Latest Stories

Most recently published stories on Vocal.

Notes on Afterwards
I can no longer think about anything. I simply savor the moments when I can close my eyes and let myself be carried away by the memories of that night. Desire burns me, devours me, paralyzes me. Abrupt sentences, monosyllabic words, insults, linguistic pirouettes—from god to whore—loop endlessly in my head. It’s the moment when one no longer knows how to speak, like a newborn, the moment when the verb is not yet there. The moment when one feels the present instant in all its nuances: through touch, sight, taste, smell. The moment when one almost no longer exists. No, when one truly no longer exists, especially as an individual being. It is the moment of absolute fusion with another. It is the moment of coït. With two dots on a single i.
By Anastasia Tsarkova15 days ago in Fiction
The Best Lingerie Manufacturers for Your Brand: A Buyer's Guide
Starting your own lingerie business can prove to be difficult unless you know where to look and which manufacturers you should choose for your brand.
By Mohsin Butt15 days ago in Styled
Lordhair vs Lavivid: A Wearer's Take
I didn't plan on comparing brands. I just wanted to share my own experience and thoughts. The Situation By the time I started wearing a hair system, I’d already spent too much energy reading forums, watching videos, and second‑guessing myself. Every option sounded perfect until it wasn’t.
By Ryan Collins15 days ago in Styled
Cooking Up Connection: Romantic Recipes to Enjoy as a Couple
Turning your kitchen into a romantic space doesn’t require extravagant effort. Start with lighting—switch off the overhead lights and let candles or warm lamps create a cozy atmosphere. Add soft music that you both enjoy and clear the counters to give yourselves space to move freely. These thoughtful touches can transform even a modest kitchen into a place of intimacy and fun.
By Micah Love-Allotey15 days ago in Lifehack
The Descendant of a Lioness
Haole kou lined the sidewalk. Each step shaded, with an occasional beam of sunlight piercing through the branches. I sat there on the bench, book in hand. Leaves gently rustled in the kona breeze. I inhaled, relishing this serene moment. Anticipating what would unfold in Chapter 35, I opened the book. I read about Homa being preyed upon by the sergeant. My chest tightened. There she was, confined by cement. Her screams, unheard by anyone who could help. Before this moment, she had dreams of becoming a judge.
By Keola 15 days ago in Writers
Why the web novel are conquering the new gen?
In a generation where dopamine is just one click away and we have things as addictive as social media, videos, games, and parties, literature is becoming less and less attractive to young people.
By Julian Gomez15 days ago in BookClub
An ordinary Chinese friendship story
In December 2016, I had been away from home for a year and a half, working on the remote Cook Islands. One day, feeling intensely homesick, I opened my computer and searched for the map of my hometown. I discovered that the water flowing out from the main dam of Dongting Reservoir traveled past Huitang, down toward Ningxiang, gradually becoming a river called Wu River. At the edge of the county town, Wu River joined the Wei River. Near its end, it branched off again, looping around a place called Tiaomizhou before rejoining the main river, with a dam built at the point of convergence.
By Jicky Liu15 days ago in Writers
The Lost Mind
I stand by the door, staring at Reema Aunty taking care of my Dadi**. Dadi can’t bathe herself anymore, Reema Aunty bathes her. Right now, she is combing Dadi’s hair, her once beautiful long hair is now short and full of white strands. Dadi peeps over and smiles, her eyes crinkling at the corners.
By Poonam Desai15 days ago in Families
Forever Mommy
You are placing bricks, one on top of the other, oblivious to the couples pressing their noses to the glass that separates them from you. The room on this side of the glass has many more like you, in all shapes, sizes, colours, and ethnicity scattered on tables, chairs and mats, playing and laughing unaware of the fate that awaits you on the other side of the glass. The couples on the other side are seated in a waiting room awaiting their turn to view from the glass and choose their prospective offspring. It’s a thrift store of the unwanted and used.
By Poonam Desai15 days ago in Families
The Grumpy Curmudgeon, Pikachu
Pikachu, or Pika for short, was a semi-long haired, grey and white bottomless pit of a cat with the personality of a old man telling you to “Stay off his lawn”, who came into my life via an abandoned pampers box on the side of road near my church I attended with four of his siblings. While we found homes for everyone else, Pikachu stayed, quickly taking a place in our hearts.
By Margy15 days ago in Petlife
Migration
What does migration mean to you? As humans, as we grow, we make decisions that mark a before and after in our lives. Decisions that, when we look back on them, make us wonder if, at the moment we made them, we were truly aware of the impact they would have on our lives. Sometimes, our expectations are high: we dream of a future that does not yet exist; other times, we let life teach us, gently or forcefully, where these decisions might lead us.
By ISANDRA VALEN15 days ago in Humans
Vlad Țepeș. AI-Generated.
Vlad Țepeș: Sovereignty Written in Blood History remembers kings by their victories, saints by their sacrifices, and tyrants by their cruelties. Vlad Țepeș is remembered by all three and understood by none. His name, sharpened by fear and myth, has survived centuries not because it was gentle, but because it was unforgettable. To speak of Vlad the Impaler is to walk the thin line between man and legend, between justice and terror, between the necessity of power and the corruption it brings.
By Pure child15 days ago in History