Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Fiction.
7 Days
The transformation is complete. I take a gasping breath. Who am I this time? I quickly look around. I’m in a kitchen. People around me are working at the many counters, some mixing dough, others putting finishing touches on creations. I look down. I’m wearing an apron and my male hands are covered in flour. In front of me is some sugar cookie dough rolled out. It’s a bakery. I reason that it may be easier to pretend I know what I’m doing than if this had been a full restaurant kitchen, with many recipes to learn on the fly. I realize baking can be a sophisticated and delicate craft, but hopefully I’m not expected to be at that level. I remember being a teenaged girl about 40 weeks ago, give or take. I was watching my grandmother make cookies. I take the cookie cutter and start pressing it in the dough, trying keep the circles close to have less dough to reroll. Just when I’m feeling proud of myself for jumping right into the situation, a woman walks up behind me and yells, “Walters, pick up the pace! You should have had two batches in the oven by now. Either finish or I’ll hire the next homeless person who comes through the door begging for a handout.” She’s intense, with her hair pulled back severely in a bun, arms behind her back like a drill sergeant. I’m thankful that customers are not privy to this rant.
By Julie Lacksonen5 years ago in Fiction
JACK OF DIAMONDS
Chap 6 - Pt 2 (A PRINCESS IN INTERVENTION...) Sonia followed Nigel around the circular driveway, looking up at the facade that was the front entranceway of Bedloe Manor. The masonry was trimmed with a light cream coloured brickwork, the building itself was brownstone; there were hedgerows and garden-beds running along the length of the foundation, as well as manicured walking paths that would have done any groundskeeper proud.
By ben woestenburg5 years ago in Fiction
bread for the maestra.
i. As far as Nina and Kiki know, the first time I met their Father was at the Bakery. It was easy to assume, as Ryohei wasn’t exactly the most sociable person, and most of the few people he did know were Bakery regulars. In some way, it was the truth.
By A Baptiste5 years ago in Fiction
the mourning before.
It was the idle times like these - with the steady sound of chopping carrots, the quiet gurgling of boiling water, the soft plop of potatoes being dropped in, the smoke curling up and vanishing - that I allow myself to remember the night we first met.
By A Baptiste5 years ago in Fiction
JACK OF DIAMONDS
Chap 6 - Pt 1 (A PRINCESS IN INTERVENTION...) Sonia checked her look in the small compact’s mirror. One last time, she told herself, before turning the key and shutting the engine down. She pulled on the handbrake before touching the corners of her lips and wiping a small smear of lipstick she’d missed the first two times she’d checked; she had to ask herself if it even mattered anymore.
By ben woestenburg5 years ago in Fiction
Hanna, the Barberian, and the Quest Into the Four Portals
(Adamis): Last time in our tale, we became mystery solving sleuths; just another distraction from the true mystery that awaited us: "How many portals did Virga make, and do ANY TRULY lead back to her capture...?"
By Kent Brindley5 years ago in Fiction
Hanna, the Barberian, and the Quest Into the Four Portals
(Ungah): (Standard grunts and growls; footage from Part 3). A ruby-colored motorcycle, surrounded by two sidecars, pulled up to the local malt-shop, "The Drive-In Dine." Hanna dismounted the vehicle that she couldn't remember knowing how to drive and removed a white helmet.
By Kent Brindley5 years ago in Fiction
Hanna, The Barberian, and the Quest of the Four Portals
(Virga) : Last time on Hanna, The Barberian... The barbaric fool and her followers REALLY thought they had caught me! What self-respecting sorceress only generates ONE magical portal to allow chase? The flippant fools were dumped off to waste their time on a forest picnic; until that distraction no longer amused me. Not even the heroes know where they're going this time! And if that doesn't count as my first, and only necessary, victory, then what does anymore...?
By Kent Brindley5 years ago in Fiction
JACK OF DIAMONDS
Chap 5 - Pt 3 BUT IN A PRINCELY HOME THERE SITS The Gardens of Marlborough Estate were close to an acre in size. Broken and discarded paving stones were used to make the Estate's walking paths, with small benches and cozy alcoves built in the later years for reading, talking, (perhaps an evening tryst during one of the many gala Balls), the benches lined up along the footpaths and under the cover of a dozen willow trees. Built nearly a hundred and fifty years ago, time has helped establish the natural wonders of the Gardens more handily than any landscaper, or gardener, employed by the Estate could have ever hoped to accomplish.
By ben woestenburg5 years ago in Fiction
The Jacket
Austin stared through the neon-illuminated window at the sparsely filled tables inside. Mostly random assortments of families; overly stressed parents staring into the half-eaten burger clenched in their hands while their children squatted in the plastic booths, stuffing handfuls of cold, overly-salted fries into and around their mouths. A few booths of teenagers, each more interested in the electronic device in their hand than their food or company. One woman sat alone in the purple, plastic swivel chair of a small back corner table. Each individual item was arranged neatly on her tray and she took a bite of one after the other in a meticulously ordered pattern. He watched her, trying to imagine her life story. He decided she lived alone. It didn’t take much to see that. She had tried having roommates, but they didn’t suit her nor she them. She had been engaged once, he believed, but the guy had run off a month before the wedding leaving little more than a brief note stating that it wasn’t her it was him and that he just couldn’t go though with it. She had found out a week later that he had moved in with his business partner, a woman ten years his junior, in the next town over and they were planning on marrying in the fall. Maybe they were having a child together too. Austin decided the woman had tried to move on, going on several dates immediately after with men her mother had set her up with, sons of her bingo friends, but nothing went past a first date. She had always hoped they would call, but they never did. Since then she had kept to herself, spending nights at home with her small dog, a Yorkie, maybe a Shih Tzu, and watching obscure mystery dramas on a television she had purchased at the local thrift shop. He decided it was a sad existence. He decided she would probably kill herself before her next birthday. And, finally, he decided that he would gladly trade places with her.
By Megan Clancy5 years ago in Fiction
