Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Fiction.
SADIE
She closed the locket, running her fingers along its heart-shaped edge. So much she had lost over the past year, but this one hurt the most. Looking out at the leaden sky, she felt a heaviness. The world had changed and she hadn’t been able to stop it. She would soon suffer the same demise as Henry, but she had water for now. For now.
By Melissa Haley5 years ago in Fiction
Together
His palm is pressed firmly against mine, his fingers holding our hands together. His callouses draw my attention, stiff from work. Our bodies are exhausted from effort and the heat is disseminating into the ground and air around us. Soaked in sweat, I vacillate into shivering. The dog next to me is shifting her weight to find a more comfortable position. My mind is separate from my body, and much as I know I need to bring both things together, I can’t seem to unify my thoughts and actions. A mental inventory of my physical state requires more focus than I have. As we’re in no position to talk, I won’t have to extend any false assurances. I let the effort slide.
By Nicole Shumate5 years ago in Fiction
Elysium
Quickly! Shanae was running, feeling the adrenaline rush through her limbs giving her a burst of energy she hadn’t felt before. The gates were close now, but dogs might have been closer. She could hear them, snarling, baring teeth as they sprinted after her.
By Maxine Hancock5 years ago in Fiction
FOREVER YOURS
The Belgian farmer looked out across the remnants of his destroyed land through the shattered kitchen window. Like his father, grandfather, his great grandfather and so on before him, they had farmed this patch of land near the village of Passchendaele for centuries. In the beginning, the land had been more fertile and the farm much larger but back then, pesticides and other chemicals that poisoned the soil hadn’t existed. The farm had survived WWI and WWII, but he wasn’t too sure about the results of WWIII. So many nuclear bombs had been deployed the world over and as if that hadn’t been bad enough, global pandemics had also raged across the entire planet. Because of the deadly nuclear radiation and devastating diseases, he wasn’t sure what had caused his whole family to wither away and die, only knew he had one last son to bury. He didn’t know if any foreign armies had invaded other countries, but he hadn’t seen any here. His worst enemies had become his own countrymen as they scavenged food; the past winter, extremely harsh and lengthy, had most likely killed most of them off. It had been months since he had seen another living human being, other than his dying son.
By Len Sherman5 years ago in Fiction
The underworld
The Underworld This is no space station, but it sure looks like one on the blueprints. The time its taking to build, the investors, the planning but now it is ready. I have been training for months with the crew of astronauts on how to manoeuvre around in big bulky suits floating. The skills learned at NASSA have been significant to the many hours of training.
By Leslie Strom5 years ago in Fiction
39 Years and Holding
September 3, 2025 One thing that they don’t tell you about living at a beach-side resort is that you can never get a good night of sleep. I woke up to a flash of electric blue that illuminated my room and a crash of thunder that rattled my bed. Another storm was blowing in over Lake Erie. After finally falling back to sleep, the seagulls started screaming and calling to each other just as the sun was about to rise. I walked over to the window and yelled at them through the dirty glass but they just looked at me and then started talking again.
By Vicky DiMichele5 years ago in Fiction
The Ninth Circle
When evil took over earth, we didn’t anticipate a landscape of frozen tundra, ice, and life lost in time. I personally expected — and now find myself longing for — blazing heat and dust. We weren’t worthy of that, though. Media outlets and prominent political figures tried to blame it on environmental disasters and human irresponsibility for the Great Freeze. They pointed to scientists to back up the claims who — when put on the spot — denied any of it having to do with humans.
By Kaitlin Oster5 years ago in Fiction
Runaway
They aren’t around, but I feel their greedy eyes on me, deciding my future. I’m alone… but for how long? I hear the buzz of an aircraft above, tirelessly searching for the lost prize. I hide in the little hovel I discovered in the middle of the night before the search began.
By Mycheille Norvell5 years ago in Fiction
Zeke Vs Zombies
Zeke shrugs the backpack off and makes himself as comfortable as he can. He is lying on top of a jungle gym. The zees (Zeke refuses to call them zombies) can’t climb. He’s only seven feet above the asphalt surface of the playground, but he knows he is safe from this undead threesome for now.
By Shawn Ingram5 years ago in Fiction
