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Tethered

By Crystal Brinkerhoff

22

5 min.

698

The bodies wouldn’t sink. His muscles ached and his back screamed at him. Dragging the corpses into the ocean had been much harder than he’d expected. Heavy with salt water, his crew uniform clung to his body and trapped in granules of sand that chaf ...

Mistress Mary

By Caren Hahn

7

16 min.

213

It's bad enough helping her aging mother-in-law sort through fifty years of clutter. But when she finds an antique doll that takes the nightmare to a new level, Mona is ready to call it quits. The doll, however, has other ideas.

Headless

By Cass Weldon

6

13 min.

223

Indigo dismounted her motorcycle with carefully unhurried speed. The moon overhead was bright and silvery, and the noise coming from the house was happy—chattering voices and scattered laughter pouring out from golden glowing windows. The autumn nigh ...

Fat Man Blues

By Richard Wall

6

4 min.

598

"Hobo John" is an English blues enthusiast on a pilgrimage to present-day Mississippi. One night in Clarksdale he meets the mysterious Fat Man, who offers him the chance to see the real blues of the 1930s.

The Gentleman Physician

By Sally Britton

6

26 min.

219

Nathaniel Hastings bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing while his patient, Lady Huntington, continued to spout nonsense about the reasons behind her various ailments. He knew very well nothing troubled her that a good conversation could not cure. ...

Avril's Phoenix

By Michelle Harris-Genge

5

5 min.

290

Avril Bale has it all, which makes her ill-prepared for a tragedy that rocks the foundation of her security and sense of fairness. Avril’s Phoenix probes why bad things happen to good people in an emotional, uplifting journey following heartbreak.

#realistic fiction

Incognolio

By Michael Sussman

5

12 min.

131

Ever since the concussion, I can’t get the damn word out of my head. I haven’t a clue what it means. But I love the sound of it. So, I’ll make it the title of my novel and allow the entire story to spring forth from this mysterious word. My neuro ...

Red Marks the Child

By Amira Awaad

5

11 min.

134

This desert land was exceptionally dear to me. Its warm sands resound in the drumming beats of my eye-lashes. The sultry wasteland engulfed fresh oases with water that was pure — it pulsed and it pulsated. It throbbed like the beating of a living hea ...

The Purse

By Dan Hahn

5

13 min.

170

The smell of coffee lingered lightly from lunch as warm afternoon light streamed through the windows onto the linoleum topped table. Lorine sat with her purse open, engaged in the light conversation of old lovers. Yet Stanley hadn’t been in her life ...

Frost Under A Bright Moon

By Caren Hahn

4

16 min.

124

Winston Kingsley's hollow life of luxury drives him to find purpose in rescuing struggling nonprofits. But when he visits an old Victorian home-turned-sanctuary for troubled teens, he learns that not all of his beneficiaries want his help.

Spooky

By Rae Sterling

4

10 min.

344

It was the day before Halloween that I found her on my doorstep. She was just too adorable, a tiny black kitten with huge green eyes just sitting on top of the Jack-o-lantern on my porch like some sort of Halloween postcard. I was supposed to be leav ...

Blog Entries of the Brokenhearted

By Stephanie Van Orman

4

29 min.

241

The wind blew the grass in waves that rippled like the waves of the sea. The tombstones didn't bend to the wind. She couldn't see him, but in her mind, he was there.

The Librarynth of the Lost

By Taya Okerlund

4

14 min.

363

An evil assassin is plotting the death of Fairy's crown prince. The princess will have to get her hands dirty, making some sketchy bargains, just to protect them, but the traitor is closer than you think.

Supervillain High

By Gerhard Gehrke

4

6 min.

193

“See that guy there in the purple mask robbing the bank? That’s my dad.”Brendan stopped the video on his phone and waited for a reaction. Mr. Childes, his school counselor, nodded as if this was something he had heard before. The older man took his ...

#science fiction

The Follower

By M. K. Martin

4

5 min.

448

I watch her sleep, her short bristle of hair twisted into sweaty knots. I can’t help her and it’s killing me. I lay down next to her, the heat baking off her in waves. I sigh and the dust puffs out, a few small dry leaves flap at me as if annoyed by ...

#science fiction

Dragonsphere

By Richard Fierce

4

3 min.

124

It was dark and cold. The distant sound of dripping water echoed throughout the narrow tunnel, part of a large system of interconnected passageways and caves deep in the Viss Mountains.A hooded figure navigated his way through them hesitantly, pausin ...

Dollie

By Miranda Renaé

3

4 min.

133

Nora had a love-hate relationship with her job, the smells of a campfire, and fresh dirt being the love. She sat down on a log at the edge of the fire, watching her clients, the bright lights of their phones, and orange spikes of the flames highlight ...

Dragon's Fury: Chapter One

By Brian Meeks

3

5 min.

197

From out of the mist it flew... ...a dragon bent on revenge and hungry for power. Who will stop him?

Red Wrath

By Gerhard Gehrke

3

9 min.

166

I was sitting in a bar, brooding and thinking about superheroes. There was a special on the news all about them. The large flat-screen televisions mounted on the wall should have been showing the Mets game. Instead we got a fawning comedian whose fil ...

#science fiction

The Speed of Sound

By Steppen Sawicki

3

5 min.

104

Jay had never been much of a talker. He had won Carrie’s heart with gentle touches on the hand and shoulder, neck and waist. He had made her dizzy with rare utterances of her beauty and his love, precious because they were so rare. When they married ...

#science fiction

The Color of Magpies

By Nikki Lower

2

15 min.

18

She was fine. She didn’t need any help. She just needed to try harder.Kneeling on the grated metal floor of the conservatory, Magatha could feel the faint, ever-present whirrings and rumblings that kept the giant spheres of House in illogical motion ...

The Billionaire Mentor

By Deb Goodman

2

8 min.

11

A billionaire explorer and a suspense novelist at a dating retreat? Too bad their relationship is fake.

Semper Romanus

By Christopher Jones

2

21 min.

14

At the edge of Roman power, a yearlong struggle with the invading Carthaginian horde leads to division within the halls of Saguntum, Rome's farthest outpost.

Ghost Music

By Antoinette McCormick

2

2 min.

123

An unexpected inheritance unleashes an unimaginable horror.

Deus Ex Mechina

By Zach McClellan

2

16 min.

127

A dark figure crashed through the window of the saloon into the dusty street, releasing a grunt of pain. Jeers called out after him as he scrambled away. “Teach that slimeball a lesson, Sloan!” “He’ll think twice about cheating!” “Wow, he had to have ...

My Beauty For Your Ashes

By Traci Wooden-Carlisle

2

9 min.

79

It all started with one lone tear. It escaped unguarded, quickly falling from her high cheek bone, wetting the concrete below. It was closely followed by another. Soon there was a rain of tears splashing against the once warm, dry stone underneath he ...

Rebel Mage: Awakening

By Ben Swallow

2

8 min.

135

Is still in the middle of the night as I wake up. I frown as I look around. It is still dark and there is no one in my room. What woke me up, then? I was already falling back asleep when I heard a sound from outside the room. It sounded like clatte ...

Christmas Eve Frenzy

By Adelaide Walsh

2

11 min.

100

“2040. That is a year that will live in infamy in our history. That year, Dr. Zack Temba and Biolance unleashed a scourge, a lethal virus, on all of us that eliminated millions of the Journeymen around the world, reducing the rest of us to mere subje ...

REN

By Amira Awaad

2

6 min.

94

The ancients used to say that a spirit resides in everything. That all matter, living and inanimate, are gravitational channels of energy. They believed that some individuals were selected to encompass magnificent fragments of older souls. But unles ...

Eagle in the fridge

By Zenta Brice

2

42 min.

320

I need to pee!’ ‘Great!’ I definitely can’t let Karl back in the house by himself. He has a quite serious predilection for destruction. I can’t leave my spot here either, not right now. ‘Well, do it, then.’ I bend down and unzip his trousers. ‘Nobody ...

Fateful Italian Passion

By Olga GOA

2

16 min.

373

Veronica didn’t expect that she would agree to a trip to Italy so quickly. She was tired of being under the constant scrutiny of her step-aunt, Henrietta, who was always taking care of her. But what could Veronica expect from the people who had aband ...

#realistic fiction

Ultimas Drake

By MIchael Young

2

9 min.

85

Meckule fidgeted in his ceremonial attire, wondering whose name he needed to curse for coming up with such fickle clothing. Not for the first time, he wished he had been born in the Dorian Clan instead of the Scarlatti. Then, he would have been broug ...

A Quest

By Gerrit Stainer

1

16 min.

16

An old story: a young man on a journey. Even a small errand can take on the meaning of a myth.

Shall We Dance

By Sandra Walls

1

7 min.

64

The tenement flat was on the first floor. It was a room and kitchen with a separate toilet. Not one in the middle stairwell of the close like some tenements in Glasgow.Me and my three older cousins were in the bed recess, they were sleeping already, ...

#realistic fiction

How I Saved a Planet!

By Stephen Quatro

1

17 min.

111

The next town we encountered was Maryville. I suggested that Qarl and I split up for a bit to try to find the others more quickly. Qarl agreed, ducking down a side street while I continued up the main thoroughfare into the center of town. Something s ...

Kora

By Marina Epley

1

17 min.

140

A thrown stone misses my head by inches. I shudder but continue walking, eyes focused on the muddy ground under my feet.“Filthy pig!” I hear voices behind me. “Don’t you ever wash your ugly face?” Tears well up in my eyes. I guess I do resemble a pig ...

As a Sword in My Bones

By Jessica Joiner

1

14 min.

100

"If the Royal Council does nothing to curb my mother's cruelty, the oppressed people of Boldaria will revolt and this nation will be engulfed in a civil war," Prince Tristan Leander warned as he finished speaking before the gathered members of the tw ...

Pharaoh's servant

By Rebecca Lee Varady

1

6 min.

74

The old cook’s day started several hours before the sun rose and ended several hours after it set. His position at the Palace was of great importance, and he was responsible for the Palace’s entire food preparation - from the Pharaoh’s banquets to th ...

The System

By Jess Peters

1

21 min.

144

I woke up in a cold sweat with panic surging through my body. It felt like the walls were closing in around me and endangering me making me feel as if I was afraid of my own shadow, but I knew I was better than that. It wouldn’t happen. I will not fa ...