Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Fiction.

Dark reverie
Walking down the streets I grew up in, I say hello to the fond sense of distress rising like a lazy wave in my chest. I slow my pace and, for a moment, embrace the scent of gratefulness accompanying it. I still feel. I still am myself.
By Sam5 years ago in Fiction
The Ties That Bond Us
Kadriana struggled as she tried to peddle her way through the four inch layer of pebbles that covered the path like a stream of water. Finally she hopped off the bicycle and pushed it up the gravel road to the abandoned single story brick home. It was isolated on a side road about a mile away from the interstate. It’s only neighbors were abandoned pump jacks and mesquite covered fields. From the position of the Sun she estimated it to be around 7 pm. But, in the middle of June that West Texas heat was unrelenting even into the late hours of the night. The 24 year old hoped she could find something to quench her thirst and help her rehydrate, and maybe get a little sleep before she hit the road again. She had been on the road for three days now as she headed for Pecos, TX in search of her mom’s relatives.
By Garry Hill5 years ago in Fiction
Georgina The Great
Please refer to Georgina The Great part one to catch up on the plot. This is not the start of this story, it is continued from the previous post. Thank you so much for your feedback and support.
By Elijah Davis5 years ago in Fiction
Creating Light
The doors juddered slightly as they closed. The pressurised rubber seals on their edges worn from years of regular use. The lift was large by all accounts but Edward knew from experience that the metal box would feel smaller and smaller during the ten minute journey to his work space. He was calm today, calmer than he either had right to be or had ever been in the last year. Tired though; he rubbed a hand across his eyes and down his care-worn face. Stubble had blossomed into a full grown beard that he could never find the time or energy to remove. He hated it, but like so many of his emotions hate had diminished itself, become a quiet buzzing in the back of his mind.
By John Riley5 years ago in Fiction
To Be Invincible
Context: Based on the character Kurtz from Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness. Set in an eerie underground laboratory of a military base where Dr. Norman has been assigned by the Chief commander — Admiral Carter, to develop a serum to create apathetic, robotic soldiers that follows whatever they are instructed.
By Hannah Spice5 years ago in Fiction
Of Necklets and Nooses
The city of Heartshape was on lockdown again. Through the howling wind, sirens signaling a chase could be heard in the distance. Bizzy knew that screaming sound would soon be followed by other, more hollow, howls. Howls that sunrise would see silenced with the slow, guttering, gurgles of another extinguished life. The penalty for being outside without permission during a lockdown was death by hanging. Somehow, to Bizzy, this seemed like a fair trade, a blessing even; she often wondered why more people didn’t take to the streets. Still, she hoped to avoid that fate as the floorboards beneath her feet creaked under her shifting weight. She paused between steps to let the noise fade even though she was fairly certain no one was around to hear her.
By Clint Jones5 years ago in Fiction
The Undesirables
The sky shone like amethyst as Billie took one last glimpse of the outside world. She sighed and filled her lungs with cool air as she scanned the metallic barcode that was etched into her wrist against the cold turnstile entry. As she entered the hospital, she straightened her dark blue scrubs nervously and proceeded to walk down the dimly deserted narrow corridor. "Billie, is that you dear" a faint elderly voice beckoned from inside ward 4A. Good morning Mrs Martin – I can't chat for long. I'm already late for the morning handover with the warden. Billie pronounced loudly. "That's okay, dear; I just wanted to know what they are saying on the news now? No one has come to check on me in quite some time. Has the situation changed? Billie viewed Mrs Martin as more of a friend than a patient as she was one of the only authentically kind people left in her life, and she reminded her of her grandmother, who had passed several years ago.
By Caitlin Pascoe5 years ago in Fiction
Valentina's last steps.
The distance between Valentina Perez and unknown sanctuary, mere feet, yet a lifetime travelled. A barren desert of dread and torment, now her stage. This, a naked performance watched by the barrel of a smoking rifle in the nosebleeds. Before her, a makeshift barricade that had until this time only harboured in her psyche.
By Peter Culbert5 years ago in Fiction
Haven
It’s July 23rd, Julia’s birthday. “Julia get up.” Her mother commands as she sweeps the dust off the floor. They live in an apartment in New York, New York now in ruins from the serpents, which the world now calls laviathins, or aliens in short term. They wrecked the city and no one has any idea how to stop them, with intense and loud noises, the world hasn’t been the same since they arrived. New York has fallen, the military and economics have crashed so no one can buy or sell anything, and the military has become defenseless towards the leviathan. “I can’t…” Julia says. Still thinking about her encounter yesterday- not that she would dare tell her mother about it.
By Ysabel C5 years ago in Fiction
Finding Hope
Grey snow had started to fall around them and the dirt was already sludge under their boots. Annalise shuddered, pulled her coat tighter around herself, and watched Tabby do the same. This winter was proving to be the worst one yet. The June air was bright against their noses and ears. They hadn’t found any balaclavas on the last run through the old town. They hadn’t found much of anything. Scavenging was becoming less of an option every day.
By Blake Smith5 years ago in Fiction
Our Secret Hideaway
Migrants came through our little town of Baroque every day. They carried with them the burdens of the places they had left, all cities that had been charred by the spread of wildfires or the complete destruction of power grids or even the rampant threat of unseasonal blizzards. Their faces were drawn and tired, shoes becoming worn from the miles-long journeys, and the children too were laden down with whole lives crammed into backpacks and sacks.
By Jillian Spiridon5 years ago in Fiction
Searching for Mother Moon. Top Story - June 2021.
Luki had yet to meet another that satisfied her, and so she walked alone across the desert landscape, past the gnarled metal bones of those things her grandmother used to call buildings. “Buildings”, she spit the word out as she walked along, hard to imagine thier crooked spines once reached tall and straight into the sky. She heard her grandmother’s words in her head now, reciting that same old story about the transition between the old time and the new. Before, water had run through pipes, directly into people’s homes! And you could drink it that way, no need to boil first. Luki’s mouth felt dry, and she remembered her own thirst, one of her constant companions, along with alertness and fatigue.
By Maxx Ohm5 years ago in Fiction