Romance Short Stories

Where the Golden Flowers Bloom

The sole of Elise’s boot nearly skids on the slippery moss, the path overgrown and damp from years of neglect. Not many hikers use it anymore, despite its once popularity.…[...]

The Red We Share

It’s 7:59 a.m. when I go into Momma’s room. I’d woken up from a bad dream, but my sisters aren’t awake yet, Riley still snoring through the darkness and Anna…[...]

The Color of Grief

I crushed the cigarette in the ash tray on my desk as I reminisced on the world that once was full of light, hope, dreams, and color. My God there…[...]

End of Bouncy Pink Life

End of Bouncy Pink Life By Will Willoughby Once upon a time, two bouncy boy toys lived a wonderful life on the shady porch of a sunny house facing a…[...]

Life and Color is like Wine and Cheese

Life and Color are like Wine and CheeseFather was always a mystery. I see him occasionally in my dreams: wearing a bowler hat, carrying a black briefcase and the inevitable,…[...]

Drew

It was the changing light, not his hunger, that first alerted Drew to the lateness of the hour, although with his hyperfocus now broken, he was suddenly acutely aware of…[...]

Ventura

Ventura I arrive at Ventura in the late morning on a cold, clear day. A beautiful New England beach lies ahead of a cold but clear blue sky. The Home…[...]

Sunrise, Sunset

SUNRISE, SUNSET Susan W. Hudson Fifty nine thousand, two hundred and two (59,202) is the number of sunrises and sunsets an American female with an “average lifespan” encounters in her…[...]

The Carnival Slept

My waterlogged boots made dull thuds against the grounds of the lifeless carnival. The thuds were where idle chatter, victory bells, shaking coaster bars would have been. They buried the…[...]

Where the Sun Goes to Hide

"Tell me a secret, Beni."Beni only half-noticed what had been said to him. His mind was caught elsewhere, somewhere scarlet and bloated. He glanced across at Aminata, and the departing…[...]

Blue

I didn’t think he would leave me stranded again. I thought the wheel of fortune had finally turned to my favor. I was a fool not to see the writing…[...]

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…[...]

The white shadow

The sun shines on my hands as I open the little book, the one that starts with a simple drawing of a boa constrictor eating an elephant, the one my…[...]

Paint it Back

Winston Montag sat in a corner of the small cafe, staring down at his weathered hands in mute shock. His left hand gripped the grey paper cup, welcoming the familiar…[...]

The Red

Mara was accepting the most prestigious award of her career for the worst thing she had ever done. The World Press Photo of the Year, given annually, since 1955, to…[...]

Green is…

GREEN Is... The fingertips went first.Maren noticed it pulling into the driveway. A cold pinch at the ends of her index and middle fingers on her left hand. She squeezed…[...]

Blues and Greens

“Miguel! Miguel, can you hear me?” “Yes, I can hear you” He knew he was moving. Rolling. Or maybe, floating? He knew he should be feeling every lump and bump…[...]

The Blue Book To Bird Heaven

December 18th, 2006 The birds are mocking me. They race overhead in an unorthodox pattern, squawking in a language they know im too feeble to understand. Incomprehensible heckles. It doesn’t…[...]

Fragment of Loss

The beach sand was coarse against Jacob’s feet. Sand forcing its way into his clothes, despite his best efforts to the contrary. Gazing out into the deep blue ocean was…[...]

The Earth Strikes Back

In the small town of Pleasantville, in the year 2100, a banner flies in the dusty wind. It is strung up on the library, floating from side to side, spanning…[...]

The Truth Of Stories.

My name is Amal. I’m thirteen years old, and for as long as I can remember, my father has told me stories. Stories about our village and our ancestors and…[...]

the ground beneath me

The school bell rang, signaling the end of the day, but I never went straight home. I always went to the park behind the school, a small place not many…[...]

Flight

My name is Aker, and I am a flightless dragon. At one point, dragons ruled the Earth, with various tribes of diverse species across the globe. Some of us breathed…[...]

The Man & The Lighthousemadeleine rosevear At last, I was alone before the sea.CRASH, she bellows. KSHH, she wails and retreats. Beautifully expectable and enticing. Timid yet unapologetic. A shame,…[...]

The Final Landscape

I am eighty-seven years old, and I have lived a very simple but happy life. My wife, Ava, passed away fifteen years ago, and as we had no children, now…[...]

Still I Wait

Time has moved forward but I remain still. Rooted to the same ground for centuries. People pass me by, often without a second glance. However, every once in a while…[...]

What the Woods Hold

CW: Illness, death, grief We each carried a walking stick, stripped smooth by Dad’s pocketknife. My little brother, Ben and I followed his broad frame through thick limbs and tall…[...]

THE ACCIDENT

THE ACCIDENT Arguably, and obviously, it was no real way to live.... An Italian author, Cesar Pavese, once said: "We do not remember days, we remember moments." The protagonist of…[...]

Medusa

(Contains sexual and physical violence)There they go again, squirming and hissing on my pillow. I feel their hot breath on my neck and their tongues flicking against my skin. I…[...]

A Crew of One

A scruffy face stared at its image reflected back by the glossy coating of the magazine. His photo hadn’t made the cover, but the words, “A MODERN-DAY ISHMAEL – The…[...]

Death in Texas

The airport scared her. She’d always hated them. The reward? A cramped seat, a plastic cup filled with ginger-ale foam, and all the sanitized entertainment you could watch in the…[...]

The Thing About Opal

The aquarium closes at six. By seven it belongs to him.The octopus is in the east corridor. Large tank, blue-lit, the water always moving slightly from the aerator near the…[...]

Connection

I was simply ‘grass,’ and my friends were just ‘trees’—no personal names, no distinctions. We natural things have to take what’s given to us; no questions asked. There was no…[...]

Carved

You follow your toddlers through the woods behind your home, just as you remember your own mother doing with you a very short twenty-something years ago. At the time, the…[...]

Master, Why?

Even after all those centuries, the river had always looked the same. Its waters, black as the space between stars and heavier than any mortal sea, rolled endlessly through the…[...]

I am not guilty anymore

This story of Medusa actually makes me feel angry. It depicts the world we live in now. Look around! The world is sick. A prime example is that we hopelessly…[...]

Therefore, she suffers so much more

My insurance payment is overdue by more than a week. Buying the clearance chocolate at the grocery store I work at during break is the only thing that kept me…[...]

The Rock that Remains

Fires raged around me as I stood, unscathed, on the plain. I had hoped that this day would never come, and yet, here it was. It was foretold centuries ago…[...]

Madman’s Ball

Doctor Lena was escorted into the cavernous citadel of the Hierophant, a madman cloaked in shadow. The doctor used the telescopic functionality of his cybernetic eyes to peer into the…[...]

He Walked

There was a man who walked and walked. He walked so far that he disappeared from the planet. The world ended and he strolled right into space. He strolled into…[...]

All Sales Final

The first gift shop on the Moon was also the last thing to close.Martin had been given two days to inventory the remaining merchandise before the shuttle took him home:…[...]

Shot Through the Heart

He shot the taxidermist straight through the ribs. The golden arrow flew effortlessly from Archer’s grasp, embedding itself in the chest of the man nearby. Archer does not know the…[...]

Silence in the dark

I haven’t been able to sleep since my daughter’s ghost started visiting me at night.I wasn’t sleeping well before, but at least I got an hour or two before daylight…[...]

the pink moon that night

I once saw the most beautiful woman on earth. Sadly, I was not on earth that day. I was looking at her, feeling dazzled, but my seat was on the…[...]

In the Garden Where Nothing Grows

(Contains abuse) Standing in the dead garden, the mother pulled her thin sweater tighter against her frail body. She shivered in the chill, the seasons for growing and harvesting long…[...]

I just wanted an ice cream

The day Elena died, the house smelled of coffee and warm bread. It had been raining since morning, a thin rain sliding down the kitchen window and blurring the garden…[...]

Félicette

Despite the electrodes, despite the microphone, despite the spinning and the pain in my head, it was wondrous, for just a second. The sky– I think it was the sky–…[...]

Mission Zeus 5: The eyes of a scientist

Day 1,765 — First Entry I remember when things were normal. I was with my family, having dinner with Celine and the kids. Marcus had just won his baseball tournament…[...]

Scraped Knees

I had never noticed it before. How loudly people laughed in public spaces, as if they were in some kind of contest. Who’s the happiest? Who can take up the…[...]

Week 109

Contains gore, self-harm, and violence Sunday, August 16 It’s important to keep track of the days. It’s scary to think that I might lose count and have absolutely no way…[...]

Peaches

“Susie, Susie, wake up. We have to go!” It was a dark wintery and cold morning outside. The trees were blowing and you could hear the wind as it blew…[...]

Thoughts Held Captive

Content Warning: Mental Health issues.Alone in My HeadThey haven’t always been here. Well, not here. Not sitting beside me or walking with me or leaving messages for me. I don’t…[...]

Orbit

'What a fegging hole,' That familiar view, from a thousand nostalgic images.'Language!' Dad snapped back at me, his face underlit by the instrument panel.'What? You said it first' I responded,…[...]

The Collector

**Trigger warnings for child death** - The air inside the house was cool, masking the heat that was bubbling up off the pavement outside. It looked like every other house…[...]

Strange Fruit

Strange Fruit By Kailey Blount A tiny pot of water we can’t afford boils on the stove and steam puffs up in spits and sputters. I lean into the mist,…[...]

Our 30th Anniversary

15th April 2026. My lips curve faintly at the calendar that hangs awkwardly on the wall. I don't bother to straighten it. She always likes the house looking perfect, so…[...]

Concrete Skyscrapers

Distant, alone, independent—those are the words I would use to describe myself.I suppose I have felt this way for as long as I can remember, though I didn’t always have…[...]

The 6:56 Train from Penn Station

John Mercer sat on the same New Jersey Transit train he had taken home for the past twenty-three years. The 6:56. Same car. Same side. Same window seat if no…[...]

Winter’s End

His eyes fluttered open and for a brief moment, he forgot who he was. A moment of respite, with neither pain nor anguish. The room was dark and he could…[...]

The Day After Amen

The funeral home was quiet when we left. People hugged us. Said things like “he’s in a better place,” “at least he’s not suffering,” and “at least you have plenty…[...]

Adrift

Milo sat on the asteroid and gazed listlessly out into the void before him. What once existed merely above him was now all-encompassing. An eternity of blackness in every direction…[...]

The Night that Laughter Burned

The Night that Laughter Burned November 5, 1938 To be a marionette, there is no better life. Move with the ropes, follow the tug of the string-bound sinew. Obie was…[...]

The Counting Cube

It’s not like any other counting cube. Most cubes have their dots indented. Carved into the plastic shell they were born from in a factory far off in the east.…[...]

Escaping the Background Noise

The silence stretches across the expanse of the house. It can be deafening at times, but the background noise shrinks it back down to size; a rather damaging quality to…[...]

Conspiracy

TW: Death, suicide, SA, abuse “It takes a special kind of person to look the barrel of a gun straight in the eye and keep on plowing through life. As…[...]

Sacrifice

Themes of death, gore, mental health, and physical violence. Arthur didn’t hear the wind anymore, only the rhythmic, wet thud-crunch of his own jaw as he ground a stray, sun-bleached…[...]

The word nobody warned me about

The Word Nobody Warned Me AboutPeople talk about grief like it is the monster.They say it gently, with soft eyes and careful voices.“You’re grieving.”“You’re still grieving.”“Grief takes time.”And they are…[...]

Home

My arms were sore and aching from carrying boxes from the storage room to my old jeep that waited in the yard, the once shiny black paint more like a…[...]

Anchors without Water

A snow flurry rode the crest of the silent brown sea, perpetuating the feeling of loneliness that sprouts from the weeds, grass, and dirt that cut through the white sky,…[...]

Not Without You

As I stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the waves crashing below, I thought of you.Long, wavy brown hair with that reddish tint that only appeared…[...]

Out-of-Body Experience

My body had failed but my brain still had so much more to accomplish. That’s why I’m in this predicament now. It has been 157 years since I’ve seen another…[...]

Aftermath

Sweat pooled around the mask covering the lower half of my face. As I swiped it away, the grit of the dirt and ash that had already clung to it…[...]

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…[...]

Pink and Gold

Pink and Gold in the DarkThe sky was a dark veil of black velvet sprinkled with tiny diamonds – sharp, magnifying, illuminating, a perfect fresco for this world. Today, the…[...]

The Ultimate Result of Continual Control.

The Ultimate Result of Continual Control. Jodie shared a unit with Helen, her daughter who had just celebrated her seventeenth birthday with a group of friends at the local club.…[...]

Ad Astra

Theo always had trouble sleeping— too many thoughts at too fast a speed for the elementary student to process. His inner monologue would only be halfway through a sentence before…[...]

Wet Faces

Maybe he wanted too much. Even now as they sat wet-faced in his driveway with the engine still humming under the floodlights, Sam wondered why he couldn’t be satisfied with…[...]

Digital Roaches

Her laughter fills the air; it’s a bright tune that lingers in his mind. It fills him with a joy that bubbles up, making the darkest days feel like sunshine.…[...]

When You Come Home

TW: Death, War, BloodI don't understand why we cut down trees to make houses. Trees in their natural state are strong, rooted so deep into the ground, it takes a…[...]

The last goodbye

“I like to think that everything I haven’t experienced will happen anyway, perhaps in a better way. I like to think that I’m going to a world where dreams come…[...]

Coming Home

He gazed out across the vast landscape in front of him. The checkered fields of alternating green, yellow and black created a patchwork pattern of the new double-pronged rows of…[...]

From April to May

From April to MayBy: Mackenzie Evans I remember the lights. Blinding. Headlights growing brighter and brighter, each second—an eternity, until they looked like two suns exploding. Exploding? Or, was that…[...]

Lamb on the Tundra

The end of the world hadn’t come with zombies. It didn’t come with falling asteroids or an exploding sun. It came with silence. Out on the tundra, where winter was…[...]

Letters to Petersburg

Letters to Petersburg “Your mother was right, the view in Lauterbrunner is indeed beautiful. I see why you were so eager to finally start travelling. Such a beautiful village for…[...]

What A Pleasant Day

Harper Taylor stared at his phone. He wasn’t playing any games nor was he watching anything on it. He just stared at the empty black screen with some semblance of…[...]

The Odyssey Vanguard

1. Time Elias Vale ran barefoot along a cold New England beach beneath a gray May sky. Wind whipped against his face as waves crashed beside him. He kept looking…[...]

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…[...]

One Last Star

Mark Zantz looked up at the night sky through the windshield of his gray SUV. His view of the stars from down on earth, clouded with pollution, an endless expanse…[...]

Night at the Hospital

Night at the Hospital “I’m sorry,” as I touched the head of my patient. I sat on the bench outside ‌the operating room, thinking about how I was going to…[...]

Letters to a Lost Love

January 1, 1990 Dear Love,I keep thinking that I miss you, but you’re not you anymore. And I can’t miss who you were, because then I wouldn’t be me. Then…[...]

Suspended State

He spent the morning at the table with his tea and mail, narrating his actions aloud, “Right tea first, then I’ll do the mail,” listening to his voice cracking, thin,…[...]

The Crisis in Year Six

* Content Warning: There are themes of mental health and suicide, but explicit. * Ship’s Computer informal notes: Ship’s Year 6, Day 135 Captain Menendez has called a meeting of…[...]

Planetary Comet

Warning: Vague descriptions of gore/self-harm pertaining to the story. I could taste the light upon the walls. I could taste the purples and blues that trickled down from the moist…[...]

A Sky Full of Stars

(This story contains suicide and strong language) I don’t remember how to look at the stars anymore. Looking at the stars may not be something you learn how to do,…[...]

The Eleanor Effect

Dead.Eleanor didn’t know what she was looking at first. But as she looked closely. It was a dead bird. She stood there for a moment. At first, she was in…[...]

My Neighbor, the Mouse

As night arrived and began covering the land in darkness, a man named Alex Wertol sat in his prison cell, wondering what would happen next during the last few hours…[...]

Little Mercies

The deceased boy rested in his casket. The guests paying their respects all thought the same thing: Sam’s face looked wrong. And they were right. It looked nothing like him.…[...]

The Dinner I Couldn’t Digest

Trigger warning: child abuse of a sexual nature They flocked around him like crows on a dead sheep. Too bad they weren't pecking out his eyes. Instead, they bent towards…[...]

Typical Treatment

It’s busier than usual tonight. The event room is booked out by awedding party and the diner is packed. Madi has five tables, which isoverwhelming but worth the money. The…[...]

What Once Was Mine

Warnings for themes of death, grief. When you’re young, you have all these dreams and passions. As a young lad, I wrote and created stories with my very best friend-…[...]