Fantasy
Train
Charlie pulled his hat and gloves out of the closet. He carefully wrapped his scarf around his neck and tucked the ends inside his coat. Inside the kitchen, he watched his mom spread peanut butter on two slices of bread and wrap the sandwich with plastic wrap. She filled a thermos with hot chocolate and placed it inside his lunchbox with the sandwiches. Charlie put his lunchbox inside his backpack and cinched it shut. “Where are you off to today, Charlie?” she asked, as she zipped up his jacket and wiped a wet thumb at his cheek. Charlie ducked his head.
By Rachel McCaulley4 years ago in Fiction
The Will and the Wish of a Dragon
Darseth was a dragon. Physically, he was a typical dragon of that era, perhaps a bit larger than most, with a thick coat of red armour scales covering his broad breast. Darseth had terrible claws, terrifying jaws, and a tail more powerful than an avalanche of pythons. He had always been well-respected by other dragons in the country and was very honourable. However, Darseth was different than most other dragons. He was quite kind and humble, never disputing and fighting like many of his companions, but what was most peculiar was Darseth’s diet. In the first two hundred years of his life, he likely ate less than half of the amount his friends did. In fact, Darseth did not like to eat meat at all! He did not enjoy killing and only did so because it was necessary for his survival. Though they found this extremely odd, the other dragons did not think differently of him for it, for he was still larger than many of them. Life was well for Darseth for hundreds of years, until he suffered a life-changing injury.
By Peter Fedorchuk4 years ago in Fiction
Mystery of a Package
“Senator so and so receives something something explosive packages….” Joana was glancing through the headlines on the news feed on her smartphone with half-open eyes, laying on the bed. Joana was in her early twenties, slightly short, the lustrous eyes outshone her otherwise average features. She was a senior majoring in Finance at Ohio State University. The morning’s alarm has started her body’s ignition. It would take fifteen more minutes to gain the momentum to leave the bed. As Joana was brushing her teeth while rubbing her left eye, an Amber alert vibration mentioned the presence of a terror suspect in the locality. She opened her lips awkwardly to view her teeth. She was as pleased as punch with the whiteness of her teeth. She heard some fading footsteps at the door, opened it, and discovered a package wrapped in brown paper. She extended her hand to pick it up but instantly flinched back. The two pieces of information entrapped in her subconscious mind triggered this involuntary recoil response. She was not expecting any package. She went inside and picked up the phone to check if her mother was expecting anything. The door was left partially agape. Split seconds later, her mother Mrs. William returned from a morning walk with her dog Max. Her rottweiler sniffed the package, barked once, and swerved to the other side digressing from his idiosyncrasy of prying into any never-before-seen object. “What is this packet?” She picked it up, it smelled horrible even from a distance from her nose. Miss Barbara lived next door alone. She was an eavesdropping neighbor and never missed an opportunity to intrude in the Williams family's lives. She was within her boundary wall and said “Good morning Mrs. Willaim. Why do you make the nauseous face? What is that parcel?” Miss Barbara was wearing a canary-colored house dress. She had short hair, the wrinkles on her cheek made her look older than she was. “Do not know. It's pungent,” Mrs. William responded bitterly. “Let me see. I do not smell anything.” She bought close to her nose. “Not even now, but I can hear something ticking.” She placed it near her ear “definitely some analog clock.” A sound she heard after almost ten years. Joana saw and heard this from her room through the partially open door and rushed to the door. “Throw it outside the boundary wall. It has bomb. Just throw it.“ She Panicked. Threw it. Clinched. All in one second. There was no explosion, they all stood stiff with hands on their ears. The eerie silence was broken. “I am calling 911” Joana was agile. After two minutes on the phone “They are sending the bomb squad. Wait. How did the package become green? I remember the package was brown.” Nobody responded. They went inside and within minutes the bomb squad arrived. One officer and one junior officer, both half-dressed as bomb squad specialists, briefly inspected the area. They both looked astute although the junior was oddly expressionless. The package was not there. “Where did it go? ” all three ladies screamed simultaneously. “Check the camera,” the officer was quick with the response. The computer screen showed some youth stealing the package. “You cannot call it stealing. The package was on the road,” said Mrs. William who was genuinely courteous. Using face recognition the state police data analysis department was able to identify the youth and within minutes they had the address of Neil Dantam. The officers and the ladies hurried to that address which was just three blocks away.
By abhidipta mallik4 years ago in Fiction
The death Herald
It was a cold night, one of those nights when you only wish to be at home surrounded by those you love. But it was not like that to Leben Adler, a young teenager who thought that he was immortal. Because since he was six years old he was prone to suffer mortal accidents without having any repercussions, every time he suffered an accident it was like nothing happened to him. On this day that he turned sixteen, as he was doing window cleaning work in one of the highest buildings in his city, destiny gave him a birthday present that day called freefall because the safety harness broke allowing him to fall to the ground. His body ached, his sight is a little blurry and he can hear people talking around him; he understands every word pronounced about him, he understands that once again he suffers an accident and once again he survives like the last six years before that. He did not understand what was the reason for him to continue surviving, so Leben relaxed a little and let the ambulance staff do their work while he began to lose consciousness.
By Alvaro Talero4 years ago in Fiction
Celestial Chapter 1
I used to believe that the stars were always easier to see with my eyes closed…In the recesses of my dreams, the lights were always so much brighter. Nanna used to take us to the edge of the scared aqueous caverns to watch the falling stars. According to the legend, shooting stars were regarded as the rejects of the Constellations; beings that have lost their earned divinity because they couldn’t play by the rules. Lots of the civilians of the Pi would take this legend for verbatim; using it as a justification to hide themselves and squash the dreams of rambunctious little ones that hoped to spend just one more hour outside their sublimity ponds, just before bedtime peaked over twilight. I never believed in that though. The people of Pi were always so suffocating. Nanna always worked to calm the condemnations of the masses down in our household. Regardless, of what the Diviners had told us during lectures, their tales were always washed away by the smell of Nanna's baked honey poppy seed loaf. As we laughed and joked over her homemade sea-salt caramels, she would always help take the edge off the divining process; a process created to help prime pre-residents of Pi for the upcoming ascendency trials that would approach with our coming of age. Even though it was our duty as pre-residents of Pi to take up the challenge of bringing glory and fame to our land. A drawn-out journey that was crested by earning eternal divinity among the constellations through the ascendency trials, I never really saw it that way. The passing periods of divination school were always spent with tales of the riches and notoriety that would come if we were lucky enough to be chosen. No resident of Pi had earned the title in 350 years. Such a prize (once upon a time) brought wealth and riches to our land (for resource allocation was often unfairly distributed to lands that produced beings of higher merit and ascendancy). As the 12th and final nation of Zodai, we were always placed at a disadvantage but with this year being my year of entrance into the contestant pool there was an extra special hopefulness budding in the air. Blame, it on the begrudging title of being the abandoned offspring of Pi’s last constellation earners…
By Jessica Nwaigbo4 years ago in Fiction
Mother's Protection
"I'll explain everything, just follow –" Marcy had started to tell the newcomer to follow her back to the encampment, but he suddenly disappeared again, emitting no sound and only a faint white light. He vanished as suddenly as he had appeared on the hilltop.
By Justin Moore4 years ago in Fiction
Children of the Oxcairn
Without a doubt, the most enviable of all the powers displayed by children of the Oxcairn was that of prophecy. The discovery of the powers had come about late in the 35th century, and for nearly three hundred years the Oxcairn people had refined their methods, exposed new powers, and used their gifted children to prosper and expand their influence in the empire. Their few, disparate villages had developed into a thriving capital in the central valley of an encircling mountain range. Streets were paved, improved sanitation methods greatly increased life expectancy, and generally the culture thrived where civilizations typically do when they no longer struggle for subsistence. By 3514, a pseudo-religion had emerged and a hieratic succession was codified to administer the development and capitalization of the Oxcairn powers. Many of the various powers exhibited by Oxcairn children were incredibly useful, even instrumental in advancing Oxcairn society, for example, the formidable Temple of Trials would never have been constructed without the earth shifters. It was prophecy, however, that was far more critical to the Oxcairn’s rise to power. Their relatively modest military maintained a history of victories against numerically and technologically superior foes; the trade agreements with their allies always heavily favored the Oxcairn; and they had been effectively immune from any natural disaster, drought, famine, or plague for the entirety of their 800 year history. It is all the more surprising, then, that their sudden and catastrophic end was prophesied by one of their own, and the Oxcairn people might have been saved, had she told anyone.
By Andrew LaBree4 years ago in Fiction
The Permanent Homecoming of P.B. Karpis
I couldn't see anything but streaks of light; behind me, something like two dozen eyes flashing red with the same intensity as the light ahead. Maybe I was disoriented from all the running and split-second decisions trying to shake these guys or something but chancing it with the light seemed like my only option. I had no idea where all the running had gotten me and the panic of the last few minutes seemed to momentarily supersede any concept of a location. I never thought I'd end up in this position again. I only knew the light was the one sure way to shake them and I knew what could happen if I chose it. I took a split second to brace myself for one last dash, possibly my last in every way, and this lent me a flash of courage. I turned my head back toward the crowd, still facing The Road ready to sprint if I saw any pupils start to dilate, and I just asked them, "What do you want from me?"
By Monica Escalera4 years ago in Fiction
The Ghosts of the Eastern Mountain
“I didn’t know fireflies sounded like that.” Jabez opened his eyes in annoyance, his brief moment of rest disturbed by his sister. He regretted showing her the way up onto the top of their family hut. Looking up at the stars late at night with the wooden roof under his back was a peaceful way to end a busy day. The last thing Jabez wanted was a long conversation.
By Alex Cameron4 years ago in Fiction
