Holiday
Winter Series 2025 - When the Sun Forgot Us for a Moment (PART II)
That morning, the Sun hesitated; it did not announce itself with disaster or spectacle. There were no sirens, no collapsing networks, no urgent alerts vibrating in pockets. Light simply arrived differently, spreading across the city with an unfamiliar patience, lingering on rooftops and sidewalks as if it were deciding whether the day truly needed to begin. People noticed the change not with panic but with intuition. Coffee cooled untouched. Footsteps slowed. Conversations stretched into pauses that felt intentional rather than awkward, as though time itself had loosened its grip just enough to let the world inhale.
By José Juan Gutierrez 2 months ago in Fiction
Auroras Beyond the Last Forest - Mysteries of the North Pole
The journey toward the North Pole did not begin with coordinates or maps, but with a forest older than memory itself. The Taiga Forest stretched endlessly beneath a sky that never fully darkened, its snow-laden trees standing like quiet witnesses to centuries of travelers who had come seeking answers rather than destinations. This was not a forest that resisted passage - it tested intention. Every step forward felt deliberate, as if the land itself required certainty before allowing anyone deeper. It was here that the travelers gathered - not heroes in the traditional sense, but beings shaped by curiosity, patience, and winter’s discipline. Among them walked humans wrapped in layered wool and belief, forest spirits whose footsteps left no imprint, and small luminous fair folk - fairies - whose wings refracted the pale light into soft prisms. Even the wind seemed aware of them, slowing its breath as they advanced northward.
By José Juan Gutierrez 2 months ago in Fiction
Winter Series 2025 - Snow Does Not Fall the Same Way Twice (Part III)
Snow looks identical until you stay long enough to watch it fall. From a distance, winter appears repetitive - the same cold, the same gray skies, the same quiet streets. But snow, like memory, reveals its truth only to those willing to slow down. Each flake carries a distinct geometry. Each winter arrives believing it is both the first and the last of its kind.
By José Juan Gutierrez 2 months ago in Fiction
Winter Series 2025 - The Longest Night We Shared (Part I)
Winter does not arrive loudly. It enters quietly, slipping between conversations, dimming the edges of the world, asking us to slow down even when we resist. The longest night of the year - Solstice - is not only an astronomical event - it is an emotional threshold. A moment when darkness lingers long enough to make us listen.
By José Juan Gutierrez 2 months ago in Fiction
Snowed Under
She held the hot cup in her hands, letting the warmth spread through her and ease the stiffness. She took small steps, watching the liquid hit the rim of the mug as she moved into the living room and sat in her armchair. Carefully, she brought the scalding hot drink up to her lips and took a first sip of Christmas cheer. It always brought her back to Christmases in her childhood. She eased into the calm of it and turned to look out the window.
By Leah Suzanne Dewey2 months ago in Fiction
Meet-Cute Mistletoe
It was warmer than I remembered, and it was a little disappointing. I had come to really love the snow and real white Christmases. Nothing here had ever felt right; it always felt like something had been missing. But it was too late, I had already made the choice to be here for Christmas.
By Leah Suzanne Dewey2 months ago in Fiction
Christmas Carols
Sitting around the fireplace on a Christmas Eve for now it's Storytime. Hope you like it. We Three Kings of Orient Are traveling along to that O little town of Bethlehem following a star that will lead us to a King somewhere away in a manger for we are hearing a carol of bells proclaiming what child is this. We see on our travels some decking of the halls with the hanging of the greens and hear some jingle bells for those bells are ringing hark the herald angels singing glory to the newborn King. Now we hear the phrase King of kings and Lord of lords has been born. Oh, come all ye faithful and come adore him and see the greatest gift of all that is love as the little drummer boy finds out. Happy Christmas to all!
By Mark Graham2 months ago in Fiction
The Dancing Snowflakes
On the coldest night of winter, when the moon hung low and silver in the sky, the town below was quiet. Snow blanketed the streets, muffling every sound, and icicles hung from rooftops like delicate crystal daggers. The children of the town had long since gone to bed, their windows glowing softly in the dark. But above them, something extraordinary was happening.
By Logan M. Snyder2 months ago in Fiction
Christmas Wishing
Here's a link to the Challenge: Dear Satan Santa, I have been a good boy, but I wonder if that is enough in the climate we live in. I want so many things, and I am not sure if you can get them for me. I would like to have more things for my family and myself. We deserve to be released from all of our obligations, despite the contract we signed.
By Kendall Defoe 2 months ago in Fiction
Christmas Tales ~ Silent Night, Deadly Night
Christmas is a time for joy, for love, for peace. Yet peace survives only when evil is held back. The rules have shifted; Christmas is no longer about naughty or nice. For this season, nice takes its rightful throne in a wicked world, until the spirits stir again.
By Mia Z. Edwards2 months ago in Fiction
The Threshold of Then
Elara found the door on a day when her present felt particularly thin. The maple tree at the edge of her property was ancient, its bark a geography of ridges and valleys. Today, in the low, slanting light of October, she saw the lines she’d always taken for natural cracks had formed a perfect rectangle. And within that rectangle, someone had long ago painted a simple, weathered green door, complete with a tiny brass knob that was just flecks of ochre paint.
By Habibullah2 months ago in Fiction
