Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Fiction.
Jasper
There once was a small black puppy by the name of Jasper. For as long as he can remember he has lived in the same village with the same group of dogs that he looks nothing like. He was this fast-growing puppy that was already taller than his family and looked nothing like them. As he grew older and his body changed more and more, he started to feel confused. He would walk around town and get looks from some of the others. It was clear to him that he was nothing like his family, so he went to his mom and told her how he felt.
By Elizabeth Townsend5 years ago in Fiction
Shadows
We sat like scared children in the alleyway. Our hearts beating. His hand covering my breath. My hands gripping his jacket. His eyes looked wild as I turned my fear paralyzed head to look up at him. We were dead. This was the day we would die. There was no story for us beyond this alleyway.
By Cameron Bauder5 years ago in Fiction
ALVIN
The thick soles of leather shoes crunched over the blackened debris of what had once been a school playground. Smoke still filled the air from natural gas leaks that had caught fire years ago, and what had once been a small stream was dried up leaving behind unidentifiable remains of any animals unlucky enough to survive the blast only to die of thirst. The aerial search had already deemed it a wasteland. 0% chance of human life.
By Colleen Sincavage5 years ago in Fiction
Duplicity
Every morning, she sat up, straining her eyes, to pierce through the darkness of her room. Every morning she tried to brace herself for the cold harsh sound of the metal doors and metal locks screeching across each other to release her, temporarily. As long as she had existed, this had been her reality. Released at sunrise, to work in one of the 5 locations predetermined for each citizen at birth, and at sunset return home to be secured and locked away once again. This was not just her reality as a captive, this was the only reality for everyone who still remained in this place. No one had free will, everyone was closely monitored and locked away each night, and carefully guided through each day, under the guise that this much control meant safety. This morning, the same as most, she sat stiffened, anticipating the sound that she hated most, but also needed to gravitate around. But this morning, it didn’t come, she waited for several moments before swinging her legs out of bed, and delicately placing her feet on the ground. Carefully shuffling through the darkness, she hesitantly reached out to guide herself to the front door, steadying her movements and her breath for what felt like hours. Beyond this final extension of her fingers was the frame of the door, and to the left of it the handle. A jolt of curiosity overpowered any rational thought that the door would be locked as it always was. She grabbed the handle and flung the door open. Before she could even grapple with the notion that this unlocked door could mean freedom, she was nose to nose with a familiar face.
By R.A. Moseley5 years ago in Fiction
The Road to Nowhere
Ricky stood at the forest's edge, taking a break under a huge cedar tree, he took a sip of the lukewarm water he had boiled and bottled up from the murky stream behind him. Taking out his most valued possession, a 1950s spyglass made of gold he had found in the attic of an old farmhouse he had spent the night in a few weeks before, he perused the vast empty landscape ahead of him. He hated to leave the protection of the dense forest but moving forward was the only way to get to where he was going. Where he was going was a mystery, as mysterious as the strange heart-shaped locket he had also found.
By Heather Goad5 years ago in Fiction
Cerulean Blue
Kara removed her mask as she reached the peak of the mountain. Looking to the west, she could see now that the top of the mountain she had climbed was above the cloud of medium blue chemically-active smog that covered what had once been the Salt Lake Valley. The cold October winds she felt occasionally brushing against her green canvas coat did little, if anything, to the cloud in the valley below. A few wisps and tendrils of blue could be seen swirling around at the top, closer to the mountain and the winds but the rest was still.
By Robert Bowers5 years ago in Fiction
Gizmo
Nicholas’ leg swung back and forth through the air as he sat perched upon the metal beam of a high-rise’s skeleton. He gazed mindlessly through his binoculars at the barren landscape before him. A gentle breeze broke up the heat that enveloped his sun-kissed skin. Usually, by this time of day, the torridity of the Wasteland would make the air thick enough to choke on. Coupled with the scarcity of water, it was unusual to find its inhabitants doing much more than lazing about. Today was a gift.
By Mickie Dennison5 years ago in Fiction
Harvest Wars
My dreams are filled with the mouth-watering scents of bacon cooking, meaty and thick. Crisp-edged, fluffy waffles fresh off the iron, dripping with sweet, golden maple syrup. A bowl of cereal bathed in creamy, ice-cold milk. Eggs, sunny or scrambled, warm and delicious. And of course, plenty of hot toast slathered in butter, to sop up anything left on the plate.
By Tracy Bradford5 years ago in Fiction
Barren
The chipped gold of the chain slithered like a snake from her neck. It was no longer only rusted gold but spattered in a layer of dried blood, of who’s she was unsure. As her breathing continued through husky coughs, the girl looks it over. In her admiration, she remembers the day she had acquired the inorganic decorative object. She had been much younger then. When the sky still was blue and not covered in the heavy thicket of smog that filled her lungs daily. She had been told many stories of that world and its beauty. This object was a distinct reminder of that.
By A.J. Treadway5 years ago in Fiction
