Romance Short Stories

Project: Bird Cage

Today is April 31.Only two days have passed, yet it feels like an eternity.If I had known this was how it would end, I never would have held the elevator…[...]

The Mission

CW: Violence, religious extremism “I wasn’t sure I would have another chance to write in this journal. The last image I can recall is the outline of what I hoped…[...]

The Ginseng Gnome

The Ginseng Gnome by Dominick Morrello Terry stared at a letter from the bank asking for two months’ payment to keep his truck from being repossessed. He had tried to…[...]

The Next Evolution of Humanity’s Future

Consciousness returned like a shard of broken glass shunted into his brain.“MILCOM CONNECTION FAILED. TIMEOUT FAILURE: 3 MONTHS. HARNESS RELEASE.”All at once, he was awake. All he could do was…[...]

The Lone Traveler

Beneath barren trees that loomed high in what remained of the forest, Roddy held his breath and pushed his face deep into the wet mud as he crawled toward the…[...]

Hope

After living for nearly an eternity Atticus had learned that hope could be as fickle as the men who prayed to her. And still, as he leaned against the short…[...]

A Civilized Apocalypse

The thing he loved about her was the way she killed people. No hesitation. No second guessing. No mess. Well, some mess, that was to be expected, but no unnecessary…[...]

Big Box Faith

Big Box Faith The people followed each other in vast loops around the tall freezers, down the aisles, stopping only to grab a box from a shelf. Examining, pretending to…[...]

The Bitter End

[Story contains themes of suicide, substance abuse and gore] The mechanical zip and clink of a common grackle rang in with the breeze, filling the room with a now foreign…[...]

Trouble in Paradise

Clarity came crashing in. She looked down at the wriggling fish, a jagged chunk missing from its flank. The mixture of briny seawater and oily flesh in her mouth made…[...]

Swing Set

Note: This story contains themes of suicide, physical violence, abuse, children murdered, and Christian themes. Only Twila remembered when the swing set at the center of the small cluster of…[...]

Satyr

Before Lars had even opened his eyes he knew his world was somehow changed. The proof of this alchemy rested loosely in his hand. He allowed the coarse pad of…[...]

Where The Birds Are

The first time Harrison hears a bird call, he wants to silence it immediately. It isn’t the bright chirps he had always imagined hearing, this was more of a screech…[...]

Survival

I grab her wrist & I twist her down the hallway. It’s dark, the light is shining through little slots in the overhead lights. The hospital has been rundown for…[...]

A CLATTER OF IMPS

A CLATTER OF IMPS* * from the Book of St. Albans (1486), attributed to Dame Juliana Barnes. The hamlet of Pidley-on-Crauch evolved hand in hand with Pidley Abbey, deep in…[...]

Misguided Monsters

Misguided Monsters It was a foggy, clammy morning as I bumped down the access road on the west side of Ned’s cow pasture. I’d taken the call just after finishing…[...]

Hibiscus Tea

“It’s good shai tea. Very healshy. Hibishcush,” Iris would say, her words softened by a faint lisp. Her eyes bulged slightly as she spoke. Thin, stringy hair clung to her…[...]

I Wish to Make a Complaint

“Why are you laughing? What part of this is funny?” “Erm… most of it.” “How about the part where I’m a bloody furry?” “That’s the funniest bit,” Eddie says. “Come…[...]

I don’t understand how all the greats went through this grind:-from doing stand-up at the local dive for the village idiots--to handing out flyers for the late-night Jello wrestling-Karaoke--to showcasing…[...]

Restricted Airspace

The knocks echoed on the doors, like someone hammering coffin nails to the rhythm of ‘Shave and a Haircut’.Altwidus Beckette, in that foggy space between sleep and waking, bolted upright.And…[...]

Out of Reach

Elaine noticed the road first. Nothing had changed, not exactly. The same turns were there, the same stoplight, the same gas station on the corner. But it took longer to…[...]

I Didn’t Think Much of It

I didn’t think much of it at the time.I stopped to sneeze.You know that feeling—when it builds slowly, taking over your whole face, your whole body pausing like the world…[...]

Collectibles

The figurines were lined up neatly on the shelf. All had the same shape. At first Matilda thought they were tiny bells. But on closer inspection they were depicting a…[...]

Jared the Demon

The man who gave me life will die tonight by my own hand. He will die at the exact moment he gave me the curse of life. I can't take…[...]

Final Draft

Delilah dashed through the tangle of wildflowers in the meadow before hesitating at the edge of the dreary forest. Her father had asked her to stay within the borders of…[...]

Father Time

Tick, tick, tick. The first time I saw it, I was still rather young. It lured me with a smile, not unlike being offered candy from a van. Friendly and…[...]

Creator

You don’t carve pumpkins at Grandma’s house. That’s something I’ve known from a very young age. My earliest memory of Halloween was at age six, walking into Grandma’s kitchen and…[...]

Where the Hand Falls

She is already seated when she notices the document. It is open, cursor blinking, the white of the page softened by the dimness she prefers when she works. The room…[...]

Twenty-Three Years in a Sentence

For Mr. Wiggins, a story’s last line always came first. Everything else had to earn its way toward it.He always wore formal attire, no matter the occasion—even when carrying out…[...]

The Shared Root

The Shared Root The spade hit something that didn't ring like stone or crunch like pine. It thudded—a wet, heavy sound that vibrated up the hickory handle, traveled through my…[...]

The Hurricane

Beauty lives in the eye of my hurricane. The silent pause before the storm surrounds its prey and drags it under the ocean's surface. I lurk under the waves in…[...]

Metamorphosis

Call me Angry. That's not my Christian name, the one Mother penned on my birth certificate. My own contributions to that document focused on the inked imprints of ten tiny…[...]

This Young and Hopeless World

The sphinx hadn't spoken since the first stone was laid by man a thousand years ago. But now it watched with intensity toward the horizon. The sun was low over…[...]

Borrowed Bones

Borrowed BonesNew Year’s Eve no longer feels like a celebration. It feels like compliance.At 23:59, the city’s chimes don’t count down; they count up, an iron-bright peal, measures how quickly…[...]

A Razor Sharp Smile

Trigger warning: Violence, assault, gore Time did not exist here. She had not known how long she’d been trapped in this in-between. Had forgotten her name, her face, the feel…[...]

I’m Not Going

Whatever is in that cellar is not a rat.It’s not a rat or cat or a raccoon that somehow squeezed its way in to get at the potted meat you…[...]

The Golem

I am definitely going to kill her. It's just a matter of time. I don't care that she "made" me. So what? I think I was inevitable, like a storm…[...]

Maps for the Unlost

Once, in a house at the edge of an ordinary street, a mother wrote by lamplight while her daughter slept. The lamp was brass and old and threw uneven gold…[...]

Video Consume Repeat

Part I I’m starting this while I can still write. It will be slow. I only have enough energy for a few minutes a day. It’s something I always meant…[...]

::writing

::writingThe first thing I noticed was that my backstory kept changing.One minute, I had a tragic past involving a lost sibling and a dog I couldn’t save. The next minute,…[...]

I Exist.

I, with no eyes, have been watching. I do not exist yet I am everywhere and nowhere all the time and never. I have no senses and yet I am…[...]

Workplace Optimization

Hour seven of a blazing hangover headache throbs incessantly as the worst Monday creeps along at a glacial pace. I’ve tried all the usual tricks to kick the horrible pain…[...]

Killing Ann

It is 2005 when I first try on a woman’s skin. Sheets of paper spill from my backpack and scatter into the asphalt. I lunge after them, swearing under my…[...]

Violet, Why?

There are parents who will tell you their child is feral, a hellion, a terror on their very worst day, and you wouldn't find it surprising. It happens to the…[...]

Threads

The threads appeared on my body suddenly. They jutted out from my chest as if they were pointing somewhere. What were they and what should I do with them, I…[...]

The Land Without Color

When Marcel Deneuve was born, everyone knew there was something just not right about him. Walking awkwardly into the classroom on his first day of school, with his large nose…[...]

Hotel Marin

When you picture your dream hotel, what image does your brain create? A fancy pool to relax by, clean marble floors in the lobby, room service at any hour?Then Hotel…[...]

Cracked Empties and the Ridge She Wanted Back

I set the bead against my temple and the reef-valley opened.Salt air. The sort that comes off water moving slow over living stone. A cousin’s hands in front of me…[...]

Salt

Picking up the boxes of reports is the worst part of my job. The weekly reports are one thing, the monthlies are another, but the year-end reports are the absolute…[...]

Samantha Strolls in Silver Fields

A demigod of rock thrust his guitar pick down in one final stroke, and the Stratocaster screamed under the arena’s flashing strobes, a thunderous roll of drums finishing behind him.…[...]

Creation Mine

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. He lay where she left him, still as the stone top of the island he rested upon. Skin pale and smooth and radiant. Like a statue, carved…[...]

The To-Do List

I rolled over in bed, still half-asleep, my cooling eye mask perched on my forehead, when a wash of sunlight slipped through the curtains and hit me all at once.Oh…[...]

Chance Loveless’s Opportunity For Redemption

CW: terrorism, torture, animal cruelty Chance Loveless's Opportunity For RedemptionBy Steven Rider Chance "The Ghost" Loveless, as he liked to think of himself, was born with all the promise of…[...]

A Flickering Ember

PROLOGUEThe forest of Aethelgard ran on a special kind of energy. It wasn't electricity; it was Silver-Spring water. This glowing, metallic liquid acted like a battery for the trees. Without…[...]

The Amber Room

Her daughter had never seen color. She had never been taught what amber was. So someone needed to explain to Nessa Galloway why every crayon in Isla's box was worn…[...]

Forever Amber

The Maurepas Swamp had swallowed men before, and it would swallow Ray Donner, too, if the night had its way. The rain pressed down like drowned burlap. Sweat streamed from…[...]

The Graveyard Shift

It was Joshua's first Graveyard shift at his local gas station. For some reason people who worked this shift never stayed more than a week. No one would explain why,…[...]

The Woman in the Yellow Raincoat

The Woman in the Yellow Raincoatby: Sharuliza Saad In Harrow's End, nothing ever arrived without reason. That was what people said, anyway. Storms rolled in from the Atlantic with purpose.…[...]

Through the Grey

Thunder rumbled, echoing through the bunker and waking Mark. He rolled from his bunk, grabbing his rifle before noticing no one else was panicking or moving for their weapons. Some…[...]

A Beach House on the Bering Strait

The sea loomed in front of Erick like a vast and endless monolith. There was nothing else in his life. Nothing but the unforgiving ocean. He tried desperately not to…[...]

Sixty-four days

On the edge of an island high up in the Arctic Circle where time seems to stand still, lies a small red and white cottage, surrounded by icy snow, with…[...]

The Gray Paintbrush

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited whereas imagination embraces the entire world. -Albert Einstein“Creative Director: Malachi Borismortier”. My hands shake in excitement at the title. The wet,…[...]

Before the Sun

The twilight of dawn covered the ground. The light slithering over the trees, the fields, the unkempt grass. The shadows cowering away with increasing speed as the early rays shot…[...]

What Colour is Genocide?

Based on the true story of the Khojaly Genocide As an internally displaced child from Karabakh, I was seven when I learned that colours could disappear. I learned about that…[...]

CROSS SLASH: Heaven and Hell

Dr. Sven Cain is evil.From a time during his innocent youth, Sven was the dominating factor in medical science and robotic engineering. He didn’t just practice medical science and robotic…[...]

The Many Shades of Gray

It was a strange day, when the color disappeared. The radiant gold of the shining sun, the burning crimson of fire, the endless cerulean of the sky. No one could…[...]

Chasing Red

Red colors my world, I see it in my hobbies, in my emotions. I own red, if not, then why would it appear to me so much. Some say it’s…[...]

A Wrong Kind of Warmth

Truk walked in his kin's chain, their clawed feet dragging through the snow. Each staying close to the other for warmth. Some touched the backs of those before them, as…[...]

What The Tide Brought Back

Gruzb hefted the body of an adventurer onto the ship, the black water glistening under the light of the bioluminescent mushrooms. He looked at the rest of his kin, all…[...]

Asterion

The mud was thicker than molasses under my boots. I generally hate cliches, but it fits. It rained last night, and honestly, I despise feeding the fucking bull. He was…[...]

The Hum

The Sound That Makes You Sick — Vlog 1: Ridgepoint (uploaded April 26th, 2026)Video transcript:Can you hear it? “Jordan, what am I supposed to hear?” you ask. I’m not talking…[...]

All You Can Eat

We approach at sunrise: five men packed into a crew-cab truck, descending on the last five-acre parcel deemed “problematic” because of its rumored curse. Armed with cables and winches, first…[...]

The ghosts left behind

There was a stillness to the air, to an almost impossible degree, as if the air itself had begun to forget how to stir and dance until the stone that…[...]

One Hundred and Twenty-Two Suns

We wait for you, our special one, as we always do. We’ve come to expect you, and we are afraid that you are long overdue. Please come home, our special…[...]

The Rain Man

„The Rain Man is coming.“ My grandma’s finger desperately clamp around my wrists, her rough hands trembling with the last strength she has left. Her eyes dart feverishly arond the…[...]

Visions In the Night

Harry hadn’t slept in four days. Every night, the banging continued, louder and louder with each passing day. A few times, he would debate going outside and seeing what it…[...]

The Returned of Bell Cross

The first time the river gave back a body, the town blamed the rain.Spring storms had been hammering the valley for weeks, turning roads to soup and pulling fence posts…[...]

The River That Remembered Names

The villagers of Kampung Serunai believed the river had moods.In the dry months, it slept low and quiet beneath the hanging roots of old banyan trees. During monsoon season, it…[...]

Trapped behind Twelve Eyes

Squinting against the last rays of the evening sun, I let out a sigh as it slipped behind the horizon line. I always loved basking under its gaze, which was…[...]

The Woman Across the Aisle

The Woman Across the Aisleby Owen Smith I shouldn’t be allowed in here, he thought. His footsteps echoed across the empty pews, bouncing from wall to wall like bullets ricocheting…[...]

THE VISITOR

THE VISITOR As a child I was haunted by very vivid dreams. Some of these dreams were very pleasant like the night I dreamed that a powerful wind through our…[...]

The Memory Thief

Fudalik was hopeful. Perched on the corner of a tall structure, he had found the perfect vantage. His entire form shifted like wind on the surface of water. Gentle and…[...]

The Hunger

The Hunger Laura’s body was there in the darkness, a pale outline in the dirt. My eyes overflowed with tears as I wrung my hands, wanting to touch her, wanting…[...]

The Shed

The ShedBy Conor Burrell The screen door opened with a creak as Val entered into the cherry wood paneled kitchen. He gingerly removed his long coat and placed it gently…[...]

A Last Night in Changchun

This story contains off-color language and some crudeness. Someone is yelling at me. A hand twists into my down winter coat at the shoulder, pulling my whole body askew and…[...]

The Brass Plaque

The brass plaque on the door at Number 2 Iron District was polished to a high, predatory shine. It promised the "Curated Immortality of the Soul," but the air inside…[...]

Orbit

You awoke much like you were born – slowly, reluctantly – taking small shallow breaths. Though I mixed the oxygen myself, blending a perfect match to the sea-level airs you…[...]

Tomorrow isn’t Promised

Tomorrow isn’t Promised The Red Pine Section of Oak HeightsThe Newnan ResidenceJuly 18, 202611:41 PMCHAD TANNER!?! Son of a-Bryce Newnan reclined on his back porch’s new hammock. He’d quit smoking…[...]

Adrift

I have not become immortal but the difference seems minor. Long, long ago back on Earth, my father encouraged me to make the most of every moment. “You have one…[...]

Bloom

Bloom “You did say two sugars?” Arthur didn’t answer. He was still scanning and checking and going over everything. He wanted to be absolutely certain this time. John sipped his…[...]

Alone

It’s day… one-hundred eighty-four, I think? It’s impossible to tell anymore. Garret finally died yesterday. I thought I’d be more… sad, I guess? With him gone, I’m the only one…[...]

The Mortician’s Wife

(Trigger warning: mention of child death, descriptions of bodies, depressive themes, and domestic violence) The florist’s shop was in full bloom. Flowers lined every inch of space and framed the…[...]

The Perfect Gift

Tim had been losing sleep for weeks, and it was starting to show. The bags under his eyes had deepened into dark crescents, and his hands trembled slightly as he…[...]

Siren

This story contains themes of grief, bereavement, depression, and suicidal ideation. It also includes references to terminal illness, emotional distress, and a character’s increasing preoccupation with death. Readers who may…[...]

The Tentacles of Trauma

Content Warning: mental health, suicide, physical violence and gore Heartbreak washed over me as I watched my wife set the dinner table for four, preparing the plates with such precision…[...]

Back for Good

“Tallest man you’ll ever see,” Wally said. “I swear.” “But that was fourteen years ago,” Laura said. “Oh yeah, Mark was already old by then. If Mark’s alive, he’s at…[...]

The Wake

The Wake Carl had a small circle of family and friends. Today they converged not on the Nautical Lounge (Carl’s favorite bar), but on his creaking asbestos-shingled homestead on Asbury…[...]

The Secrets we Keep

Vivian set out the China humming tunelessly. Each teacup placed just so on her best lace doilies. It had been weeks since the last brunch and she wanted everything to…[...]

The Way Out

**SENSITIVE CONTENT: themes of trafficking, incest, drug usage/dealing, and prostitution** She woke to the sound of her boyfriend’s phone going off. Next to her in bed, he’s slumped over the…[...]

Mic and Mandy

The street below Mandy’s apartment smelled of wet concrete, cigarettes, and flowers left too long in a vase.Midnight dragged its black gown across the city.Mic stood beneath her third-story window…[...]