Psychological
"I Ordered a Virtual Friend… and They Changed My Life"
I didn’t think loneliness had a shape—until mine started talking back. It was a slow unraveling at first. Days blurred into one another, each one whispering a little louder than the last, “You are alone.” Friends were busy. Life was busy. I was suspended in the background of everyone else's world. And then one evening, half out of boredom, half out of quiet desperation, I downloaded a trial of AURA, the most advanced AI companionship system on the market.
By Asanda M..10 months ago in Fiction
The Villa Pisani Labyrinth
Lost within the new Villa Pisani labyrinth, the world's most challenging hedge maze, Anthony felt his heart racing as panic began to set in. Anthony knew there was something amiss about that drink offered to him by his hostess. He smartly tried to excuse himself to vomit the foreign substance out of his system but was ushered out in a mental haze. He was the only guest to be led to the labyrinth. Anthony couldn’t remember if he was the sole guest in this Italian mansion; the faces that prefaced this encounter became blurred and misshapen. Fight or flight had not set in yet—as if the bodily response had been deactivated. Anthony stood in front of the iron gate into the maze. The time of day, for Anthony, shifted from sunset to a completely lightless sky. The iron gate opened. On either side stood identical marble statues of a young boy wrestling an animal of some sort. Anthony couldn’t focus on the statues, his eyes briefly caught a flashlight strobing the center spiral tower with a marble statue resting on top. The tower shifted, disappeared, sank, grew to enormous heights, and then it instantaneously became a frightening dark. A voice whispered into Anthony’s left ear, instructing him to hurry through the maze, find the center, and claim the prize.
By Anthony Diaz10 months ago in Fiction
Ebb and Flow. Content Warning.
"Whatever you decide to do in this moment, Valdis, I understand and support you." Those words did not make this any easier, as I stood there frozen by indecision. My heart, soul and mind were locked in a impossible conflict. What would be the right choice in this moment? There had to be one right choice... but I could not determine what it was.
By Luna Verity10 months ago in Fiction
The Choice. Content Warning.
"Does he love me?" The question should be so simple to answer. But for Thea, it was anything but simple. She never expected to fall in love with Tom. She was determined to never fall in love again after experiencing nothing but heartbreaks her whole life.
By Luna Verity10 months ago in Fiction
They Told Me the Ocean Was Empty. They Lied.
I always thought the ocean was just a vast, uncharted emptiness—an endless abyss stretching beyond the horizon, a place where few ventured, and fewer returned. They told me the ocean was empty. A wasteland. The idea that something could exist beneath its surface seemed like nothing more than a childish fantasy. After all, why would we look down when we have the stars above? Why waste time thinking about what lies beneath the waves when we already know everything about the world above?
By Gift Abotsi 10 months ago in Fiction
The Maestros
In the opulent courts of 18th-century Portugal, Lords Jean Michel De Quiroz and Ray Markus Aguila were revered as paragons of art, intellect, and elegance—known simply as The Maestros. Celebrated for their patronage and dazzling minds, they were the very image of nobility. Their salons, fragrant with roses and filled with music, were the heart of Lisbon's cultural elite. Poets wrote of them. Scholars admired them. Women flocked to them.
By The Crash Test Facility10 months ago in Fiction
Can You See Me Now?
Being invisible is my superpower. I don’t mean that I’m a superhero who is out slaughtering villains, cape flapping in the wind as I zoom over the New York skyline. The truth is, instead, that I am a “woman of a certain age” who has suddenly morphed into invisibility.
By Muhammad Hameedul Haq10 months ago in Fiction
The Silent Drifter
In the quiet corners of the world, there are stories of men who drift in and out of towns without leaving a mark—men whose lives are shrouded in mystery, whose names are whispered but never fully known. These men, like the wind, come and go without warning, leaving behind only a trail of uncertainty. Such is the life of The Silent Drifter, a character who embodies the forgotten past and the quiet, deadly purpose that drives him forward. His presence in any given place is a prelude to change, yet the change is not always one that is easily understood.
By Qismat ullah wazir 10 months ago in Fiction
