Excerpt

The Café That Served Emotions
The Café That Served Emotions The café wasn’t on any map. Not in guidebooks, not on GPS, not even on the neon-lit streets of downtown. You stumbled upon it when you weren’t looking, through a narrow alley framed by ivy and flickering lanterns. The sign read simply: “Café Émotion”, its letters curling like smoke.
By waseem khan5 months ago in Fiction
Letters to the Future Me
Letters to the Future Me It started on a Tuesday. I was pouring cereal at my tiny kitchen table when I noticed the envelope lying beside my bowl. Brown paper, neatly folded, with my name written in cursive I didn’t recognize. I opened it with cautious curiosity.
By waseem khan5 months ago in Fiction
The Library of Forgotten Memories
The Library of Forgotten Memories I had always loved libraries. The smell of paper, the quiet hum of readers, the way sunlight sliced through high windows onto worn wooden tables—it was a sanctuary.
By waseem khan5 months ago in Fiction
I Read My Future in the Library’s “Lost and Found”
I Read My Future in the Library’s “Lost and Found” The first time I opened the “Lost and Found” box at the Maple Street Public Library, I wasn’t looking for anything.
By waseem khan5 months ago in Fiction
*The Whispering Library*
In the quiet corner of a forgotten town stood a library older than memory. Its stone walls were veiled in ivy, its windows perpetually misted, as though the building breathed in secrets and exhaled silence. Most people passed it without a glance. Few dared to enter. But Amina did.
By meerjanan5 months ago in Fiction
*The Clockmaker's Promise*
In a quiet town nestled between rolling hills and a slow-moving river, there stood a small shop with a crooked sign that read “Timeless Hands.” Inside, the air was warm and still, filled with the soft, steady rhythm of ticking clocks. Wall clocks, pocket watches, mantel clocks—they all chimed and clicked in quiet harmony, each keeping time in its own way.
By meerjanan5 months ago in Fiction
Operation Lassi Spill
It was one of those golden Punjabi afternoons—the kind where the sun hangs warm in the sky, the air smells of cardamom and fresh roti, and every lane in the village hums with celebration. A wedding was in full swing, the biggest the village had seen in years. Banners fluttered above the courtyard, children darted between guests with sticky fingers, and uncles danced with the kind of energy that defied their age.
By meerjanan5 months ago in Fiction
The Girl Who Painted the Sky Blue Twice
Story In the town of Alder’s Hollow, the sky was always perfect. Not in the way big cities claimed theirs was perfect after a storm, but truly perfect—endless blue, soft clouds, the kind of backdrop you’d expect in a painting rather than in life.
By waseem khan5 months ago in Fiction
A Case in Two
Click. The steel door swung wide open. Scraping against the concrete floor, screaming at the arrival of the man I had been waiting to see all morning.
By Shreyas Vartia5 months ago in Fiction
The Storm That Took Him at the Lake’s Edge
Reports of a storm had been surging for weeks, but it didn’t feel like one was coming. It was just like any other day. Gleaming amber light raced through the tall, branching canopy and struck the fresh, uncut earth beneath it, mingling in with the ferns and flowers much like a Joan Mitchell piece. It changed quite often and had many faces throughout the day, but this was my favorite. A tranquil state where nothing much happened, and you were free to explore however you wished. A symphony of yellow sun, green leaves, and lush flora performing around you.
By Shreyas Vartia5 months ago in Fiction
*The Forgotten Bench*
In a small town cradled by rolling hills and thick forest, there was a wooden bench by the lake. It wasn’t grand—its green paint had peeled, one leg was uneven, and the wood bore the soft scars of time. But if you sat there long enough, you might feel something linger in the air—quiet, familiar, like the echo of a laugh carried by the wind.
By meerjanan5 months ago in Fiction
My Friend’s Last Words Came in a Dream
It’s been a year since Lily passed away, but sometimes it still feels like she might text me, or I’ll turn a corner and see her laughing in that way only she could. Grief is strange like that—it never really goes away, it just changes shape.
By ETS_Story5 months ago in Fiction