Latest Stories

MikeStone

A Walk in the Desert

What could be more banal than going for a walk?

"A Walk in the Desert" (c) Mike Stone October 8, 2014   Tuvi Ornat put the old concert ticket he'd been using as a bookmark between the two pages he had been reading and laid the dog-eared paperback gently on the table beside his chair. He stood up and stretched his arms. "I'm going for a walk," Tuvi called upstairs but there was no response. He scribbled a short note and slid a...Read On

Added: 22 Feb 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,735 | Tags: israel  desert  qumran  caves   | 2 Comments

fuzzy1954

The Letter Continues

love knows no distance

Laying under the night sky, counting stars and thinking of you. Sound of Patches, in her paddock. Dreaming of your soldier boy. You feel life is good.   Driving home from work,. passing by the protesters. Screaming how evil the war is, soldiers are killers and murder babies. You turn your radio up louder, My Imagination by The Temptations, play on. Bringing calm back to you. ...Read On

Added: 22 Feb 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 139 | Tags: love  distance   | 2 Comments

Obituarius

Seesaws

I remember when kites had tails, falling leaves and Brussel sprouts. Seesaws sawed and acorns had caps. I remember when pies were round and not "pie are square." "Where have all the popsicle sticks gone, so long ago?"  I remember double features and Dinah Shore. Howdy Doody was controlled by strings, and Gene Autry sang. It was the age of black and white TV with rabbit ears. I remembered...Read On

Added: 22 Feb 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 129 | Tags: musings   | 1 Comment

LauraDanielle

Boy Germs, and other stories.

"Heeeeeey teacher," a child said to me, just as I was about to sit down and effectively ruin the fun of the children who were painting without fully being supervised. "My name is Laura, not teacher," I said. Oh, the joys of working at a new school. "Laula," the child said. Close enough.  "How can I help?" I asked little Miss Four, standing in front of me. She was looking very bright...Read On

Added: 20 Feb 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 470 | Tags: children  bodies  teacher  pimples  boy germs  butts  boobies.   | 4 Comments

maryruth

Aww

Watching In the shadow of darkness As candlelight dance So very close Heated air on skin Making nerve endings come alive Waiting  In aww of excitement Feeling  As hearts join as one Knowing Time stands still Now and Forever              ...Read On

Added: 17 Feb 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 39 | Tags: wanting   | 2 Comments

Ping

Someday You'll Understand

Both the best memories, and worst, haunt us and never die...

Fresh snow blanketed a sleepy, Saturday morning, making it the picturesque winter day that we dream. The jungles of concrete and asphalt were hidden, with white on evergreen, as far as the eye could see. Silent coffee aromas, maple sausage smiles, and fluffy pancake pride danced with the early banter that filled their home. In the rock surround, flickering imitation flames removed the edge...Read On

Added: 16 Feb 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 676 | Tags: snow  fireplace  pancakes  sausages  coffee  tragedy  memories   | 7 Comments

AnnaMayZing

The Long Road Home. Chapter 3

The six, wing-mounted machine-guns barked for a brief moment...

Taranto. January 17 th , 1943   Maria stood on the quayside and watched the ship slowly disappearing into the distance, unaware of the approaching danger. Suddenly, her superior officer, Oberstabsarzt Bernhardt Ritter, grabbed her arm. “Come on,” he said as he pulled her urgently towards the small Kübelwagen standing silently behind them. “What?” she said, puzzled but then,...Read On

Added: 16 Feb 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,149 | Tags: ww2  north africa  escape     | 4 Comments

Survivor

A Game of Life

Life is both a serious and fun game.

Life is a special game. Sometimes it's fun, like playing jacks or marbles. You had a talent for some competed on the sandy school playground. Some more than others. Such as tetherball and hopscotch. She walked towards you along a street during freshman orientation. On the sidewalk was a hopscotch court. You tossed the keychain from your pocket to a square, hopped on one foot,...Read On

Added: 15 Feb 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: micro fiction  games  life  fun  enjoyment  friendship   | 3 Comments

AnnaMayZing

The Warrior Princess. Chapter 2

"Take her alive! He wants her alive!"

As I lay on the thick straw mattress, sleep would not come. I listened to the sounds about me, the creaking of the timbers of the great hall, the faint sounds, beyond our chamber, of the soldiers sleeping and guards moving about as they changed watch. I could hear sounds in the forest outside, birds fluttering between the trees and animals scurrying through the undergrowth but mostly I...Read On

Added: 12 Feb 2019 | Category: Fantasy | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 4,098 | Tags: fantasy  draaken  forest   | 3 Comments

fuzzy1954

The Letter

Soon my love

Just the start of another day.  Your song comes on the radio. Sly & the Family Stone. "Thank You". As you wiggle in your jeans. You think of your boy, far far away. Sitting on the corner of your bed, you read his last sentence. "I'll be back in your arms, soon my love."   ...................... Just the start of another day. You unfold her letter, putting it to your nose....Read On

Added: 09 Feb 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 99 | Tags: love  distance   | 8 Comments

rune

Stainless Steel Rain

Underneath the rain...

Life sometimes throws you a painful joke. You must laugh out loud to hide the tears. Some days, when the pain is too much to bear, tears uncontrollably overflow from your eyes. You can't hide it anymore from the brightly shining sun outside. Silent tears roll from your eyes. You want a garbled scream to be released with the utter pain. The agony that can only hide in the shower with...Read On

Added: 05 Feb 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: thinking  rune   | 8 Comments

Rumple_deWriter

Challenge: Linda Ronstadt -- RdW

How the singer turned the office skkeptic into a believer.

“You guys are nuts.” The Skeptic was in rare form as the four men studied the petite singer flitting around on the dim stage.   “I mean, sure she’s cute, but in a small-town high school cheerleader sort of way. No way is she this smoking’ hot sex object you guys keep raving about. But…”   The Skeptic stopped as the singer approached the microphone stand. Waited for A bright spotlight...Read On

Added: 05 Feb 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: challenge  singer  cute  cheerleader  transformation   | 8 Comments

Obituarius

Act II

It was only a memory ago that I recall a dream I had of yesterday. Yesterday, several autumns past when the trees shed their wings of leaves poetically gold and mahogany brown. It was when the world stood still. Listening to angels with strings and harps. And we danced as I whispered prose in your ear. It was when the world was a quieter place and we fell in love with no bounds or fences to...Read On

Added: 05 Feb 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 203 | Tags: love   | 6 Comments

rune

The Wall

This dark, icy cold place is suffocating me to death.

My closed fists keep banging on the wall. My lungs hurt so much from losing air. It's becoming hard to breathe. I never stop pounding even as I can see blood flow out from my bruised hands. My mind is in a panic and the fear starts to creep up through my whole body because I don't know how to swim and the wall is giving me no respite so I can get my breath. I have begun to feel weak...Read On

Added: 04 Feb 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 344 | Tags: thinking  rune  collaboration  survivor   | 6 Comments

Wordpusher715

The Hippopotami Adventure

It's an adventure when you return unharmed...

The dugout canoes were overloaded as they were paddled up the Niger River by the two guides. The freeboard of the canoes was minimal. They weren’t meant to hold three Americans. I was the heaviest and rode with one guide while two of my daughters rode with the other. I was preoccupied with the thought that I was nuts and we were in over our heads. We were being taken to a place where we...Read On

Added: 03 Feb 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,070 | Tags: africa  niger  hippopotami  adventure  peace corps     | 8 Comments

AnnaMayZing

The Long Road Home Chapter 2.

Something large and heavy landed on her, knocking her to the deck...

The Mediterranean. January 17 th , 1943 As the setting sun began to dip below the horizon, SS Aegean Sea reduced her engine revolutions to slow. The frothing, white water that had hitherto washed along her flanks disappeared as her speed reduced to almost a standstill. Captain Konstantinos Theodopolis opened his bible and read.   “ The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I...Read On

Added: 02 Feb 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,303 | Tags: ww2  mediterranean     | 7 Comments

Survivor

Drip, Drip, Dripping Away

Always remember, never forget, from dusk till dawn

Added: 02 Feb 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: micro fiction  love story  alzheimer's  forgotten memories   | 11 Comments

Lev821

Feathered Friends

Sometimes rivals can be dealt with from the inside.

"....well my chaffinch has been looking rather off-colour lately, I'm sure it's caught a bug. The other day I saw a fly buzzing near the cage, and you know how many diseases they have". "Millions. Well, a lot. I'd get it checked. Take it the vet soon as you can". "Yes, I think I will". I listen with interest to the bird-fanciers around the tables that have been pushed together in a...Read On

Added: 02 Feb 2019 | Category: General | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 755 | Tags: short-story  fiction     | 3 Comments

steffanie

Challenge: Linda Ronstadt - Steffanie

He requested Linda Ronstadt, but times change. What he really wanted was something more ethereal, with symphonic, sampled soundscapes building layer over layer. And so by the time my choice took the microphone, he'd be sold on her already. He requested Linda Ronstadt. I got him Grimes. ~ The End            ...Read On

Added: 01 Feb 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 50 | Tags: relationship humour  flash 50   | 10 Comments

Welshdreamer42

36BC

It didn’t fit. It was the right style and cupped her left breast like a glove, but the right side gaped. “Everything alright?” Angie twisted, checking all angles in the mirror. “I’m going to try it with the blouse,” she said, bending to extract a small square of folded white cotton from a blue plastic bag. “Call if you need me.” “Will do.” Angle shook the blouse, tags flapping. She...Read On

Added: 31 Jan 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,005 | Tags: working mother  wife  resilience     | 12 Comments

The_Count

My Friend the Gangster

We called him Don Magill which was not his real name. Short of wearing a sign that read "Cosa Nostra" he couldn't have been more obvious, well at least to me. He was always impeccably dressed and barbered. He had a deep gravely voice with just a trace of an Italian accent. His car was a long black Caddilac. He held court every afternoon at one of the local twenty four hour restaurants. If...Read On

Added: 30 Jan 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 609 | Tags: restaurant  request     | 3 Comments

Collapsed_Universe

Story to tell

Which one do you think it was, God, or Fate?

Everyone has a story to tell, about who they are, where they came from, what their names mean. Not to boast (okay, I’m boasting a tad) I happen to believe there’s something extra magical about mine. While I don’t believe in organized religion, you might even say it was God’s doing; I happen to believe it’s fate. In order to know my story, you first have to look before me, even before my...Read On

Added: 29 Jan 2019 | Category: General | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,220 | Tags: life story  best friends  childhood  military  love  death  pain   | 3 Comments

rune

Bookstore

You're laughing at me ...

I know, I can feel it. I can almost hear your laughter as I slowly walk in the stationary section of my favorite bookstore this morning. The new arrival display of journals and notebooks, along with the colored pens. Itching my way to start browsing the section, touching the hardbound cover of the journal and feel every texture of every page. I thought to buy two sets, I choose the red for...Read On

Added: 29 Jan 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 194 | Tags: thinking  rune   | 8 Comments

Wordpusher715

Parenting is for Life

A father nurtures those he loves...

She came to me crying after the Holidays. Literally crying.  She said she never felt so mistreated in her life. It felt like all she did was cook and clean the entire time the girls and their families were here. I spent so much time taking care of them that I didn't have time to enjoy them. They were never like this when they lived with us. Why are they doing this now? This was my cue to...Read On

Added: 29 Jan 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,012 | Tags: father  mother  wife  kids  spouses  houseguest  rules   | 4 Comments

Tams

The Butterfly

When I was twenty years old my grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He passed before I turned twenty-one. In all my years leading up to that day no one ever sat me down and taught me how to deal with the pain of loss. There were no classes in school. My mom never explained how it would feel, or how to cope with that pit in your stomach. It was just one of those things I had...Read On

Added: 28 Jan 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 873 | Tags: loss  lesson  life   | 6 Comments

Survivor

Frozen in Time

Winter memories live in our minds

Added: 28 Jan 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: micro fiction  winter  frozen pond  hoar frost  ice  sledding   | 9 Comments

CuriousAnnie

Challenge : Linda Ronstadt - CuriousAnnie

Blue Bayou

"I just recorded this," the woman in a lived-in Betsey Johnson dress shyly said. Then she sang the opening line, "I'm going back someday..." How dare she sing Roy Orbison, I thought, she is not worthy. But my ears betrayed my instant judgement. Blue Bayou soared with new emotional depth, the voice rich and sonorous. I knew I was privileged to be there, to hear Linda Ronstadt sing Roy for...Read On

Added: 27 Jan 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: challenge   | 10 Comments

rune

Challenge: Linda Ronstadt - RuNe

  The 29th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. The whistling sounds and applause of thousands of excited audience members echo in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, while waiting for the performers. Silence follows as the singer slowly walks onto the center stage. As she looks at her audience the memory of her childhood starts flashing back. Her mathematician...Read On

Added: 27 Jan 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: challenge  linda ronstadt  thinking  rune   | 12 Comments

Dreamcatcher

Challenge - Linda Ronstadt - Dreamcatcher

As I leaned back against the bar, the crowd hushed as she walked out into the light. Finally, she spoke. “Hi. I’m Linda Ronstadt.” The crowd stood and applauded. Her smile glowing as she gazed back into the audience. Then, they sat down, leaving only me standing in the back of the room. For only the briefest moment, our eyes caught and held. It was all I needed. I turned and walked to...Read On

Added: 27 Jan 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 96 | Tags: challenge   | 11 Comments

gypsy

Challenge: Linda Ronstadt - Gypsy

This is for Bill

Added: 27 Jan 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: challenge  linda ronstadt  memories   | 12 Comments