fiction

Mystery, crime, murder, unsolved cases. Contribute your own tales of crime to Criminal.

A Change of Heart
The days always started off the same way. The sun slowly reached its arms over the western skyline, the city filled the air with its awakening roar, and Lucas Adams stumbled his way up the stairs with a head full of booze, regrets, and a deep longing for something more. That more being his soft warm bed at the moment.
By Leslie J Palma5 years ago in Criminal
The Holder
My damp rag meets the small table that wipes a way the days crumbs at the café where I slave for minimum wage after school. Unfortunately this tedious and mundane job is the only way I'll be able to pay for college in the fall. My boomer parents say that “an after school job teaches you the value of a dollar.” What they really mean is “we spent your college fund on a time share in Arizona”.
By Kat Bee5 years ago in Criminal
Numbers
This wasn't my usual route. Well on wheels yes, but not on foot. My car broke down during my commute home and the only choice was to walk home. This is a no service zone, so forget using a cell phone for rescuing. Sure I could wait beside my car and anticipate the kindness of a stranger helping me out, but that’s more of a nice thought than reality. I’m not trying to get kidnapped or worse - killed! The road is long, stretched and deserted. It is a single lane in both directions. There isn’t even a turn out for an emergency stop. I’m surrounded by the Mojave Desert. But it would be okay I convinced myself. What choice did I have but to hitchhike - yeah, that’s not happening.
By R5 years ago in Criminal
A Descent Into Sentiment
I must be different. Incredulous is the only word that keeps pounding inside my head. Incredible. This place is impossible, yet, it is the most possible place that has ever existed. A place that has been here longer than almost any other. That should make it the most credible place to exist.
By Christine Michaud5 years ago in Criminal
Melting Point
Heat. I hate it the most, but it's the one thing I cannot seem to get away from. Living in Texas is my own personal hell.
By Jordan Casper5 years ago in Criminal
Immeasurable
Leon sat in the suit, in the chair, in the waiting room, feeling just about as uncomfortable as he had ever been. His hair – ‘dirty blonde’, some called it – was cropped short on the back and sides, revealing the odd scar here and there. More dotted his hands and otherwise-fresh face, too, translucent little trails with stories to match. But not this story.
By Jade Mooney5 years ago in Criminal
Checkered Motives
Joshua couldn’t think of a worse way to spend a Wednesday afternoon than serving as a substitute teacher at Priss Middle School. The school was trash, the kids were mean, and worst of all, the parking sucked. He’d gotten a call to drive out to the school after a teacher, one Mrs. Hersch, fell ill with multiple rounds of explosive diarrhea. The Assistant Principal felt it absolutely necessary to inform Joshua that she required medical attention.
By Abhishek Mukund5 years ago in Criminal
The Impresario of Vienna
‘Café Museum’, with its red velvet seats and dangling chandeliers, was a cozy little corner for a meeting place on an autumn evening. I entered the cafe, Hans took me to my table and greeted me, “Welcome home sir.” I smiled at my seasonal friend as we exchanged simple pleasantries in my broken German. I am quite fortunate that nearly everyone in this country speaks English. As I hung from my jacket on a slightly taller than normal coat rack, a server appeared with my regular order; a soda citron, double espresso, and glass of Vienna’s famed white wine - Grüner Veltliner, down on the marble table.
By Michael Polo5 years ago in Criminal
Black Cahier
Conrad exits the lawyer’s office and drifts over to the reception area. He grips a small black notebook, still in shock. Well, that had been the weirdest five minutes of his life. Entering the office, thinking he was being sued or subpoenaed or something, sitting across an executive rosewood table from a Tribeca-penthouse, suit-worth-more-than-a-month’s-pay kind of man who regarded Conrad with the same disinterest of a cat watching baseball.
By Owen R. Page5 years ago in Criminal
Lucky Day
Murphy adored the lamplights on the West Side. More than anything, he loved that moment of ignition. Every eve, at five o’clock, those gothic bulbs sprung to life, cool and hazy in the dimming vespers. That negative interference of tungsten and twilight always betrayed his familiarity. For a brief little wondrous moment each night on his stroll home from the studio, he felt as if lost in a foreign city amidst a romance of cigarette smoke and neon. The East Side where he worked wasn’t half as enchanting—those modern LED’s and industrial street lights were suffocating, really. No, that colonnade of glittering jewels in the West Side, hanging up in the misty evening air—it made each day worthwhile. That was home.
By Conor Newton5 years ago in Criminal
The Case of the Kidnapped Librarian
An hour ago, Emmy had been walking home with her friend, Mr. Crosley, the retired librarian. He had been heading home, to his mansion on the edge of town, after his daily visit to the library. He always returned his book from the previous day and checked out a new one. Emmy had been headed home from school. It had been raining. It still was. Emmy had seen Mr. Crosley as he came out of the library and they had walked together. At the corner of Spearmint Street they had split, each heading towards their own homes.
By Katie Altman5 years ago in Criminal
Signal's Messages
“It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat” Cass sent a sharp look at her assistant as the elevator doors spilled out onto the second floor of the Coeur Grand Museum.
By Shubhdeep Gill5 years ago in Criminal