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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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The Man and The Lighthouse
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,…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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:…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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,…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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.…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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,…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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.…[...]
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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.…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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,…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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,…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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.…[...]
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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…[...]
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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…[...]
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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-…[...]
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The Seven stages of Loss
(TW: grief,death,loss,mental struggles,true story) They stand and stare at her, she-sealed behind the glass with a face white as paper and lips purple blue, lying in an oak coffin, cold…[...]
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Terminal Radiance
TW: death, grief. Athryn was in the very last seat of a packed transport.The general mood around her hummed—a giddy energy. Why wouldn’t it be? They’d pulled through the forcefield…[...]
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The Day I Chose You
‘Futures were forged through the blood of past hands, though such a path was beyond mortal choice. Death awaited all, but only some could await death—and even then, only a…[...]
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The Accident
“You’re overreacting; it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be. Ms Morris has it out for me; she needs to get a fucking grip,” Amanda shouted…[...]
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The Good Man Everyone Knew
Rewind thirty-six years earlier, Evelyn carries the memory of the night her world split apart, while helping her daughter prepare for a school performance, Evelyn discovered a photograph hidden inside…[...]
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Truth or Dare
CW: suicide, domestic violence. The room had been fermenting for hours in the smell of vodka, sweat, boiled potatoes and fish left too long beneath plastic wrap. Heat clung to…[...]
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The First Night of Her Life
Everything in the small mountain town is soaking wet and cold. Despite being in the height of summer, typically warm and sunny, the sky, low and gray, exhausted from its…[...]
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The Horologist
TW: death Tick. Tick. Tick. It is the old pocket watch on the counter to his right that Alistair can hear the loudest. The one he has just fixed. It…[...]
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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…[...]
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I Know Why Korey Sang
I Know Why Korey Sang The air is pumping through the old hallways of Umbridge High School like it does every July. The lockers are cold to the touch, and…[...]
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