Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Fiction.
Omens, and other tales
White. White like bone. White like an angel. White like death. Many assume that the “white light” everyone reportedly sees upon death’s doorstep is little more than a comforting lie. The result of synapses misfiring, neurons shutting down. A side-effect of life struggling for air as it falls beneath the infinite ocean of time. The last putterings of an engine as the damage bleeds it out, and whatever metaphors you wanna dress up death in. (For the record, Death prefers suits and similes, but that’s not really important.)
By Nicholas Maricle5 years ago in Fiction
The Wisdom of Men
I’ve never known the world the way it is in books. What was it like when so few people died that they had celebrations and buried them in the ground? Did they just dig a big hole and shove ‘em in there? As the oldest man alive, I know my turn is coming soon. I’ll be another bag of bones rotting wherever I perish. But at twelve years old, I wish I had as much of a chance as the dead did before my time. As far as I know, it’s just me and my little brother. My mom left a week ago and we haven’t seen her since. She told me the story of the end of organized civilization often, so I’d always be alert to danger.
By Brandy Enn5 years ago in Fiction
The Promise
The Promise Phoenix stepped over the rubble carefully, hearing the soft crunch beneath her leather boots. The hot, dust-filled air scorched its way down her throat. The rag over the lower half of her face barely gave her any relief from the heat. It was just too hot here. Too hot everywhere. Ever since they broke the Earth. You’d think she was in the middle of the Sahara desert. Nobody a year ago would believe that this used to be Chicago. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, taking in the state of the once towering buildings with a building sense of dread. If they hadn’t been destroyed from the series of tornadoes that swept through the area, the sandstorms had finished them off. Everything was a shell of what it once was. Her hope of finding him alive was dwindling. Still...she had to try.
By Jordan Welch5 years ago in Fiction
I Have Seen The Future
Every dusk was always the same. The creatures stirred from their slumber as the sun sat just above the horizon. Their tremulous cries warned any human still alive to find shelter, promising that they would not live to see another morning otherwise. Moving only during the day was a necessity, as the evil beasts were curiously averse to the sun. The night, however, belonged to them and their bloodlust.
By C. L. Marks5 years ago in Fiction
Purposeful Heart
She hovered over the dirty creek, her hands brown from the muck of the shallow stream. The water’s cleanliness didn’t matter... She was just grateful to find an unowned splotch of water, an unlikely occurrence these days. The heart-shaped locket dangled just under her throat, and she was careful not to let it dip into the water. The shape was not that of the cartoonish heart, the symmetrical, romantic image. Her’s was the shape of the very heart operating in the chest of all, but only working in the chest of few. In Amanda’s eyes, the unrealistic symbol served as a prerequisite for the horrors that eventually came, no matter how many years after its creation.
By Carson Russ5 years ago in Fiction
A Dream of Eden
The sea is a cold place to survive, and the pressure is enough to flatten a body to the thinness of a cotton sheet. The lands above the sea are much harsher and far colder. Nothing but ice and darkness can survive the temperatures of a starless world.
By Donald Keller5 years ago in Fiction
Fallax
A slight breeze rustled through the narrow streets, disturbing an old newspaper that had been discarded long ago, the ink so faded that no words could be distinguished on the yellowing paper. There was litter everywhere on the dusty road; syringes, random broken bits of plastic and food wrappers that had been licked clean of any remnants of sustenance. The buildings, which had at one time been cheap but fairly comfortable housing, were mostly dilapidated now, with smashed windows, crumbling brickwork, and some walls that were entirely exposed. There were dusty tarpaulins and bits of canvas hung up to replace the missing walls, where people were still trying to eke out a living in the increasingly dangerous surroundings. The only aspect of the town that was still in perfect condition was the small screens, cased in bullet-proof glass, that were attached to wooden poles in regular intervals along each street. A brightly coloured advert was playing on all of them simultaneously, with attractive, healthy people injecting themselves with some kind of blue liquid, surrounded by their equally healthy, equally attractive family.
By Emelia Elliott5 years ago in Fiction
Life as we know it
The afternoon was hot, her forehead felt damp, unsure if it was from her overheating body or the outside rays of the hot sunlight that beat more and more neutrinos into her body. But she was grateful for the heat, the uncomfortable feelings of barely there nausea in her belly where the slightly stale veggies stirred, they were only a few days old. Just enough to make them edible but also just enough to sit uneasily to cause discomfort
By Elaine Spark5 years ago in Fiction
