Romance Short Stories

Saltwater Spirits, Sugarcane Shadows

The first thing Marisol felt was the pulse—a thrumming, blood-red heartbeat of a feather resting upon her threshold. It did not merely lie there; it breathed, twitching against the humid…[...]

Spirit Eagle

Walking with her two young sons on each side of her, their hands in hers, the Native American woman approached the two black women. She stopped in front of the…[...]

Stalwart Love

Stalwart Love In a little town where there was often little news, the death of the wealthy, clandestine-philanthropist, Adelina, spread like wildfire. It became the talk of the town, some…[...]

D-o-N-ot-A-sk

D-o-N-ot-A-skThe paper was a pale, construction-paper green, the color of a mint that had sat too long in a grandmother’s glass dish. In a drafty classroom in 1960s Bridgeport, Miss…[...]

There is a Place We All Go After Death

There is a Place We All Go After Death Rashad checks, then double checks, his weapons. He is feeling nervous about the upcoming battle tomorrow. “It’d be one thing if…[...]

Bones

The newborn skull is made up of 5 bones.By adulthood, it is 22, the face 14.If I were to build a human, I would begin with the skull (occipital, parietals,…[...]

Vita Retro

12:01am The girl opened her eyes, the sound of a train whistle lingering in her ears. 12:00am The oncoming train blared at him, a bellowing trumpet like an angry elephant. He…[...]

A Light in the Cold

A Light in the Cold A drop of tea leaped over the thin wall of the china cup and onto her walnut coffee table as she knelt to sit on…[...]

How to Win a Game of Chess Without Really Trying

Disclaimer: There is no easy way to win a game of chess. But that’s only if by “winning” you mean hunting down your opponent’s king until he is gasping for…[...]

The Remarkable Robot

Warning--mature themes, mention of abuse I woke up from a bad dream I couldn't remember. Just before midnight, I ended up in the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror."Are…[...]

The Ice Fisher

When the last bit of ice fell through the carved hole, Ahnah's hands felt like they were stung by jellyfish of ice. Cold covered her warm, flushed skin in a…[...]

The Space Between Heartbeats

Ba-bum.....Ba-bum.There’s supposed to be a space between heartbeats. A pause. A reset. Something small and necessary. Mine has always felt longer than it should be. Not enough for anyone to…[...]

The Winter Rose

The snow didn’t fall , it drifted, aimless and silent, coating the iron gates of the botanical garden in a fine, crystalized coating. Danny stood by the frozen fountain, his…[...]

**Contains a death at the beginning that propels the character through her journey** Thump-Thump…Thump-Thump-Thump…Thump-Thump…Thump…Thump… Beeeeeeeep. A dozen or more people rushed around the room doing a million things at once,…[...]

Boulders

Felix reached down and picked up his egg sandwich, noticing it had gone a little cold since the last time he had touched it, but took a bite anyway. He…[...]

Desk Research

They say your life truly begins when you hit thirty. To celebrate this milestone, Darma—who prided himself on being a "massive reader" despite the stack of unread paperbacks mocking him…[...]

A Glimmer of the Unknown

“I don’t believe in it.” “It?” “I don’t believe you can talk to the dead. Or ghosts, or whatever.” That was Isabella, with the carrot-orange hair who used pretzels as…[...]

Bucket of Joy.

Rhiannon had been totally blindsided by her unexpected reduncancy. She was always regarded as one of the rising stars in her field of expertise. Until that afternoon, she had an…[...]

Something Blue

I moved to California for a change. I grew up in Provo, Utah, and I was just a typical Mormon boy who went to church and followed the rules. The…[...]

The Memory Merchants

The night before the signing, Dulcimara found Rafael on the roof of the community center, his cello case propped against the parapet the way a man props a rifle, to…[...]

What We Forget, The Body Remembers

The vehicle rolls to a stop by our camping site.Everything within me yells to leap into the woods. Leaping isn’t dramatic enough. Maybe frolicking. That’s way more dramatic, and oddly…[...]

The Breakup

“We are through!”Those words resonated in Michael’s ears. He walked along the riverfront with his head tucked to his chest. His eyes fixed on the shapes of the cobblestones covering…[...]

What We Lost

I haven’t slept in months. Well, that’s not entirely true. I sleep on and off. Restless. Going through the motions rather than actually trying to relax. I wake at odd…[...]

The Fence Between US

Dawn came thin and cold, the kind that slid under sleeves and settled into bone.Ivy kept her hands steady anyway.Milk rang soft against the bottom of the pail, a hollow,…[...]

Darling Delilah

Today is April 31. But not the same April 31 I left on.Ten years ago, I embarked on what I thought would be an epic journey of love and betrayal—just…[...]

Until We Can’t

Until We Can’t— On September the 6th 2013.Time crumbled. Society was stuck. Fear was created and shared from person to person... literally.They called it the “Nox-7 Pathogen” A mental haze…[...]

Lingering Haze

Sensitive content: Organized crime “The cured water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant radioactive reactors meets the safety standards and has been released…”I turn off the TV immediately. I…[...]

Salt and Starlight

The world is not like what it once was.For there was a time before the kindling of fire and the building of monuments. A time that existed before humanity had…[...]

Love Bomb

Sam was born after the first moon landing. He missed out on one of the most significant and exciting events in human history, but this did not blight his childhood.…[...]

Wastelands

“How many more hours do you have left?” This was the only question that was able to come out of Katie Levine’s mouth. There was more she wanted to say…[...]

The Last Trade

The wind carried ash and memory across the Colorado wasteland. Ninety-seven years had passed since the bombs fell, since humanity fractured into scattered tribes. At the base of Pike's Peak…[...]

A New Beginning

A New BeginningThe rain hadn't been clean in eleven years.Addison knew this the way she knew everything useful — not from anyone telling her, but from watching. Because of the…[...]

Sam God & Safeway Groceries

Fog pervades the hills and trees, shaping an atmosphere where one is lost in every way one can be, in an orgy of flame that towers over the land like…[...]

b to b

“Today is April 31st.”“I need laundry detergent, food, and how about a… you’ve been so good to me. I’ve been so sick. I’m sorry.”“Then why are you sorry?”“Cause of what…[...]

Germination Protocol

The door wasn't listening to me. This happens a lot since the collapse, but usually it's people."C.H.L.O.E., I am telling you, with biological sincerity, that my retina is here." I…[...]

Between Wind And Glow

Wayne walked the cracked pavement of old Route 66. The wind pushed steadily against his back. It carried away most of the spores before they could settle. This was why…[...]

Final Sale, No Returns

Final Sale, No Returns. By, Lori Darmody He is asking me to come out, in what sounds to be an Irish lilt, “Are you in there?” I cannot see him…[...]

“Where the World Still Breathes”

“Where the World Still Breathes” The world didn’t end all at once. It exhaled itself to death. First the oceans pulled back like they were tired of touching land. Then…[...]

Impaired Subject

CW: Euthanasia, medical experimentation Adam looked at the clock as it clicked over to April 31st 2354. The alarm sounded as he reached to switch it off. He saw his…[...]

What Remains of Us

A year ago, a virus spread through the world. Towns transformed into chaos, people doing whatever it took to survive. Hospitals were burnt down, buildings were destroyed, and once enjoyable…[...]

Days After

There’s a stranger in my home. She sits across from me at the dining table, ravenously devouring the food I cooked for her. My arms remain rigid, fingers tightening around…[...]

A good day

She loves the feel of water lapping against her bare feet. But only when the sun makes the little waves sparkle. It’s different to the other ways water can make…[...]

A Path Through Nothing and Memory

Is heat the absence of cold, or something else entirely? I think of fire. Heat.I recall the feeling of sunlight flickering across my closed eyelids as I would lean against…[...]

The Last Words We Write

Your chance to let go of the past for a better future. The message scrolls in an endless loop above the town square. I watch it from my window. Lottery…[...]

Clean

I remember the day everything changed.The day the Virus took over.It was two years ago—back when the world still made sense. Back when people still believed they were safe.At first,…[...]

Today is April 31st.

He opened his eyes. No, not when the alarm went off. Harry was forced to open them by a strange silence. No hum of cars outside the window, as always.…[...]

ASHES OF THE QUIET WORLD

ASHES OF THE QUIET WORLDAriaThe world had been silent for so long I sometimes forgot what ordinary noises felt like. Not the quiet hum of wind through abandoned cities or…[...]

Paper Lanterns, Drifting in the Ether

The wind whistles past, dancing through Isha’s brown hair and the silk scarves that wrap around her face. It’s particularly windy in this part of the Ether. The sun shines…[...]

The Benedict Special

The goat was wearing a bow tie. An actual black bow tie. It was slightly crooked, fastened beneath a beard that made him look both wise and unserious at the…[...]

Sports Fan

Andrew was surprised to receive Nick’s text. He hadn’t heard from him in months. They used to hang out every Friday night until Andrew outgrew the bar scene. Now he…[...]

The Middle of Now—

It was an apocalyptic break-up. A scorched-earth end to a relationship that had been heading toward forever, with the first stop a two-step down the aisle. Everything in Eleanor’s world…[...]

Are You Shitting Me?

The Uber ride was so uninspiring. Emily and Jonas were doing their couply thing in the backseat—inside jokes, not so casual touching, that gross, adorable shit that made Chloe simultaneously…[...]

All of Me

It was always cold in the mountains. But the cold meant safe. It meant freedom, even if it meant hiding among the frost-covered pines alone.Here, the air was still fresh…[...]

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…[...]

The Flower and the Constellation

This story containes: familial deaths, traumatic injuries from childhood, mature themes This may as well be my last note. My last will and testament before I traverse once again into…[...]

When Nature Wins

Nature decided to rear its ugly head in a last bid to bring destruction to the very society that took too much. Grotesque vines twisted through broken windows and trailed…[...]

Elker

About 500 years ago, the Earth was practically destroyed. It's unclear to its current inhabitants what actually happened to it- as far as they know, the Earth has always appeared…[...]

Love is a Longevity Factor

“Are you sure about this, Ollie?” Olivia winces as she tightens the laces of her boots. The only thing she’s unsure about is what hits her harder; how even beneath…[...]

Pale Reflections

The breeze whispered a secret through the broken glass of the tower. Garrick crept toward his many reflections in the jagged edges, breathing in the air from across the room…[...]

Finding Love At the End of the World

I ran to the post station as soon as I finished planting the last seed in the garden. I wanted to get to the post station before it closed for…[...]

The Aligned Partnership Grant

Elaine had not spoken to her sister since the wedding. It wasn’t the marriage itself that made it difficult. It was the groom. Mara had always been competitive in ways…[...]

Decisions

Evie Greyson yawned and stretched her arms high over head as she took in the morning view from her balcony, overlooking the still, turquoise waters of Airlie Bay.‘Beautiful one day,…[...]

Don’t Order the Fish

“Don’t Order the Fish” It was the summer of 1970. We were newlyweds, a couple in love, and going fishing for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. As we…[...]

Primordial Suture

CW: sexual content Primordial Suture It was late fall, the time of day when the sun considers setting for the day. The lovely golden light glistened across the red hairs…[...]

Maid for Each Other

I am Sophia’s complete lack of dignity. I am the girl who gets paid twenty dollars an hour to ensure that Brenda’s life remains a sterile, white-on-white void where joy…[...]

Speckled Stars & Wrist Worms

His wrists were thin and so bright, a white that could be described as neon, if neon were a shade of white. They appeared luminescent, almost glass-like, with long dark…[...]

Projection

They never spoke to me, but I was always right behind them, and depending on which way they were heading, I could be at their side. Sometimes I looked like…[...]

Two Mischievous Hearts, One Shared Goal

Two Mischievous Hearts, One Shared Goal Elena Sanchez did not rush. She never did on nights like these. In the bathroom mirror, she saw a version of herself that the…[...]

It was my Fault

If I was the victim from the beginning I should have known. I wish I knew where I lost it. It's like I thought I knew myself but didn't. I…[...]

The Wedding Pact

The Wedding Pact -- By Neelam Chohan-Jagait Chapter 1: The Dinner Party A warm drop of sweat trickled down Samira’s spine as she poured herself a generous glass of chilled…[...]

Absolutely

TW: Illness and death Age told my bones to rattle with every step nowadays. Time seems to catch us all off guard. My skin is thin enough that my bones…[...]

The Games We Play

You shouldn’t carry that bag, Stella. It’s too heavy for someone your age. Give it to me,” Ella offers with a smirk. “At my age!” I balk at my twin…[...]

The Elusive Phantom Thief

Rhodes had finally cornered the elusive Phantom Thief in the mansion gallery. That criminal had evaded the police for far too long and now was his chance to capture them…[...]

Lucky Charms

Lucky Charms- Inspired by Chappell Roan’s, “Coffee.” Part One- The Meet/Cute. “Oh, you’re quite charming, and if you looked up the definition of charm, you’d see it in me as…[...]

The Call Within

My therapist suggested that I keep a journal. For a long time, I couldn’t gather my thoughts. But finally, I forced myself to take a pen and a notebook and…[...]

Anemone: After Jamila

The windflowers wave to the spring. My red haired beauty moves through the valley like a memory on the stalks. I am with a gentle woman of the flowers now.…[...]

In the kitchen of Madame Noro

In THE KITCHEN OF Mme NORO The house was smelling very good. The delicious odor emanated from the other room. It was apparently the kitchen after a glance at it.…[...]

Joie de Vie

I guess she really needs me.Most people don’t, or they fumble me with frightful ease, and that’s sad. Because I’m boundless, and today, she’s the job.A loop of ceramic ebony…[...]

The Kiss of the Cherry Blossom Petals

3 months, 6 days and 12 hours. That's how long it's been since I heard her voice beckoning me to hold her, when the world felt dark. To hold her,…[...]

The Creature Between Us

“—I think so,” Niam said, staring at the thing between us. Everyone said you could tell how strong a love was by how beautiful its creature looked. Some were delicate…[...]

Broken

Blake lay in bed, his eyes open. He couldn’t believe, couldn’t bear the fact she had left him. His room was the same, too small to be called home, small…[...]

The Sum is Greater

The three old ladies sat in the semi-darkness, sewing. There was a tray on a table in front of them, piled high with spools of different colored threads. In their…[...]

Love in a Bottle

She hates this. She hates that she’s not satisfied. Being satisfied would mean that she’s enjoying her life, and she’s not. It would mean that everything is fine, and it…[...]

Vibrant Flowers from Across the Sea

The color of December was always grey. I lived most of my life seeing grey, and for 21 years of my life, this lack of vibrance constantly degraded my existence.…[...]

What Belonged to Her…

It was 2:00 a.m., and rain was raging outside. A power cut had drowned the entire neighbourhood in darkness. Not a single light glowed anywhere. All that could be heard…[...]

Loving Again

Silence. Only darkness. Vast, boundless, and hauntingly uncertain. Not a sound from any corner; not a single sound to be heard. There was nothing left of humanity or consciousness. He…[...]

Red Telephone Box

*There is some sexual content in this story. Red Telephone Box The annual works Christmas party was one of the best Ambrose Oickle could remember. He was particularly impressed with…[...]

My personal nightlight

A phone call wakes you out of your stupor. The caller was June, your shy but well-meaning friend. Though it was late in the evening, you wondered why she’s calling…[...]

And Still

And Still He woke to the particular silence of a room where someone used to be. The curtain moved once in the open window. He got up.The mors was on…[...]

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…[...]

SHIFTING

By the time Mila met Andrew, she had had a string of alternately unfulfilling and good relationships with one big black hole in her late 20s and a short bit…[...]

Wizard

tw. suicide suggestion Wizard It was in the side-access tunnel of the Dover to Folkestone line that Lucy first began to question the wisdom of exploring the darker places of…[...]

What I Meant to Say, Was

Fahim glanced over Samara’s shoulder, careful not to wake her. The clock had just slipped past two. Her neck rested comfortably on his arm, her breathing slow and even. He…[...]

Under the Gold Lights

The ladder slipped before Miranda even had time to scream.One second, she was stringing gold lights across the barn rafters, the next the world tilted, wood cracked, and gravity yanked…[...]

Black and White

Instinctively, as she had every morning since he left, she reached across the bed. Her hand searched the empty space where he should have been, fingers brushing only cool sheets.…[...]

The Sun’s Great Descent

The only thing I can manage to do in this moment is look at the sky, at the sun, at that over-encompassing plaster of color, and grand, imposing ball of…[...]

The Colors He Made

Kevin said he played guitar the way most people admitted things: reluctantly, eventually, and usually too late. That wasn't entirely fair. He'd said he played guitar *the way he admitted…[...]

Red Hook

Sitting in a bar in Five Points, an establishment so foul that even the rats turn up their noses at its mention, was Colm Cork. He was a drunk by…[...]

A Little Blue Heart and a Vial of Nitroglycerin

What if liking never becomes loving? For Mary, love was a forbidden subject. Grief, though—that was a subject we shared. She was a widow, and I was a widower.Yet for…[...]

After Dusk

“This beach really is something, huh?”Martin sighs behind his sunglasses, locs strewn any kind of way over the towel. The sound of waves crashing against the shore nearly drags him…[...]