Romance Short Stories

I Just Wanted to Help

The garage door hissed open with a pneumatic sigh, and Rohan stepped inside with a box nearly as tall as him. “Alright, everyone—come here! You’re gonna want to see this.”Divya,…[...]

Everthing Except the Wedding

Today wasn’t important because of the holy matrimony of two people. The joining of a union and what have you. Today was important to the staff of the wedding venue…[...]

A question of life and death

Tick-tock, tick-tock, went the clock, as slowly and disparagingly as it could. Ameer was listening the clock tick patiently from atop the roof. He hesitantly placed one foot over the…[...]

Becoming Lily

Chapter 1: The Platform Lily stood on the cold, graffiti-covered subway platform, a large suitcase in one hand and a stiff coffee in the other. She checked and double-checked the…[...]

Belle Nessa – A Gothic Story

How much did other journalists have to beg the editor to write a story? "I will come back with THE story, a wonderful one, an honest, personal account from the…[...]

A wicked cup of coffee

Raman’s Narration It was one of the big American brands that had set up shop at a prominent spot of the circular market that was the famous Connaught Place of…[...]

Childhood long lost

“Maasi, you don’t have to look after me anymore,” Jagrut said.Hena caressed his arm over the blazer and said, “Those whom I have helped grow up mean a lot to…[...]

Until Satyid Voices Wake Us

If my mother reaches Loki’s Star, I wonder. I wonder if she’ll remember us. Remember the day she left me on Earth, on the beach in Varkala. It was the…[...]

Playing With Destiny

Content warning: Injury, trauma, mental health strugglesStaring at my freshly bandaged fingers, I wished for only one thing. To go back in time and prevent the accident. Okay, maybe I…[...]

The Geriatric Counsel

The summer wind was cool. Mrs. Ray's arthritis was acting up. The first 30 minutes after getting up in the morning was brutal. Thereafter, walking along with everyone else made…[...]

The Call of the Past

It was a balmy March evening in Udaipur. The sun had set behind the Aravalli Hills, leaving a faint amber glow in the sky. In the corner of the drawing…[...]

The Light of the Past

I remember the evenings when the world felt much slower. When I would sit on the balcony with my grandmother, Ba, and listen to the stories of a town that…[...]

Angel’s Trumpet

She looked just like her.She had almond eyes, midnight-dark, each reflective shine a star in her iris. She had dimples, damp with the remnants of her resolve. Those same double-toned…[...]

Me and My Uncle

The fortnight had come to its final day: The day to begin my journey back home, to life as it really is, had arrived. Though known and anticipated, it arrived abruptly.…[...]

The Gravity of Being Upright

I think it had started to happen a long time back—bit by bit—but I only noticed it this morning. Gravity was dead. Like Queen Elizabeth. Both of them. Yesterday, it…[...]

Umpire’s call -” Kalyug”

“Everyone I knew was glued to the TV, or their phonesThey had been waiting for this day for over three months. I was going to be on TV during on…[...]

Note: Contains scenes of violence and brief mention of mental health"I am sorry, ma'am, " the out-of-shape, African-American woman FAA officer interjected my mother politely. "We can't let you carry…[...]

Resolution

Keerat pursed her lips and grimaced. She turned her head to the left and then quickly to the right, doing her absolute best to avoid making eye contact with the…[...]

Boiling Point

He gazed absently at the black kettle, his reflection looking back at him like a stranger. Nice cup of tea. That’s what we need. A faint humming of a song…[...]

Guess what? I’m related to Frankenstein

“” That was the last text message Amir sent me. I had so many questions like “Isn’t Frankenstein just a story?” and “How’d you find out?”. But he left me on…[...]

Friendship Matters

My name is Ria. I'm British Asian with Mauritian roots, the founder and CEO of HR Matters. People tell me I have everything, brains, beauty, love and wealth. But what people…[...]

A Father’s Tale

A Father’s TaleTrigger warnings: Mental health, substance abuse, physical abuse, and harsh language. “Ashik, what is wrong with you? How can you be so stupid?” I exclaim. Ashik looks over at…[...]

The fairy lights

Sumathi was a neighborhood tailor. The kind you would find virtually in every street corner in India. Not the fancy boutique variety, but someone who would stitch your sari falls,…[...]

Margaret Fraizer – A Memoir in Progress

Margaret Fraizer sat in the old weathered Adirondack chair on the beach in front of her cottage at the eastern end of Long Island. Bundled up against the frigid wind…[...]

Where’s the Can Opener

? Time is ticking down. The end is near. Grandma rechecks her list for the umpteenth time. Candles with lighters and matches Radio / Ham radio Flashlights; lanterns; batteries, all…[...]

Another Brick in the Wall

“Miss Chandler, Miss Chandler. The boys are at it again.” Third-grader Tali Grumble hurried over to her teacher at recess. “What are they doing now?” Miss Chandler inquired. “Playing baseball…[...]

Sixties Teen

My husband, star of my epic love life, “Hey, Hon. Let's get Sirius.” “Let's see. We have been married going on twenty-eight years. We've combined our retirement benefits. We have…[...]

The Guy On The Nineteenth Floor

I was walking down the paved road, struggling to hold my umbrella in one hand and my files and handbag in the other. It was raining heavily accompanied by strong…[...]

Woollen Suits and Face Cream

He was always there, in the sounds of his suggestions, in the unspoken glances when she acted out of turn, the cheeky winks he gave when he made a joke…[...]

Picture Perfect

Although there had been a nice, cool breeze the whole day, the crumpled paper that smacked her in the face with that sudden gust of wind was totally unexpected. It…[...]

Bittersweet

Warning: This story contains themes of childbirth.By Amanda StogsdillToday's the day! Scrambling out of bed, I rushed to the window. Not a cloud in sight! In my open kitchen with…[...]

The Goat Bite

She was different today. It is astonishing to witness a new side of someone you have spent years knowing and living beside. You question whether you had ever known them…[...]

Visit to the British Museum

(Note: Contains Mild Language)My grandfather had two outfits. One was a kurta-pajama, a traditional Indian outfit that he wore at home, and the other, for outdoors, was formal attire consisting…[...]

The Temple of Ancient Whispers

The middle-aged lady hurriedly walked along the crowded market streets, passing through the strong scent of turmeric and chilies. The seven-year-old child, whom she had been dragging along, slowed down…[...]

Destined Sparks

Location: Hotel Radisson Parking Lot, ChennaiTwo buddies, Mudit and Sanleen, are hanging out in the parking lot of Hotel Radisson. They're here for their college alumni meet, and while reminiscing…[...]

Breaking the cycle

There are always two sides to an argument. Sometimes three. sometimes four. If you ask me, they are messy little things. They are often too complex to understand since people lie…[...]

Dream away, my child.

"Freshly cut mangoes, dosas, people, kids cycling, the breeze of fresh air, scooter, colony friends, grandmother, love, laughter, and a mountain of memories."Raji types this, looks away from her laptop,…[...]

Nine Steps to Jeeves

When my gait freezes, I gently kick the trash can. What wouldn’t I give to trash all these dementors hovering around my foggy brain. But now, that is not important.…[...]

1861 – A Reunion in Calcutta

CW: Racism, Religious fervor Is that the perfume gifted by your captors who snatched you away from your kingdom that’s wafting in the air, my darling boy? It stinks and…[...]

Sila-pattikaram – (“The story of the anklet”)

Sila-pattikaram ("The story of the anklet") I recently read an English translation of the above Tamil epic purported to be written in 1 CE . This epic relates the revenge…[...]

The Retold Story of the Teenaged Girl

Momina was known throughout the school as the girl with no portable device, no social media, and had never made eye contact with a boy. The neighbourhood filled with mostly…[...]

Such a Nice Girl

Sitting there in the packed living room with its faux leather black and white sofas and improbably- bad green, leopard print rug, all of it shipped from China like slow-release…[...]

Myth and Miasma

Lost, his eyes try to pierce through the fog. The unearthly, all-enveloping mist that had settled around him and brought with it a bone-chilling cold. The kind of cold that…[...]

Tycho Brahe’s Labyrinth

This story can also be read as the continuation of my previous submission Metamorphosis************Unlike most of the helipads which are built for show but never used, the pads on Tycho…[...]

Evolving Draft

I remember the foggy morning I had clothed you in a cyan co-ord set, handed you over to the conductor of the preschool bus, and waved goodbye as you struggled…[...]

Arranged

It was 1974, and Priya was getting ready to get married to Rahul; a boy she barely knew. Her father and his uncle knew each other since childhood and worked…[...]

Lemons, Ginger and Garlic

"Does the presence of something outweigh its absence? Or is it the other way around?" I said to no one in specific, communally munching on Garlic Naan and Haleem with…[...]

A STORY OF LOVE AND DESTINY

“I have always believed in the power of destiny, Radhika! I sincerely hoped that one day I would call you my own. But I now realized that we are not…[...]

A Cold Day….

A Cold Day… It has started raining again. And it is bitterly cold. Looks like Delhi is heading towards a severe cold wave, with the night temperature plummeting to near…[...]

Corner Art

For as long as she could remember, tendrils, peacocks, and rangolis ran amok in Suchi’s head. And leaped out at her notebooks. The public school she went to, close to…[...]

A Tense Dinner

“So how was the ride here?” “Good.” “That’s good.” Shit! That’s all I had. I turned my attention towards the kitchen behind us, they were lining up the buffet trays.…[...]

The Crazy Psychologist

Disclaimer: The following contains graphic scene involving snakes as well as abuse and strong language. Reader discretion advised.Varun Sharma had life long fear of snakes. Black mambas, anacondas, rattle snakes,…[...]

Bani’s Tree

Code 278.43A. That’s where ‘Lady Grace’ was, right behind the stunted tree that hit the ceiling and hid an owl in its hollow. In a ladylike fashion, Bani hopped on…[...]

Realities

Guide to Urdu/Kashmiri terms used in the text:· Angrez ki aulaad (Urdu): An Englishman’s child (used to indicate that someone is acting entitled to be treated with privilege)· Phupho (Urdu): Paternal aunt· Noon-chai…[...]

The Fakir

In the latter part of the 17th century India, there lived a fakir well-versed in black magic who was purported to resurrect the dead. He gained some prominence although eyewitness…[...]

Party Time

On the day of her flight, Sarlaben set out on the same morning walk to the Radha Krishna temple she’d taken for the past 43 years. Her driver, Santosh, could…[...]

The School Topper

Initially, I’d held my head high in the deep green, silver-bordered saree I was wearing. But walking through the gargantuan crowd of hundreds of students in the school lobby, every…[...]

Safety First – A girl’s first lesson in how love reshapes freedom

They can sense our fear. Keep your spine straight. Don’t be afraid. Don’t hesitate to look them in the eye. And in the worst case, always remember to pick up…[...]

Breakfast

My ammi watches over my shoulder as I grab the Purple Heart colored pencil from the pencil holder that I keep the 150 pack of colored pencils I got for…[...]

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 Californian white. She…[...]

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…[...]

The Delicate Straw Hut

Dawn. Tara walks to the well outside the village, a pot in her hand. Two years into adulthood, her green bangles clink as the pot bounces against the side of…[...]

The Fork

When faced with a fork, look for the twig.We had missed the twig and were staring down a deep chasm. It didn’t help that we were not talking to each…[...]

The Gravity of Being Upright

I think it had started to happen a long time back—bit by bit—but I only noticed it this morning. Gravity was dead. Like Queen Elizabeth. Both of them. Yesterday, it…[...]

Moonlight and Madness

Your eyes pour the moonlight on my path as I turn my back to you. In the dead of the night, I walk with my family, away from my home,…[...]

Letters from Lucknow, 1886

“Intercultural Book Club. Join us! Every Sunday 6pm.”The poster hung alone on a blank wall in my dorm building. As someone who had just moved in and loved novels it…[...]

The Adventures of Gavin Pepperdeck

Part 1: The First TacoApril 4th, 1995 The sky sharted on my head as I exited the cab, but when I looked up, I saw that it was just the…[...]

Athletic Geriatric

‘What the hell’s this?’ Grandad throws it – BANG - against the wall, like a punch in the gut. ‘Bloody NHS walking-stick,’ he hisses, spewing saliva and spitting sweary curse-words.…[...]

TYR’s justice

It started wth the legislative assistants, interns, and paralegals. One task by one tedious task, we gave computing power more and more to do. Introduced in 2031, legislative skill and…[...]

Frederick Steele’s Last Case

Photos of Detective Chief Inspector Frederick Steele sit on his home office wall. There are newspaper clippings of successful cases, headlines like “Steele Resolve, Beats the Bandits,” and “Interrogation of…[...]

Ghosts Like Hot Dogs?!

Welcome readers!As I am sure all of you know a mysterious string of food stall robberies has occurred in our otherwise uneventful town. It has been all over the news…[...]

Mrs. Warner Goes to the Bank

It could have been the cape. It could have been the long johns. It was probably the mask. What was odd was the sticker on the automatic glass door when…[...]

Author

David had never written anything good in his life. Not in his school essays, not in his postcards, not even in his diary. He had always found something to blame…[...]

Plot 42

At sixty-two, Arthur Tarmack was retired from his career as an actuary, a job he found thrillingly predictable. He was reliable as a Swiss watch. He drank his tea at…[...]

Christmas Spree

“Whirr…whirr…whirr” The alarm startled me as I walked out of the department store. I was prepared for the anti-theft alarm to sound, but each store has a distinct sound, so…[...]

Good In a Pinch

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” - Yogi Berra Milo is pacing the hallway outside the classroom after the exam waiting for the results to…[...]

You Did What?!

It’s right around the corner there. JESUS CHRIST! Where’d you get your license? A Kinder Surprise? No, stupid, Kinder Surprises are illegal. As is stealing a suitcase full of money…[...]

The Accidental Robber

There were a pair of police officers checking security over a local bank. The bank had just been robbed about five minutes prior and the two officers were tasked with…[...]

According To Tara’s Statement

Romantic comedies are bullshit. Don’t distill those ninety-minute lies into dating advice. Instead of slipping my fingers into warm, silky panties, they dangled below cold metal handcuffs. I watched the…[...]

Ocean’s 89

Virginia rubbed her gnarled fingers across the headstone that read: Bill William Williams IV1939-2002A father, husband, brother, son, and friend, beloved by all. A tear slid down her face. It…[...]

Letter Nº 14

So, do you really think what happened to me in 1860 deserves a place in a book? Fine, go ahead, but on one condition: you must not publish anything before…[...]

The Treasurer

The first irregularity was not large enough to name."It's a rounding issue," said Daniel."It's not rounding," Priya said. "Rounding does not accumulate.""It can," Daniel said."Not like this."We were reviewing the…[...]

He lived

The world didn’t end loud enough for anyone to understand it was over.No sirens. No final warning. No desperate voice on a radio telling people where to go.Just silence.Deep under…[...]

The Voyage

The Campbell's had rented a farm for several years, and it was having another great year. Their crops had always done well, year in and out. Their garden's success had…[...]

The 4:14 Man

Ring!It was 4:14am. The time when the alarm goes off and Caspar Motley-Finch wakes up.Not 4:00, which might suggest military discipline. Not 4:30, which might suggest approximation. 4:14, which suggested…[...]

I Didn’t Mean to Become Head of Operations

I didn’t mean to get involved with the world's biggest villain corporation. It just happened, the way things usually do. One small, avoidable mistake followed by several much worse ones.In…[...]

A fake accountant in the fog of Ferrara

A lady with long wavy blond hair that fell just below her shoulders and a flashy baylage A lady with long wavy blond hair that fell just below her shoulders…[...]

The Shepherdess

The Budweiser girl on the vintage clock smiled down on her flock. Like any shepherdess, she was on the lookout for danger. Her faded skin suggested she might have been…[...]

I Can Explain!

“Right, just keep on driving. Don’t mind the flaring lights and the man screaming into the cone,” the cop yelled through the megaphone. My eyes flick to my rear-view mirror…[...]

Dispensary Heist

It was 10:00pm, an hour after the cannabis dispensary closed its doors to customers. Every employee besides Emily had already gone home thirty minutes earlier, leaving her to finish the…[...]

Honed Hero

No sounds were heard, only a steady foot-pedal vibration every few seconds.Thump thump. Clay Rigby held his head inside a barrel of ice water. The sun shone on the back…[...]

The Echo Chamber

The fluorescent hum of the aisle lights was a direct vibration against Elaine’s headache. It was 11:47 PM. She was only here because she had, yet again, forgotten the single…[...]

The Invisible Monster

The overhead lights didn’t just hum; they vibrated—a cold, electric heartbeat that thrummed right through the center of Elaine’s skull. It was 11:47 PM. She was only here because she…[...]

THUMP-THUMP

[violence-gunfire-death] . -THUMP. -. “What is that thumping?” Andy said to himself. Wherever he was, it was dark. He tried to move, but it felt like his arms, legs, and…[...]

The Heist

The pale-yellow light of the porch lamp echoed over the sharp edges of the middle-aged man; his sunken eyes more telling than a book which has been scuffed and curled…[...]

Chased by the Dead

CW: violence, drug use Jack wakes up in a cold sweat, alone in an unfamiliar room. Turning on the dim bedside lamp he sits on the edge of the bed…[...]

A Grandad’s Confession To His Grandson, 1888, London, England

Here in my hand, lad, lies the letter of admission of my guilt for some very grave crimes that stumped law enforcement and scared the prostitutes of the impoverished White…[...]

Hello, Mr.Hitman

100,000 dollars. If I killed her, I would get paid 100,000 dollars.It was the highest paying job I’ve ever received as a hitman. It was so simple as well. I…[...]

Oasis, 1979

Light pours through the motel windows, creating an illusion of solid blonde, obtuse triangles that will either eat your arm or burn it off. The A/C is on, and the…[...]

A Little Salt

Trigger Warning: hints at physical/mental abuse, mention of death The sunlight streams into their bedroom.The wife, Margaret, always wakes up before her husband just as she did today.“Paul, darling?” she…[...]