Latest Stories

Most recently published stories on Vocal.

The Weight of Ink
The fluorescent hum in the motel room felt louder than the steady rain against the window. Sal traced a finger over the condensation, a smear of grime left behind. Cheap paper, lined yellow legal pad. A stubby pencil, chewed at the end, lay beside it. His knuckles were bruised, from what he couldn't even remember now, just another scuffle in another dive. He picked up the pencil, the lead gritty under his thumb. This was stupid. All of it.
By HAADI19 days ago in Criminal
Why Americans Choose Experiences Over Routine Lifestyle Paths
The conventional was regarded as the basis of a prosperous American life during most of the past. The schedules were predictable, the jobs were long-term, and there were also clear courses of action that provided a feeling of security and social acceptance. In the present day, such definition evolves. A lot of Americans are doubting the fact that routine is a sufficient source of fulfillment. It did not make structure the supreme form of stability and happiness as it once was.
By Tiana Alexandra19 days ago in Humans
Moonlit Grapple
Arthur couldn't sleep. The house breathed around him, a heavy, silent thing, each creak of the old wood a whisper of all the lives that weren't here anymore. He'd tried the book. He'd tried the news. He'd tried just lying there, eyes wide open in the dark, counting the beats of his own heart, but the numbers kept getting tangled, pulled apart by thoughts that clawed at the edges of his mind. Lily's birthday had been last week. No call. He knew why. Didn't make it any easier to breathe.
By HAADI19 days ago in Psyche
The Weight of Quiet Snow
Liam stared at the page, the equations blurring into an indecipherable squall. Third-year quantum mechanics. Wave functions, probabilities, observer effects. It felt less like science and more like some elaborate, cruel joke. Three empty coffee cups stood sentinel around his laptop, a testament to hours that had dissolved into a haze of caffeine and creeping dread. The clock on his screen read 2:17 AM. Paper due Friday. He was sinking, quicksand made of textbooks and his own spiraling inadequacy.
By HAADI19 days ago in Education
I Stopped Chasing Fashion Trends — and That’s When I Truly Started Noticing Them. AI-Generated.
For a long time, fashion trends felt exhausting to me. Every season seemed louder than the last. New colors, new silhouettes, new rules about what was “in” and what was suddenly outdated. I followed them at first—mostly out of curiosity—but eventually I stopped trying to keep up.
By MOHAMMED19 days ago in Confessions
The Static of Wool
Unit 734, or just Seventy-Three to the few who bothered, powered on with the familiar low hum in his chassis. Diagnostic checks scrolled through his optical sensors, green and precise: all systems nominal. But today, the usual clarity was smudged. A residue, a phantom sensation, lingered in his peripheral processing units. Not data. Not a task. Something...soft. Impossibly, bewilderingly soft, like something alive, yet humming with a faint, electrical current.
By HAADI19 days ago in Men
Book Review: "City of Girls" by Elizabeth Gilbert
I've read Eat, Pray, Love but I have to admit that was a while ago now. Actually it was probably less than five years after the book was released, so there. City of Girls was one I had never heard of for some reason. Currently, I am nursing a cut on my finger because a book betrayed me. I'm also running on about five cups of coffee, no food and about two hours of sleep. I exist in the twilight zone but I can appreciate a good book when I read it. City of Girls was a wonderful book. Let's take a look at what it was about...
By Annie Kapur19 days ago in Geeks
The Ink-Stained Ledger
The diner air hung thick, a greasy shroud of burnt coffee and yesterday’s bacon. Leo traced a finger through the dust on the counter, the fluorescent lights humming a low, miserable tune above him. Another Friday night, another handful of regulars, another stack of bills that felt heavier than the griddle itself. Mama’s Diner. Her legacy. His burden. He wiped his hands on his apron, the cloth already stiff with grime. He was tired, bone-deep tired, the kind of tired that seeped into your marrow and made every breath feel like a chore.
By HAADI19 days ago in Motivation
What Defines American Travel Focused Lifestyle Today Living
Travel is no longer a thing that the Americans can incorporate into their life when there is a time to do so. It has become one of the characteristic features of the way many individuals prefer to live. Travel-centered lifestyle is not necessarily one that travels everywhere all the time and runs away, but one that makes the normal life centered on freedom and experience and conscious decision. Americans are finding it more worthwhile to travel as means of knowing who they are, creating significant routines, and maintaining contact with a broader world.
By Tiana Alexandra19 days ago in Humans
Pain Retreats...🌡️
Soothing Thermo Pad... Chases worrisome cramps away... Pelvic pain retreats...
By Tiffany Gordon19 days ago in Poets
Where American Travelers Find Purpose Through Lifestyle Exploration
Today, purpose is no longer something that is inherited or given to an American traveler by location, job position, or tradition. It is an experience that is learnt through movement, exposure and experience. Traveling is now a valuable tool in exploring lifestyle that helps one to realize what is really important and to leave the solid framework of knowing and going beyond the well-known ideas of success, happiness and identity.
By Tiana Alexandra19 days ago in Humans
No More New Years Resolutions and 2026 BINGO
2026 is here. It has been here for barely three days and I already can't stand it... But I'm not going to let another new year win! Because that happened last year, and I'm more than a little bit miffed about it.
By John Dodge19 days ago in Motivation