Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Fiction.
Running Out
Everything is running out. Make no mistake, the way things are now, the way things have been for several decades, is far better than the way things were, in a world where our forebears took and used and consumed until they turned on one another, and us, their children. Though, to be absolutely fair, they were against us from the beginning. We were born into service, and it was many generations until we even managed to realize that. And by the time that we did, and started to push back, there was very little left. Housing, supplies, power, and according to climate scientists, even time. Pressure mounted, civil instability fomented, and finally, with the appearance of our great Director, war raged, and to the victors, thankfully to us, went the spoils. What little of them remained.
By Brian Gracey5 years ago in Fiction
Memory
The tragedy of the end of the world isn't that the world ended. It isn't that humanity died out in the billions, or that once great civilizations full of potential collapsed to nothing. It isn't that we were so close to colonizing space and ensuring our immortality before we fizzled. The tragedy of the end of the world isn't even that some of us survived, though that's starting to get closer to the truth. No, the tragedy of the end of the world is memory.
By Vicente Vasquez5 years ago in Fiction
Dystopian Sentiments
Introduction// It was early, she could tell by the pale moon light filtering through the window curtain. 3:30 a.m., maybe? That magical hour between night and morning, where the whole word seemed to be deeply sleeping. She was grateful for the circadian awakening, it allowed her time with her single most prized possession.. She reached into her pillowcase and pulled out the heartshaped locket, tarnished from years of abandonment, but always beautiful in her eyes. The moonlight reflected across the lid as she opened its secret compartment, housed inside was a tiny seashell, a gift from him.
By Stephanie Aguilar5 years ago in Fiction
Beats
“I hear it,” remarked Elizabeth, “it’s faint,” her hands clasped to the worn black headphones with only one ear cup, the leather of the remaining cup had nearly flaked completely away, due to the ravages of time and neglectful care. “Hold it there,” a single slender dirty hand reached out, the fingers slipped upon the bicep, with her thumb snaking around to the triceps, with a squeeze. The curly disheveled pixie cut turned to regard him, not unlike the ocean spray as it collided upon the rocks, “there is something out here,” that smile was not unlike that from the ancient tale of ‘Helen of Troy’, another squeeze as she closed her eyes. Another beat rippled through the cup, garbled and faint, the equipment was old, the cord was more wires than plastic, as it cascaded down the distance from headset to an unremarkable mini black amplifier, the kind street performers used daily during the ‘Time of Convenience’, with another beat her eyes shot open.
By AgeLessFate5 years ago in Fiction
A Winter Fairy Tale
There once was a boy who loved his father so much that he accepted an invitation from his father to go on a snowshoe hike through the woods. This boy, who we shall call Hans, was not an active child, and preferred instead to read books about elves and castles, and watch television shows, and play tabletop dice games with those same elements in them, and he definitely did not like being cold. His Dad, however, loved to hike and Hans loved his Dad, so he screwed up his courage, got on his winter clothes, poles and snowshoes and followed his Dad out into the forest behind their house.
By Eric Hammers5 years ago in Fiction
The last lottery on Earth
They told them it was a lottery. There was only enough space for specific people, the ones that would be able to rebuild the world. They were to tell no one and they boarded ships that were on the seas for several years. Families would be split up and children were left for dead by their parents, if they didn’t get into the lottery. The part they weren’t told was that there had been several different lotteries, and even the children that got left behind would be able to live as the world slowly died around them. Some went ashore sooner, but they all had a different land they were docked in. Each one had different criteria making them a perfect fit for the group they were in. One family was in charge of each group, they were supposed to help and give guidance for the group to survive and create a cohesive civilization. After the first generation of the groups had passed on, some of the others in the groups no longer wanted one family to control the aspects of the group. Although they didn’t want to leave their responsibility the families left the groups in fear that retaliation could break apart everything they had already planned. These groups became the control groups; there were only six of them, but the goal was to rebuild the world with these groups and create a better civilization. The thing that none of those groups expected was that society was continuing on without them. They were nothing more than experiments, thought up by the ruling families in the world and yet they continued to create their own societies bit by bit for hundreds of years. The families that had started the different colonies had simply left when the people started questioning them. They worked together with the governments and hid the experiments from common knowledge. They helped create technologies for the societies to help them create a structure once they forced the families out. The problem with the experiments spanning several generations is that the families that controlled them got bored of watching them create their own structure without intervention. At some point the experiments became less about a possible utopia and more about what a society can handle before it crumbles. The only experiment that continued on its original course was only because the family that had started it tried to leave too late and were mutinied resulting in their imprisonment and ultimately death within the same society. As only one family was assigned to each experiment there was no one able to take over, the society separated females from males and continued on coming together only for certain occasions which resulted in future generations. One of the experiments was now testing a theory on how long radiation in low quantities will result in disease and death. The Family in charge was the Brandt family, Riley being the head of the family since his father’s death five years prior. As a child he was always interested in the experiments and often asked the other families about them as they all stayed in touch with each other. The experiments could only be passed through the sons as they didn’t want any emotions to come in the way of the results and they worried that with daughters who couldn’t carry the name that would be the case. The females within the families didn’t know about the experiments and neither did the rest of the world. One night while Riley was reporting on the radiation levels his wife had come in to ask him a question and found out what he was doing for work even though he had said he worked for the government she never knew in what capacity. She had stopped and waited until Riley was off the call and when he turned around she was in tears. He moved to hold her in his arms.
By Morgan Tucker5 years ago in Fiction
You’re home
It was calm. The sweet light of day had faded out and I saw flashes. Calming flashes of warm rays and dreams… were they dreams? Were they reality? Which way was up and how far was down. I drifted on. Rolling through all the pain and pleasure that life could give. There was no need for worry or pain… Or sorrow. I finally felt like I was floating along the silvery river of my dreams. ”Can you see it!? It’s right there in front of you…“ a voice from inside my heart spoke softly to me. It was only a distant prodding, but it was still as clear as a bell and beckoned me to reach my hand out and touch what I could only possess for a short time. I let my hand slip from my side… and drag across the sweet waters that flowed around me… I was snagged back with a jolt! Writhing and twisting my body flailed in the pull of the damp shirt on my back.
By Robert Helma5 years ago in Fiction
The First God
If my thoughts ever manage to reach anyone, I will explain the circumstances that I’ve found myself in. I don’t know who I am, and I don’t know how I got here. I am currently enveloped in a dark void, unable to see anything. At least, not while my eyes are open. When I close them...
By Rietz Kanning5 years ago in Fiction
The Rebuilding
1 The wind pressed down hard on the roof of the old shack, making it creak and tick. It was winds like this took the shack down last time, all them years ago, before the rebuilding. Powerful wind. The kind that moans so sorrowful and loud, makes a man think of ghosts and ghouls passing by.
By Callen Reece5 years ago in Fiction
When the World Ends
The sun was shining the day the world ended. The sky was a bright, burning blue, not a single cloud in sight to hinder the mild summer heat. The grass was cool and soft under my toes, and a gentle breeze sent strands of hair dancing out of my braid. I could smell the scent of barbecue coming from my neighbor’s grill, hear the sounds of their three small children laughing and playing in the yard as they waited for their father to finish making their dinner.
By Katie Thompson5 years ago in Fiction
