Psychological
In the Loop. Runner-Up in A Knock at the Door Challenge.
My head swiveled as I heard the knock echoing down the hall. I froze at my desk, fingers floating anxiously above the keyboard as I listened. The silence that followed was only broken by the pounding of my heart. “It’s just Ellie,” I muttered to myself, shaking my head.
By Phar West Nagle4 months ago in Fiction
The Buzzer
The apartment where she was starting her life over had one of those outdated intercom systems with a loud, jarring buzzer that always made her heart jump and her skin itch. Her cats hated it too, always scattering when the noise rang through her apartment, sprinting for that dark, enclosed space under her bed that made them both impossible to find. She wondered, as that buzzer echoed through her apartment and her breath caught in her chest and her cats' claws slid over the hardwood floor as they ran for cover, if it would still make her feel that way if she wasn't now built out of anxiety and PTSD. But there was no point in what ifs and maybes in this brave new world.
By Mallory Rose4 months ago in Fiction
Trapped by the Spider. Content Warning.
**Warning: Contains depiction of kidnapping and torture.** I knocked on the door three times. Knock. Knock. Knock. My presence was greeted by a dog barking, and within a minute, the sound of locks fumbling. The door swung open and I was greeted by the acrid smell of Marlboro red’s–what Grandpa used to smoke. A man stood in the doorway with a mess of curly grey and smoke-dyed hair. A slop of a beard decorated his face with his high cheekbones that pushed on narrow, beady brown eyes. He stood taller than me, but was short for a man. His red and black flannel fit poorly over his round belly.
By Callum Summers4 months ago in Fiction
Parallel Collision. Honorable Mention in Parallel Lives Challenge.
The morning was unremarkable. The morning welcomed me with the kiss of a thin fog coiling over the payment and just the whisper of slick frost and ice waiting for the sun to thaw it back into water. The streetlight on the corner flickered like it was getting ready to die out. I tightened my jacket around me and checked my watch while I rushed to the bus stop a block away. Seemingly reading my mind, the bus rounds the corner, headlights splitting the mist.
By Autumn Stew4 months ago in Fiction
Manticore. Content Warning.
I could nearly describe exactly the exact wording the Sherrif used. Almost, I could show you the way it felt when he grabbed me in mid-sprint, wrestled me to the ground and assured me nothing could be done. Without hesitation or error, I could imitate the tone of his voice and how unwavering his verdict was. But that would be pointless. What’s done is done and there’s no bringing back the lost.
By Thomas Speer4 months ago in Fiction
Nothing II. Honorable Mention in A Knock at the Door Challenge. Content Warning.
I wake to a knock. The room is dark, and I am dazed. The rapping is at my bathroom door. Uneasy, I plant both feet on the hardwood floors. I rise and move forward, but there is nothing out of the ordinary on the other side.
By Ashley Lima4 months ago in Fiction
Uncivil mad Thoughts.. Runner-Up in Parallel Lives Challenge.
HER I feel encased in glass...cast in an everlasting fecking mask - buried deep within a coral bed of frowning faces and gritted teeth. Feelings of having a bad day surface...I try my best to don my lovely grinning mask...but it doesn't fit.
By Novel Allen4 months ago in Fiction
Threshold. Runner-Up in A Knock at the Door Challenge.
Every night at 3:03, my door remembers a hand that isn’t there. The first time, I sat up in bed convinced I’d dreamed it. The second time, the sound was so exact that I reached for my phone before my eyes opened, thumb finding the clock in the dark. 3:03. One knock. Not a rattle or tick of old pipes, not the sloppy stutter of someone stumbling down the hall. A single, patient knock. As if the night had put a finger to its lips and then tapped once to say hush, listen.
By Aspen Noble4 months ago in Fiction
