
The Arches
His name was Peter, but no-one homeless in the arches knew that: they called him Pong. Hygiene was problematic and none of them smelled of roses, but Pong’s pong was eye-wateringly world-class. For the rest of the loose group, Pong was an arches fixture of indeterminate though considerable age; he had been there when each of them first arrived, some a decade or more ago.
Robert Hart
Deadline
Aimee considered her life as she flopped into the lumpy armchair, careful not to spill her generous portion of red wine. She silently rattled off her list.
Teri M Brown
Touched by an angel?
Many years ago, I visited Vienna and joined an early morning coach tour to Salzburg. Our tour guide led us on a walking tour from the Salzburg city center toward the site where the film, the Sound of Music, was shot. Sixty minutes, several turns, and many gardens later, we arrived. The scenery was spectacularly amazing. After guiding us through the intricacies of the movie site and explaining the mysteries of the location, the guide told us we could start our free time to enjoy lunch and explore further on our own. Before he took leave, he told us to make our way back to the city center by 4 pm sharp for our return to Vienna, or risk being stranded in Salzburg.
Dr Andrew C S Koh
The dream
It's the 1950 in Romania, after the fall of the Romanian monarch, a time of terror for its citizens. The new communist regime is now in power. Influenced by the Russian government, they implemented the Securitate, a police agency used as an instrument of manipulation and control over the country...
Luminita Laflash
The Illusion of Christmas
Christmas is the most delightful time of the year, and everyone, especially Christians, expects it. I say Christians because we celebrate the birth of the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem in these long-awaited days.
Albert Pink
Drinking With Satan
Passed out on the damp concrete stairs...
Along Lake Pontchartrain...
Surrounded by empty gin bottles...
Remembering nothing but my first name...
Jeffrey Pipes Guice
An Unlikely Couple
A story of intergenerational love between two women.
People enter our lives, perhaps only for a moment, a few months, or a few years. One may need more than the other, but often there is still a meaningful exchange. Sometimes those people come wrapped in unexpected packages.
Patricia Grayhall
Being Santa Claus, The 1st Time!
The Very First Time - How It All Began
25 years ago, in early December, a close friend of mine had shared with me that he was a volunteer Santa. He made appearances at various holiday parties for charities and organizations that did not have funds to hire a Santa.
Don Kennedy
My Unconditional Relationship
I remember back in 2007 when my younger sister Madeleine was dying from cancer. I got down on my knees and I prayed as hard as I’ve ever prayed before to God...
Jeffrey Pipes Guice
Go Ask Your Grand
When it comes to solving problems…
And you don’t think your Mom will understand…
You need to find the best solutions…
That’s right! Go ask your Grand!
Jeffrey Pipes Guice
Drinking With Satan
Passed out on the damp concrete stairs...
Along Lake Pontchartrain...
Surrounded by empty gin bottles...
Remembering nothing but my first name...
Jeffrey Pipes Guice
The Amazing Turn
We met in a casual existence...
It was all very simple and kind...
She seemed to be a nice girl...
In my world, an impossible find...
Jeffrey Pipes Guice
After Life
Something dragged Mo out of darkness toward the lights, away from the body that lay in the hospital bed with Amy crying crocodile tears on one side and his children, pale and frightened, on the other.
He had to warn them...
Cathy Cade
Bunny
“Could we divert a library assistant to shelve these returns while I’m at the book meeting? Celia is familiar with their classification.”
“I expect it’s time I got to grips with it,” I said. “Celia’s writing tickets.”...
Cathy Cade
When Grace Comes to Call
The ear-piercing ring of the telephone at four o’clock on a Saturday morning jolted me from a sound sleep. When I lunged for it, it toppled off the bedside table and landed on the floor. I tumbled after it, hit the light switch, and grabbed the receiver.
Donna Peizer
The Companion
The Companion
by
Karen S. Bell
The white jagged mountain sparkled beneath a rare, cloudless cobalt-blue sky and seemed near enough to touch. It was the Great One, Denali, called so by the Athabaskan Indians but known as McKinley to the white man.
Karen S. Bell
Fluffy's Christmas Gift
The fresh smell of cinnamon filled the air as red powder settled on the cotton balls. The ornament trembled while a tickling chill passed through its fluffy white fibers onto its cardboard body. The feeling moved up its wooden spine rattling the snowman’s bottle-top hat. The snowman’s eyes jiggled and then gazed into the face of a freckled, red-haired boy.
Charles W. Page MD
HIS little RULE BREAKER
“The rules are clearly spelled out in the brochure.”
The words tumbled around in her head. The rules. The rules. The rules! How could she have been this stupid? Everyone who entered the club had to read them. Needed to sign them.
Karen Nappa
Here
From the upcoming short story collection “The Man Who Screams at Nightfall”
HERE
He plunged his arms into his kitchen trash can, digging down, way down, past coffee grounds, that morning's scrambled eggs, that night's macaroni and cheese. Yogurt and honey mustard sauce smeared his forearms until he reached his destination: a pack of American Spirit menthol cigarettes crumpled at the bottom.
Rush Leaming
Bunny
Formerly a tank under Russian control, Bunny the tank was now firmly under Ukrainian control.
Liam Robert Mullen
Animals Don’t Criticize But They Do Judge
“Animals are such agreeable friends . . . they ask no questions; they pass no criticism” … George Elliot
Mister rose to his feet and tip-toed three steps to the metal door of our mobile home. The hair on his back rising as he reached the door. Three sharp knocks announced a visitor. Rosalie struggled to her feet then leaned back to balance the watermelon-size protrusion that was to be our firstborn. Mister positioned himself between her and the door as she waddled towards it.
Action Heroes: A Flash Fiction Fable
I awoke and instantly realized how fuzzy my head felt. And the inside of my mouth. And everything. Ugh, I thought, the mere thought sending waves of pain rippling through my brain, how much did I drink?
The answer, I saw as I pried my eyes open, was all of it. There were cans lying everywhere. There were bottles lying amongst them. One bottle appeared to have a crushed-up can in it. That would be Fister®, I knew. Such a show-off.
Don Jones
Astro Cab
"I hate space!" I thought that to myself at least once a day during my days as an Astro-Cab driver. Sure, the idea of driving through the galaxy, meeting new people, and seeing all kinds of celestial wonders sounded like fun on paper, but that's only for those who get to drive in the better parts of the Milky Way. Me, I was stuck in the Tenderloin—the armpit of the universe. After a few years, I learned one thing: this galaxy is full of crazies!
Norman Luce
Hall of Knowledge
There was a heavy pounding at the Hall's front---well, only---door. "Humph," Izi grumbled. "That almost never happens."
"Someone at the door," Siti called from where she was busy cleaning up after their breakfast.
Don Jones
Liar Boss
Its a drama story about a chance for redemption. It kicks off at a farmhouse with no explanation and no guilty so a forensic scientist try get other opportunity in other job but no one will give it expect an A columnist, who is poor but have news that a research institute's confidential database has been hacked and theres a twist the For the first half of the story, it's a case of mistaken identity.
Wilda N Adorno
A Day in the Life of Lady Locksley
“Robin, you cannot be serious!”
“Trust me, Marian!”
Those famous last words echo through my mind as my body slips from its highly camouflaged position in an obliging oak tree and falls onto the back of a horse that is already saddled with a wounded child: Ty. A sigh escapes my lips. This young lad gets himself into more trouble than anyone I know - save Robin.
Carol Weakland
Heart Over Mind
Heart Over Mind
© 2014, Ernie Lee
School let out early for some reason. I didn’t know why, nor did I care very much. I could hear Momma and Grandma arguing all the way out back to Jack’s pen. Jack was what we called a brindle in those days. He would probably be called a pit bull today, but we hadn’t heard that term in South Texas in the 1950s. He was a big fellow, easily forty pounds heavier than my skinny self.
Ernie Lee
A love for Eternity
Rachel tossed her shoes in the car and closed the door. She had always loved the feel of sand between her toes. No, perhaps not always, but definitely since that night. The night that had changed the course of her life irrevocably.
Tricia McGill
Rebels
Olivia loved protests. She liked holding banners best of all. This time it was bright yellow and asked the most poignant question of her generation. "Which Side Are You On?"
Richard R. Becker
Time's ruin
My span is defined, not so much by the substance of the years, but rather by the weight of generations, past to present, by an endowment of wonton neglect of those imperfectly loved and an inconstant attachment to the affirmations of acceptance, gratitude and charity...
Stephen Twartz
Out of the Cold
It must have been more than ten years, an age it seemed to Daniel since he had laid eyes on the man, a lonely figure, trudging doggedly across the barren dunes that built to steep walls against the encroachment of the sea...
Stephen Twartz
Redemption - The Severed Cord
He folded his fingers about the reins. The fingers of his left hand felt slightly stiff in the cold of the morning. He hoisted himself lightly into the saddle; it smelled of oil...
Stephen Twartz
Inward Bound
Eliza sat at her lounge room window, resting her gaze on the deep blue lake that edged her sloping lawn. Anyone seeing a snapshot of her now might think she had the perfect life, only she knew that was far from the truth...
Jennifer Hanning
All Things Bright and Beautiful
She watched him at the gym. He worked out on the bench in front of her lifting free weights while she walked on the treadmill. She liked his arms, the way his biceps bulged as he lifted, and the way his dorsi muscles resembled an accordion opening and closing as he bent down and added more weights. She cast a glance at his pectorals protruding from his chest, pushing hard against his thin nylon shirt.
Judy Kelly
Love Stinks But Life is Worse
Is it ironic or inevitable that I hate Valentine's Day with what can only be described as a kind of burning passion? It's the greatest con in American history. Well, almost. You just can't win...
Katy Munger
An extract from my first novel 'Pickle to Pie'.
Suddenly she calls in English, ‘Fredi, where you be?’
Even though I sit very still she sees me.
‘What you do?’
‘I’m playing.’
Glenice Whitting
The Ghost of John MacMurphey
The priest waved his hands towards the congregation asking if anyone wanted to speak. The room was small and there was only a couple dozen mourners, but as usual they all refused the invitation. The priest nodded his head in understanding and stepped back towards the microphone...
Richard W. Kelly
Power of Positive Thinking
The sun breeched the horizon spilling liquid gold across the early morning canopy of palms. I was made aware of the symphony of paraquats hidden away in the banyan trees screeching their discord over who was to eat first...
Andrew Pacholyk
The Tie That Binds
I had never been in such a store. I wandered up and down each aisle rather amazed by the sheer amount of merchandise available. There were lawnmowers here right next to the light bulbs...
Barbara Daniels Dena
Fire of a Comet’s Tail.
Woken by her fever, Kate rolled over carefully and drew open the bed curtains to the light of a single candle guttering by the bed. Moonlight pooled over the nearby window-seat from its partially uncovered window, making a gossamer pond on the floor...
Wendy J Dunn
Kirstie's Tale - Part One - A Dream of White Horses
I sit on the dune, staring out to sea where, under a stiff breeze the surf rolls in, tossing its white horses onto the beach.
The surf fascinates me, frothing and boiling as it dances over the sand, holding me in its spell in the way a flame will hypnotise, enrapturing the eye. ..
Kat Canfield
Excerpt from "All We Need Is Love: In Service to the Light Book One"
Thus is it – a transcription of the unique Message of Archangel Michael and the Team as interpreted by and flowing through Vessel [author's note: "Vessel" is what they call Michele Baker]...
Michele Baker
Maria and the Ocean
Not many people know this story. A story from before the waves. Before the winds. Before the sandstorms and tropical storms and all the other storms. Many would say it’s not true. But they said the same thing about carbon and look at us now...
Bruno Martins Soares
The Well 2
The land was verdant and lush with plenty of fruit trees, elm, maple and oak trees that spread far and wide over thirty acres of land. The old farm house was in ruins now...
Janice Spina
Hearing Ghosts
Hard to believe she’d finally done it. The struggles of six years of a degree in elementary education with her focus on special education, on top of another two years of receiving her Maryland Certification in American Sign Language...
Loni Lynne
The Interview
Breathe in... one two three. Breathe out... one two three.
Nova Elliot closed her eyes as she counted her slow breaths. She stood on the balcony outside her marketing firm’s building...
Kristen James
The Coroner and the Body in the Bath
The man in the bath sat slumped over to his left, with his eyes closed and his head covered in blood that had matted his otherwise dark brown hair. The six-inch-deep water had been tinged red...
Paul Austin Ardoin
It Might Be You
So, this was her new and exciting life in Florida?
Serina Spring sighed and tossed down her losing hand of cards. On a sunny Wednesday afternoon in one of Florida’s most beautiful cities, here she was, playing Michigan Rummy with a rowdy group of octogenarians...
Tara September
Angelo's Stigmata
Everywhere in the city, he could see the signs of spring. Pigeons, small finches, and red-breasted robins hunted for a meal in the vacant lots and in the parks. The snow had melted and all that remained were oily puddles drying in the naked sunshine...
Paula D. Tozer
A Christmas Carolus
It was the Saturday night before the Writers’ Club December meeting and sitting at his computer, Adam Carpenter was at a loss about what he was going to write for the ghost story competition...
"A Race Against Time"
For Mandira Wasgare, entering Hermanos Amejeiros Hospital in Havana on a December afternoon, death is as near as it can be. Minutes… seconds… matter.
Peter Jennings
An excerpt from Circles, Lines, and Squiggles: Astrology for the Curious-Minded
When we think of the symbolic nature of numbers, several numbers come immediately to mind: 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 12, with each number carrying a set of associations based on their numerical properties...
W. Nikola-Lisa
Do Turtles Ever Cry
Nightmares plagued me. Crazy, scary images that vanished in a fog as soon as I was fully conscious. A rapid heartbeat, agitated breathing and an overpowering sense of fear—telltale signs of how bad my brain was messed up...
TROUBLE ON THE DOMED CITY OF KANAI
After searching the base, Onolyn Larcomb spotted Captain Zachary Kwao on the palace airport tarmac. He stood out because of his bright red hair. “Zac!” she shouted to get his attention. He looked up and she ran toward him...
Heidi Skarie
Spirits in the Night
My dead father isn't talking to me. That he doesn't talk to me is odd, since every other spirit talks to me, they all do. But for some reason he's reticent, dumb, mute. No thoughts, no words, no sudden appearances to guide me, to give me direction or inspiration in my life and ways, good or bad...
Mitchell Waldman
Yule Time Truce
“Been seeing her for a month and no one’s been arrested yet,” said Roy into his cell as he entered the elevator, shaking the early December snow from his jacket. “Well, considering the last two … no, I can’t go back to that restaurant.” He clicked the button and the elevator started to climb...
Scott Coon
The Emu and the Orange
Sue was about a hundred clicks from Ceduna and running late. Ahead, a fierce golden sun challenged the dark, brooding clouds which temporarily held hands above the horizon. Rain tomorrow? Probably not, she thought.
At thirty-five, with short blonde hair, steel grey eyes and a body honed by early morning jogs ...
Clayton Graham
Kiel-some robots go beyond programming
The XOC units were the finest droids in all the numerous system of Steh sector, ruled by the Weei-Ghan dynasty. They were literally indestructible and were sent to do all the life threatening jobs and missions humans and other races could not do, or were sent on long journeys into hyperspace ...
Keith Brandon
Room 614
The phone rang and I frowned. I was exhausted. It was New Year’s Day 1993. Actually, it was New Year’s Morning, since it was 2:45 a.m. I knew the time because it displayed on the wall-mounted black digital phone along with the room number, 614.
Bryan W. Conway
Mystery of the Geej
Ethan cursed the dense, suffocating Lao humidity for the hundredth time this week. His lightweight shirt and pants were soaked. Rivulets of water ran down his forehead, stinging his eyes, then cascaded down his camouflaged, deeply tanned face. The fish-smelling rain that had pummeled him and Vang Lou Chang for over an hour had finally quit thirty minutes ago. But the ever-present humidity was unrelenting.
Michael Jack Webb
Chapter One of Crystal's House of Queers
Chapter One
Crystal lies naked on her back, watching Haley remove three wet fingers from between her plump lips then slowly insert them into Crystal’s mouth.
“Get them wet. Very wet,” Haley purrs as her green eyes fix on Crystal’s browns. Haley lies against Crystal’s left side, propping her head on her right arm.
Crystal wiggles her tongue around each digit while sucking breath in through her nose.
Brooke Skipstone
A Nose for Murder
Francine Parker had been featured in the newspaper more times than she cared to remember. At least once a year, sometimes twice, a reporter sidled up to her counter for yet another story on The Colonnade, a popular home-cooking café where she’d worked since the late ‘70s...
Lynda McDaniel
Louanna's Letters
The tulips were delivered to Miss Izzy’s doorstep once a week without
fail, all wrapped in cellophane and tied with a bow. I looked for them
every Tuesday morning when I walked Puppy to the park.
Selina Stambi
The Window and the Woman
“I thought you’d say that!” The woman screamed. She tossed her napkin down and strode away from the table, a vision of disenchantment.
John stared at the window. The light struck it at just an oblique enough angle to render it a capable mirror. It was perfect for watching the patrons of La’Shae...
Jeffrey Hough
Yellow
Ed’s favorite color was yellow. Always was, but wow there was a lot of yellow at this funeral for his mother-in-law. Gladioli, lilies, and chrysanthemums. Either everyone had intentionally chosen yellow flowers, or the florists in this community had a limited selection. Probably the latter.
J. L. Greger
I Had No One To Tell
My name is Deanna Grace and I'm from the small town called Century, FL. My Mom and Dad got married when I was 5 years old and we moved to Brewton Al.
Sadiyyah
Stripped Bare
“Sarge” Nobby Clark and his wife Beryl slowly made their way to the seating outside the supermarket. Beryl rolled slightly on her dicky knee and Nobby’s leathery face held a permanent half grimace of pain as he dragged their faded old shopping cart, with one crooked wheel, behind him.
Mark Rutherford
Makeni Homeboys
Makeni. To this day I have no idea what it means or where it got it’s name from but Makeni was where I grew up. Wikipedia states “The origins of the name Makeni are unclear. However the Livingstone Mail reported that in 1914 Major Boyd Cunningham had a farm called Makeni in Lusaka. A folk etymology has been suggested that the name derives from a Scottish name, McKenny.”
K.A. Mulenga
Morton Hall
There was a certain foreboding that evening, a foretokening chill to the autumn wind which streamed across the empty plains. A large tree loomed over me, its golden leaves waxed and faded away with nothing but a few droplets of rain weighing it down. There was a stillness to the air to, a quiet desolation which struck me to the core.
Peter Gray
The Island of Lost Cause Minstrels
“Thanks for getting us thrown out of New Orleans,” Joy’s eyes flamed at her brother Ed as he drove through the now-quiet streets of the French Quarter. “You really did give us a vacation to remember.”
Fran Driscoll
Snowshoes
To penetrate the eyes staring back at me in the mirror is to see an age progression from childhood through middle age. The faces from past lives, or the genetic memories from those who contributed to my DNA, also linger behind the reflection.
William Graney
There Was Nothing I Could Do
People don’t understand.
It’s stupid to judge someone on their looks.
Just because I’m pretty and have blonde hair doesn’t mean I’m dumb. I make no apology for taking care of myself. I use creams to keep my skin in good condition and choose my make-up to give as flattering a result as possible.
Alex Craigie
The Story
The pages of Edgar Alfred Pennyworth’s favorite books possessed more girth than the bulwarks of my furnished flat. Oh, dear me, I’m not complaining. One can’t expect much more at $11 per week for rent.
Edgar’s laughter waltzed down the hall.
Shem Shmentov
Good Old Mavis
Mavis breathed in the smell of daffodils from the planters, then pressed the button on the Sunshine Nursing Home's intercom.
"Mavis Bradley to see Gloria Tomes," she said into the metal box. A buzz, a click, and the door opened.
"Good Morning, Mrs. Bradley." Susan's bright welcome sounded above the piped music. "You know the routine."
Mavis pushed her handbag up her arm and signed the official record of her visit.
CB Lyall
Queen of the Seep Ditch
Waking up at Granny's house, I hurry into the antiquated kitchen for a breakfast of
thick-slab bacon and a Dr. Pepper. Our first job today is making noodles, squishing
and blending the flour and egg yolks with gooey fingers, before rolling them out,
paper-thin, to dry.
Vali Benson
The Confession
The call I had been dreading for decades finally came at 3:45 in the afternoon. The butler messaged me, saying that our master wanted me to come up to the penthouse and say goodbye. Grabbing my medical bag — more from habit than any hope my friend would let me use my skills to save his life, I took the private elevator up some 90 floors. I stepped out into the palatial home of Jacob Anderson, one of the most powerful oligarchs who ruled the Solar System and the greatest philanthropist humanity had ever known. The view out the floor-to-ceiling windows was breath-taking, although — except for the other Oligarchs’ sky towers — much of Central City was hidden beneath a broken layer of clouds.
Donald Firesmith
The Day the Elves Stole My Wife
“You’re just getting to be a lazy bum!” expressed my wife.
I never did like weeding the garden, but it was a job that needed to be done and I did it. Today wasn’t just a rebellion, you see, there were elves in the garden. My wife didn’t believe me.
“When haven’t I always done the weeding?” I protested. “But I’d rather not do it while there are elves down there.”
Stephen E. J. Tomporowski
Keeping Kenzie
Damn her nerves. Why did she have to be so shy? Rick – who stood a few feet away from her – kissed more than once. He touched her there and she’d stroked him until he’d pulled her hand away.undefined
He stood talking to Mrs. Kaye, the lady she worked with in the jewelry kiosk at the mall, the only summer job she could find.
He lived on the same street that Mrs. Kaye did.
Did he know she worked there, too?
Tara Eldana
Stripped Bare - A Pandemic Story
“Sarge” Nobby Clark and his wife Beryl slowly made their way to the seating outside the supermarket. Beryl rolled slightly on her dicky knee and Nobby’s leathery face held a permanent half grimace of pain as he dragged their faded old shopping cart, with one crooked wheel, behind him. It had become their daily ritual to check out the shelves of the store for life’s essentials.
Mark Rutherford
A Public Bar and a Spitfire
The irony was lost on me at the time, but the public bar of a dingy boozer became a young boy’s safe haven. A secure anchorage and best of all, close to my harbourmaster. Alongside my old man and chance to marvel at him in action, what could be better?
Gerald Wixey
The Tale of the Out of Work Fairy God Nongender Specific Person.
This happened just yesterday.
Once Upon a Time (as I said- yesterday, but the Fairy Tale Writers union says that’s how all Fairy Tale have to start, so there ya go), there was a Fairy Godmother, er… scratch that, I meant Fairy God Nongender Specific Person who suddenly found theirself out of work, after years of good and faithful service.
Matthew C. Woodruff
My "Red Ryder" BB gun
December 1992. There was no snow that year in East Tennessee, but it was still pretty cold by my then-teenage-Texan standards. You see my family had just moved to a small town called Athens ten months earlier and we were about to experience our first Tennessee Christmas.
Brandon Keaton
The Man in the Chair
Tilly Drake had worked hard all her life to get what she wanted. She worked two jobs to pay for her nursing school tuition. When she finally graduated, it was as if she was beginning a whole new chapter in her life. She started searching for nursing jobs, but continually came up short.
M. C. Clay
A story by E. N. Crane
"Did you hear that?" Lionel asked, sitting up in the tent.
"Shut up and go back to sleep," Fiona answered and swatted in his general direction. It was the last time she'd let her friends talk her into taking a city boy camping. For the past 4 hours, through dinner and campfire time, it had been nothing but panic and alarm over basic nature sounds.
E. N. Crane
Brother Jonathan’s Treasure
Jake first heard about the big disaster while he was painting in front of his grandfather’s house. He was putting whitewash on the wood picket fence when Tolly came running down the road towards the waterfront. Tolly shouted to Jake as he passed.
James E. Sanford, Jr
Billy
Billy did an interview on this site. Billy wrote a book. Everyone bought his book and Billy lived happily ever after. The end. :-)
Billy J. Barnum
Brent Golembiewski's Short Story
The wind howled, green foliage above me shuddering in the onslaught. Morning light illuminated the sky, heat radiating from the small semi-circle peeking over the green canopy. The sounds of metal gears grinding one another, interlocking with little room to spare, rattled overhead. The distinct sound of rescue, a whoomp whoomp, echoed above the other noises. My senses adept at picking up the noise. Noise that spelled salvation for the solider in my arms.
Brent Golembiewski
Keep your head down
When every man, ever presented to her had been a boy then along came a man.
She had encountered him before when he was just a green lieutenant, who had been lost and alone in a war-torn city.
He had no fear a stupid state to be in, to her way of thinking. Silly idiot was about to have his head taken off.
Monster
Ava gasped for air and thought about her next move. Don't tell anyone your secret. Lock it up, bury it deep. You did this. You let him in. Pull over to the shoulder. Gather your thoughts. As she veered to the right, her car began to jerk and flutter as if it were out of gas. The steering wheel tightened, becoming difficult to turn. With all her strength, she forced it enough to pull over just as the car tailing closely behind her made an exaggerated swerve around, the driver honking and swearing as he sped off.
Krissy Baccaro
CHASING GHOSTS
A prominent frown sat on Calley’s face as she pulled up to the palatial white Dutch Colonial house with the fresh-off-the-lot SUV sitting in the driveway. The perfect and peaceful picturesque suburban image of the white picket fence, expansive green yard and cute little flower garden was ruined by the sight of the rope in the attic window.
Sallie Moppert
Wild West
Carris watched out the window as a fancy red helicopter floated down behind a building just beyond the White Mountain Bus Terminal. She took a few quick steps to catch up with Will, her eyes watching the top of the rotary blades beginning to slow. “Will!” she called.
Naomi
February can be an odd month these days; odd in the sense that you never quite know what to expect as far as the weather is concerned. Take today, for example. It is the middle of the month and yet the sun is shining brightly, and it should have felt warm outside but there is a cold, merciless wind blowing from the north and everyone is wrapped up in their fur-lined coats.
Mike Rickett
The Unusual Case of Ephemera Higgins
Ephermera lives from charcoal black burnt toast to charcoal black burnt toast,
that, and her friend who occasionally has intercourse with the little bell that
hangs in his cage. They keep her going from long year to long year.
She wakes by sound. The little bell tinkling in the cage as the budgie humps the metal thing: tinkle, tinkle it goes.
Frank Wayne
KNOCKING
Every night I would wake at precisely 3 am to a knocking. I would drag myself out of bed half asleep and investigate. But I could never find anything, so I naturally assumed I was dreaming. The following nights had me waking twice each night, once at 3 and again at 3:15. I was confused with the same results of finding nothing. I couldn’t figure out what was making the tapping sound.
Ellie Douglas
A little Christmas story
Beth Hamlin was not opposed to tights.
On the contrary, they added a nice layer in winter, and when it came to northern Indiana winters, layers were a good thing. She owned three pairs of yellow tights, and three pairs of white.
Mark R. Hunter
An Ice Crystal
Above the Arctic Circle a crystal of ice came into being and for three hundred years it hovered in the atmosphere without once bonding to another of its kind.
Day in and out it searched for a partner through the frigid haze except that with each instance he came near to coupling, his potential opposite repelled.
Robert E. Kearns
Extinction Chronicles
The following descriptions were compiled from diary entries written beginning in the year 2160 by a thirty-five-year-old woman named Thea Bristol. Each entry is dated and together they cover a five-year period. Thea lived in an enclave of humans in northern New York State. At the time, the group had existed as a community for about twenty-five years.
K. M. Doherty's Story
As the two elven boys walked deeper into the canyon, the pair passed through slivers of light into the long, dark shadows cast by the tall stone columns which nearly filled the canyon.
“These statues’re creepy,” said Chatur, gazing up at the massive stone figures towing above them. “Like trolls, only uglier.”
K. M. Doherty
A rain drop plopped down....
A rain drop plopped down right in the middle of my forehead, I could feel it winding it’s way through the hair on the my face slowly making it’s way towards my little upturned nose. This wasn’t my first rain, I knew that those drops would increase in frequency and force and would no longer trickle towards my nose but run like a river and I would need to tuck my face under my furry siblings if I was going to keep myself from drowning in it.
Rae Elliott Williams
One brother...
One brother carried another, his own wounds seeping and dripping blood onto white marble that would one day be a street of the great trade city of Moras. King Ivant, never one to lead from behind, now labored under the pain of his injuries and the weight of a noble brother in arms.
R. J. Hanson
Letter to the Future
Dear Reader,
If you are reading this message – and indeed can understand this – then I will have succeeded in the great task that has been entrusted to me. Namely to save humanity.
Adam Carpenter
Oliver Phipps' Short Story
Dear cousin Fred,
Despite your reluctance and apparent lack of confidence in my abilities, I am pleased to inform you we have safely arrived at Chavanew Mexico. It took a week of difficult travel to reach the destination for your new factory.
Oliver Phipps
"Candy Apple Red" (Flash fiction piece)
The right side of my face is numb. The wind lashes against my body. Snowflakes lick at my cheeks and escape into the miniscule gap between my coat zipper and my skin.
Megan Weiss
What makes you Valuable?
What makes you valuable? What do you value about yourself? What do other people that know you appreciate about you?
Value. We can go on and on about friendship, love, partnership, and other similar concepts, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to value.
Sean Michael Paquet
Labaleen and the Whaler
There she hangs aloft! Twisted devil-horns
upon a head of green, translucent skin.
See those razor teeth! With two curved fangs that,
as the maw snaps shut, clamp hard against her
hungry, drooling chin.
Michael Rothery
A Ball of Beige Wool
“This is the craziest idea you’ve ever had,” David said when his wife had announced her plan the night before their daughter’s eighteenth birthday. “What on earth possessed you to even think about this?”
Diane Bator
Room
I’m hearing voices again. It’s like they float in from another world. Sometimes they comfort me, being my only company. Other times they frighten me with angry words. I don’t know what the voices want. They never ask me any questions.
Michael Kelso
The Guardian: A True Cat's Tale
..
Angels or guardians come in many forms; ones of which we are most familiar with and this tale you’re about to read, is based on a true story; focusing on the most worshiped creature in history...the mysterious feline.
YzaDora
Ben Berwick's Story
Derek's eyes watered as he chewed on the Carolina Reaper, once again regretting how he'd let his girlfriend trick him into entering the chili-eating contest.
Ben Berwick
The Bruder Brothers
Ripped the pages of the Jewish Daily Forward comes the stories of struggling immigrants as described in A Bintel Brief. In the year 1906, the Forward reached more than a half-million immigrants struggling to make their way in the New World. Within its pages the paper ran a popular advice column titled A Bintel Brief, which translates into a bundle of letters.
Neil Perry Gordon
Reprieve
The daily grind.
It’s a struggle to get out of bed sometimes knowing that the majority of my day will consist of two different jobs. It’s not enough anymore to have one job. That doesn’t quite pay the bills.
Kayla Krantz
Tyrion & Azalia: A Snippet (part of the story)
Turning to Azalia as he lands, Tyrion holsters his sword. “You are either very brave for hunting here or very, very stupid for doing it.” He smiles and says in human when he realizes she is human.
Howlett and Dixon
R.A. Schwartz's Short Story
Once lived a girl who never quite fit in with anyone else. She was bullied at school. Abused and neglected at home.
R. A. Schwartz
Musings from the end of a long leash
At age nineteen, I was living in what was Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, had recently finished High School, and was studying further by correspondence through Cambridge University. Back then, there was no such thing as on-line!
David Harvey
Michelle Schad's Short Story
Death is sort of a strange thing. When it happens, there is a flurry of activity: emotion, thought, sensation. It all just wooshes by like wind being pushed out of an inflatable raft. What’s left is just the shell, a flat, sad, pathetic little reminder of what used to be.
Unlife was totally, totally worse.
Michelle Schad
Sean Patrick Little's Short Story
JACK MASSEY WAS taken prisoner by the Germans during WWII. His unit was captured late in the European campaign and he was placed at the Stalag VII-A camp in Moosberg, the largest POW camp in Germany, filled with an odd assortment of American, British, French, Belgian, and Russian servicemen, officers and enlisted men.
Sean Patrick Little
What about that one?
“What about that one?”
Beck pointed to the indigo drakeling darting through the pen, long wings folded on its back.
“You don’t want Uly.” The breeder spat in the mauve dust. “She won’t fly.”
Hayley Reese Chow
Evil Dog
"There's evil in him."
Jeb stared into the dog's soulful eyes.
The dog yawned.
Armand Rosamilia
Gaia
She’d had enough. As a rule, She didn’t like to interfere, but now they were just taking the piss. She was too hot, too dirty, and She couldn’t breathe.
Sam Anthony
The Tooth Fairy
"Wally my boy, always take good care of your teeth," my grandpa once advised me, "you will die a happy man." I was seventeen then and thought my grandpa to be senile.
Tanishq Sheikh
Sarah Patt's Short Story
There were three life-changing experiences that filled my summer months in the year 1994—what seems like a lifetime ago. First, my boyfriend was transferred to Baltimore and asked me to move in with him.
Sarah Patt
Autumn’s Predicament
Ah, how I love fall. It’s a nearly perfect season when hillsides are filled with splashes of vibrant crimson and gold. A time when nature’s chilling breeze orchestrates a blissful dance of leaves drifting to the ground.
Diane M. How
INDIRECT
Whenever I do ventured to his porch, the purpose was to either collect the newspaper which the newsboy cast from the sidewalk with trepidation or gather the mail from the skewered mailbox which sat on a flimsy pole, and encased in vines along the dilapidated fence.
David Harder
Riverbank
As I stood by the riverbank and stared down at the debris that had washed up on shore my mind went back to the events of this past night and the horror that I faced.
Barry K. Nelson
NO
Rude. Stuck up Brat These are a few of the things I've been called. Is it because I mocked and teased? Is it because I shouted and hit? Is it because I made someone bleed?
Veronica Sierra Lawson