Psychological
The Sun in Her Palm
Isabelle inserted the flash drive labeled “NEVER” into the computer and, after a moment’s hesitation, pressed Enter. The image broke through the hiss and blur — a street-cam feed, unstable but real. From the very first seconds of the video, Bella realized she had always been looking the wrong way. She had built her life around tomorrow — blind to what lingered behind, never daring to uncover the buried pieces of her past.
By Erian Lin Grant3 months ago in Fiction
Moonlight for the Homeless
The city was a machine of forgetting. It forgot the names of the people who slept in its doorways, it forgot the faces huddled under its bridges. Kael was one of the forgotten. His world was a tapestry of cold concrete, harsh lights, and the averted gazes of a thousand strangers.
By Habibullah3 months ago in Fiction
Safer Inside. Honorable Mention in Through the Keyhole Challenge. Content Warning.
It started with a knock. Tap, tap. Mac, who had been sitting on the couch moments before, started shaking, his face ghostly pale. He raced to his private bedroom closet, closing the door with a snap.
By Aubrey Rebecca3 months ago in Fiction
Laid To Rest. Runner-Up in Through the Keyhole Challenge. Top Story - November 2025.
His blood pulsed in his ears. The treasure of a lifetime might have been right before him, right beyond this final barrier. In a vain attempt to steady his sweaty, shaking palms, he wiped them against his field khakis before making the tiniest of incisions in the door’s upper-left-hand corner with his small hand-drill. It was warm, so very warm, and things were so very delicate, more than he ever imagined possible. With a small match, he tested the incision for noxious gases before peering through the peephole.
By Matthew J. Fromm3 months ago in Fiction
Sibyl's Stream. Runner-Up in Through the Keyhole Challenge.
At first, my explorations of the underground tunnels yielded only a musky smell and a long stroll in the quiet dark, but what I found that day when I peeked through a crack in the wall changed me forever.
By C. Rommial Butler3 months ago in Fiction
The Key is Me. Top Story - November 2025.
I, a simple sinner, looked through the key hole. Inside was a sight that locked me in my place. I was no longer outside of the room, but I wasn’t quite in it either. It was as if I was held in place between two worlds. My world, and this foreign one.
By Josh Ripperger3 months ago in Fiction
Bartered
After I rapped my knuckles thrice against the wood, I heard a rusty panel groan open on the other side of the door to give the man a good look at who was wanting admittance into his dreary establishment. I could feel his hidden eye traveling over my person, even if I couldn’t see from my vantage point on the street who was observing me. The slot zipped again, and then there was a moment of silence.
By Alison McBain3 months ago in Fiction
Halloween House Party (2). Content Warning.
Chapter 2: “What the fuck do you mean by that?” “You know exactly what I mean” I hear the sinful way his lips turn up in a devilish smile. The same that drew me to him in the first place; I drank poison and asked for more, slowly dying from the inside but refused to stop and save myself because he made it taste so damn good.
By 𝓗. 𝓒. 𝓡𝓾𝓫𝔂3 months ago in Fiction
Omniview: ECHO
The passkey blinked open with a soundless flick. Sora sat still for a long moment, heart thudding, eyes stinging from hours of sleepless white light. He didn’t know what he expected to find, only that it wouldn’t be her. The key had taken him all night to crack. His rig was a patchwork of scavenged parts and code he’d written himself, sorting through encryption layers like a digital locksmith picking a thousand locks at once. When the directory finally bloomed open, its name glared at him in stark white letters: ARCHIVE//VERACITY_CONTROL.
By Alyssa Cherise3 months ago in Fiction
