Latest Stories

Most recently published stories on Vocal.

Announcing The Book I Conceived
My word for this year, twenty-twenty-six is 'Publish'! I have a book due this year I have been working on edits, and fix the time to finish edits with some fear
By Denise E Lindquist21 days ago in Poets
The Unwinding Hour
The autumn of nineteen-nineteen clung to the town like a damp shroud, the sort of chill that settled deep in your bones and refused to budge. Thomas, or what was left of him, felt it most in the phantom ache of his missing left arm. He'd come back from the Somme with half a body and a head full of ghosts, and the world had the gall to keep spinning forward, oblivious. Every street corner, every familiar face, seemed to him a silent accusation. He’d try to work in his father’s old carpentry shop, the scent of fresh-cut pine a cruel reminder of normalcy, but his good hand would tremble, the saw refusing to find purchase. He spent most days just walking, the click of his heavy boots on the cobbled lane the only rhythm he trusted.
By HAADI21 days ago in History
Moonlit Shards
The air in the kitchen was thick with the scent of burnt toast and unspoken words. Sarah picked at a chipped ceramic plate, pushing around the remains of her half-eaten dinner. Lily, across from her, was a statue carved from teenage angst, eyes glued to a phone screen, a faint blue glow illuminating the sharp angles of her jaw. The silence stretched, tight as a drum skin, ready to snap.
By HAADI21 days ago in Families
The Shard Keeper
It's just glass, really. But I call them flowers. Crystal flowers. Thousands of them, tucked away in this shed out back, where no one ever looks, where no one ever *will* look. They shimmer, you know, when the weak afternoon sun hits that crack in the corrugated steel, throwing slivers of light across them. They sparkle, each one cut, ground, polished, a sharp, perfect bloom. And each one, a goddamn lie.
By HAADI21 days ago in Confessions
BigDeuceFOF Discography: All Songs, Features, and Releases
BigDeuceFOF has built his discography with intention. Rather than flooding platforms with random drops, his releases feel connected—each song adding to a larger story shaped by pressure, belief, and persistence. For fans, his catalog isn’t just a list of tracks. It’s a timeline of growth.
By RapRadarDigest21 days ago in Beat
The Last Line West
The air smelled like wet ash and old fear. Elias pulled Lily closer, her small hand like a bird's claw in his. She was quiet, too quiet, just staring at the behemoth of rusted steel that groaned on the tracks. The 'Last Hope,' some idiot had called it, spray-painted on the side in faded red, almost like a joke. Last hope for what? Last hope for *nowhere*. That’s what they’d all whispered, the hushed, ragged crowd pushing and shoving for a spot. He remembered the general’s speech, all bravado and empty promises. 'West,' he’d boomed, 'to safety.' Safety was a word that felt like a foreign language these days.
By HAADI21 days ago in Chapters
Why Active Listening Is the Most Underrated Skill in 2026. AI-Generated.
Introduction: Why Listening Matters More Than Ever in 2026 We live in an age where everyone wants to be heard, yet very few people truly listen. Notifications, short-form videos, endless meetings, and constant multitasking have quietly weakened one of the most essential human skills: active listening.
By Muhammad Irfan Afzal21 days ago in Humans
4 Truths That Made Me Emotionally Stronger
I used to think emotional strength meant never crying, never breaking, never needing anyone. I thought strong people swallowed pain and moved on without looking back.
By Fazal Hadi21 days ago in Longevity
A Speck of Rust in the Blue
Blue. It wasn't a sad blue, not always. It was just... blue. Like the inside of an old tin can, or the exhaust fumes curling off the back of a refrigerated truck on a cold morning. That's how Arthur tasted it, felt it, lived it. A dull, metallic tang on his tongue, a low hum behind his eyes. He’d been driving rigs for twenty-seven years, every mile blurring into the next, every diner coffee tasting roughly the same, every conversation with a fuel stop cashier a recycled script. That taste, that relentless blue, had become the only flavor he knew.
By HAADI21 days ago in Lifehack
Trump's ‘Bomb Magnet’ Fleet Could ‘Never Sail’ and Waste Billions of Dollars: Experts. AI-Generated.
A controversial naval vision associated with former U.S. President Donald Trump is once again under fire, with defense experts warning that the so-called “bomb magnet” fleet could end up draining billions of dollars without ever proving useful in real combat. The concept, rooted in Trump-era rhetoric about restoring American military dominance, is now being criticized as strategically flawed, technologically risky, and financially unsustainable.
By Aadil shanawar21 days ago in The Swamp
Whispers in an Ancient Library
Elara traced the spine of a book, her finger leaving a pale line in the thick dust. Her arthritis hummed a low complaint in her knuckles, a familiar ache. Another Tuesday afternoon in the stacks. Thomas, her husband of forty-two years, was a shadow at the far end of the aisle, lost in the brittle pages of some medieval tome. The air in the old city library was always the same: dust motes suspended in the weak light from the tall, arched windows, the faint, comforting scent of aging paper and something else, something metallic and cold, like forgotten iron. She’d come here every Tuesday and Thursday since she retired, not because she loved the musty quiet, but because he was here. He always was.
By HAADI21 days ago in Marriage
Warming the cold
Electric blankets Give warmth through cold winter nights Until morning dawns
By Cheryl E Preston21 days ago in Poets