Latest Stories

MikeStone

The Mountains Are My Friends

I left feeling that everything was well planned and under control ...

" The mountains are my friends. " (an Iraqi-Kurdish saying) Up until the point of writing this journal, I would have characterized my life as not being particularly interesting, unless you happened to be in the computer programming profession like me. Don’t get me wrong. I have no complaints about my life. It is just that I have had a certain degree of difficulty in persuading other people...Read On

Added: 21 Mar 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 7,182 | Tags: iraq  kurdistan  sulaimaniya  jordan  iran  israel  

MikeStone

A Journal of My First Experiences in the Israeli Army

How easy boredom dissipates and fear becomes naked.

Basic Training: 13 June to 7 July 1983 Monday, 13 June 1983 The bus took us from Tel HaShomer Hospital to the induction center. There we received our yellow cards, were photographed (front and profile), had our mouths x-rayed (deep throat), were vaccinated (both arms), issued uniforms, fed, and got dental checkups. We waited around for several hours until we were told to board a...Read On

Added: 19 Mar 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 4,993 | Tags: idf  israel  army  lebanon  beirut  aley  shouf   | 3 Comments

MikeStone

The Chocolate Shop

"What? You don't like chocolate anymore?" he asked them.

"What? You don't like chocolate anymore?" he asked them. "No, Saba," Tommy was pulling away. "I still like chocolate. It's just that I don't want to go here." The older man looked inside at the tables and chairs, the shelves of light and dark chocolates, the cloudy displays of ice creams and sherbets, and the nice looking young girl holding the menus standing in the open doorway smiling...Read On

Added: 18 Mar 2019 | Category: Young Adult | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 890 | Tags: chocolate  shop  terror  good  bad  justice  revenge   | 1 Comment

AnnaMayZing

Stowaway

Outside, a thick fog had rolled in from the sea...

“No! Get off me!” Bessie screamed as she ducked and wriggled her way free of her abusive husband's clutches. The bar-room was in an uproar, a myriad of drunken sailors guffawed as Tobias Nelson dragged his wife from the room. “If I've told yer once, I've told yer a thousand times about spillin' good beer when yer clearin' the damned tables!” Bessie Nelson's eyes flashed wildly in the...Read On

Added: 18 Mar 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,277 | Tags: sailors  beer  wife   | 6 Comments

MikeStone

Who Weeps for Cadmus? (Part 2 - final part)

Sometimes a walk in the park is not really a walk in the park.

Chapter 7: A Walk in the Park The flashing arrows turned left, as expected, and when Cadmus and Lonesome turned the corner and saw the door of the hyper-vator flashing exactly where he expected it to be, he didn’t know whether to be amused or irritated. “They must think we’re half-blind fools or clueless children with these flashing arrows and doors,” he thought. He tapped “0” on the...Read On

Added: 15 Mar 2019 | Category: Science Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 5,461 | Tags: cadmus  dagu  lonesome  sapiens  rationals  robots  remi   | 1 Comment

Rebellious_Soul

Late night thoughts

Do you ever miss us?

Hey, it's been quiet, and the time since I messaged last, I don't quite remember if it's been half a year or a year and a half. It's been a long time in perspective but in hindsight, it isn't as long as it feels. Not to ramble too long, how have you been? I ask that blatantly no matter what, I know. Sometimes I don't care to know and other times I do want to know you're okay and alive and...Read On

Added: 15 Mar 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 542 | Tags: hello   | 7 Comments

DaughterSarah

The Last World - Part One

Two people, one life

To be or not to be that is the question, that ran through my brain. Could it be vaguely obvious killing myself because of this hell land? What I was implying was that Mother Nature decided to throw a tantrum which was primarily to cause an unavoidable death to the whole human race. My helpless legs trembled uncontrollably, making me collapse onto the dead, neglected...Read On

Added: 15 Mar 2019 | Category: Action | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 691 | Tags: post-apocalyptic  dystopian   | 1 Comment

MikeStone

Who Weeps for Cadmus? (Part 1)

Sapiens to the left, Rationals to the right, and robots straight ahead...

Chapter 1: Voyage Cadmus preferred flying this old fashioned solar sail ship, to one of the more modern hyper-drive ships, from his native moon’s orbit to Draco.763.3a, the only habitable moon orbiting Draco.763.3. He was well aware he could have made the trip in a couple of hours instead of the two hundred and seventy days, give or take, that this trip would take him, but he didn’t...Read On

Added: 14 Mar 2019 | Category: Science Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 5,153 | Tags: cadmus  dagu  lonesome  sapiens  rationals  robots   | 1 Comment

AnnaMayZing

The Long Road Home. Chapter 4

They both laughed gently. It was good to hear someone had survived the escape from Tripoli unhurt.

Rome. January 19 h 1943 It was well after midnight when, with a short, sharp blast of the locomotive's whistle, the train signalled it was ready to leave. The carriage in which the two young sisters were sitting gave a sudden jolt and then, with another, began to move. Almost imperceptibly at first, it rolled slowly along the quayside before turning away from the water and...Read On

Added: 13 Mar 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,507 | Tags: ww2  drk  ambulance train   | 6 Comments

fuzzy1954

The Letter Finis

His mind goes to a sunflower field

Three times they probed the base.   They came during the darkest of the night.  Mortars falling inside, kicking up dirt and random sandbags.  The chatter of our heavy weapons returning the favor.  Pushing their first wave back.  Once then twice as we poured our fire into their broken lines.  Then to our centre, heavy movement as their third wave broke through our wire.  Pushing deep they...Read On

Added: 13 Mar 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 180 | Tags: love  distance   | 4 Comments

Dreamcatcher

Portal

Added: 12 Mar 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 218 | Tags: love  loss  death   | 3 Comments

MikeStone

An Idea for a Short Story

Her long hair spread over my chest and smelled like … like … what was it? Who was she?

Sounds. Voices. Tingling. “I saw a twitch …” “… His eyelids are fluttering …” “How are we doing today Mr. Stavros? You gave us quite a scare, didn’t he Mrs. Stavros?” The young woman addressing him was dressed in a pale blue pajama holding a clipboard with pen poised to note something indicative. Off to the left side of his visual space was an older woman who seemed to stare intently...Read On

Added: 12 Mar 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,243 | Tags: story  poems  stroke  memories  images   | 3 Comments

Dreamcatcher

Target

Red Dot. Always a red dot. Fortunes crossed by the fate of a given moment. There was no escape for either of them. Both had a job to do, But only one would pull the trigger....Read On

Added: 11 Mar 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 36 | Tags: fate   | 4 Comments

DenimAngel

Scamp's Adventure #4 : A Visit from the Vet

What is the adventure today?

Added: 10 Mar 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 382 | Tags: scamp  friends  adventure   | 6 Comments

Survivor

Grandma In Our Eyes

International Women's Day, March 8th

Added: 10 Mar 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 101 | Tags: micro fiction  international women's day  march 8th   | 7 Comments

AnnaMayZing

The Warrior Princess. Chapter 3

I slowly raised my arm and touched the great beast with my fingertips.

There was no point in trying to sleep. I had rested well the night before and my nerves were on edge anyway, thinking about what lay ahead. About me, I could hear the sounds of preparation for battle and wondered what the next few days would bring and, turning my head to the side, I looked across to Astrid who was lying on her back, the sword belt around her waist and the gleaming hilt,...Read On

Added: 10 Mar 2019 | Category: Fantasy | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,140 | Tags: fantasy  love  draaken   | 3 Comments

MikeStone

Something Happened

Charlie was beginning to feel pretty mellow when he saw the air in front of him waver.

Charlie Jones attended a party of friends and acquaintances in one of the trendy studio apartments near Washington Square on the lower east side of Manhattan. Charlie brought some beer, one of the girls brought wine. Someone brought some hash and someone else brought some acid to get high on the music. One of the guys rolled a mixture of Cherry Blend pipe tobacco and hashish into a clumsy...Read On

Added: 10 Mar 2019 | Category: Science Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,650 | Tags: manhattan  telaviv  gaza  party  doctor  missiles  dimensions   | 1 Comment

Survivor

May We Share

It was all she ever wanted

Added: 08 Mar 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: micro fiction  umbrella  sharing  true love   | 6 Comments

Ansaryon

Ginger

I am Leo and this is my story

Ginger   I heard my Mom's voice, she sounded sad, her voice was the first comforting voice I ever heard and now it will be the last voice I will hear... I loved my Mom, she held me against her chest and her tears dripped on me, I wanted to use my paw to take away the tears that ran down her face, but I was tired and her voice sounded farther and farther away, I heard her voice as she told...Read On

Added: 08 Mar 2019 | Category: General | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,184 | Tags: pet  life   | 4 Comments

MikeStone

Investigations of a Kafkaesque Nature

A walk in the park is not necessarily a walk in the park if you know what I mean.

I’m running through a lush field of yellow grass blades after a black cat under a blue sky. The cat jinks this way and that but I’m gaining on him. I’ve never run so fast in my life. It’s like I’m flying over the grasses and through the bushes. It’s like I’m synchronized with all motion and I’m lying still inside the motion while the universe is doing the running and the cat and I are one...Read On

Added: 08 Mar 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,169 | Tags: kafka  investigations  dog  walk   | 2 Comments

MikeStone

Little Boy Blue (Part 2)

The door closed and Lem was alone without his parents for the first time in his short life.

Chapter 6: Welcome Wagon It was strange, Evanor thought, that nobody came to visit to see whether she needed anything, not even her best friend Dorka. Not that she needed anything in particular, really. The delivery had not been so bad. There hadn’t been any complications where she was concerned. Lem seemed perfectly healthy. He took his fill of milk at her breasts, God bless him. He...Read On

Added: 05 Mar 2019 | Category: Science Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 5,609 | Tags: humans  draco  evanor  thort  javid  dorka  lem   | 2 Comments

verbal

Lost and Found

Certain places in the house held shadows within them.

The basement didn’t show up on John’s radar until about a year after they had lived in the house, though other spots did, and much more quickly. His daughters took note of the upstairs hallway before they even moved in. Em said it felt weird. John felt it too, and even Alice, who did not put much faith in the supernatural, said she thought of the countless footsteps of previous lodgers...Read On

Added: 04 Mar 2019 | Category: Horror | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,044 | Tags: family  haunted house  mirror  basement   | 4 Comments

Wordpusher715

For The Want of a Checklist

Everyone should make a list...

Day and Night? Check. Sky, Atmosphere, Outerspace? Check. Land, Seas, Plants? Check. Sun, Moon, Stars? Check. "Well, I think that's everything." "So what happens now?" "We go home and rest." "What do you mean home? This is home now." "Nope. Home is the place we created on the Second Day." "Really? For some reason, I expected this job to take longer." "I don't know why you think...Read On

Added: 04 Mar 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 316 | Tags: writing prompt  primeval  checklist   | 7 Comments

Ansaryon

The Portal

What if there were more than one of you

Carin absentmindedly scratched Rubbish behind his ears while the tourist images of Israel scrolled slowly across her tablet screen. Her best friend asked her to join her on a trip, but Carin was unsure, Maddy had cancer, but Carin just got a new job and was broke and don’t know what to do. Suddenly Rubbish’s head snapped up, his ears upright like two antennas. He startled her, and she...Read On

Added: 03 Mar 2019 | Category: Science Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,203 | Tags: science fiction  multiverse   | 4 Comments

Wordpusher715

The Naming of Pheasants

Of Pheasants, Penzance, and Politics

Indianhead summer begins in the middle of June. That’s when the grass along the roadway of our rural Wisconsin town is available to be mowed. Six years ago the Town approved a resolution to prevent town mowing operations until the second week of June. Tall grass up to the edge of the roadway is the price one pays to protect the habitat of ground-nesting birds. It’s acceptable in...Read On

Added: 03 Mar 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 776 | Tags: pheasants  penzance  politics  wisconsin   | 5 Comments

magnificent1rascal

Close Your Eyes and See

Suspend your skepticism...

Have you found them? Don’t worry, most people can’t on the first try.  They’re there, all right, but only reveal themselves to those who are ready to believe, to accept, to embrace.  Close your eyes and open your mind. Clear away the prejudices, fears and preconceptions. Suspend your skepticism. Relax and let all your senses — even those you don’t fully perceive or comprehend, and may...Read On

Added: 02 Mar 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 119 | Tags: mystical  enigmatic  nature  mythical creatures   | 9 Comments

Ansaryon

Into the Darkness, Into the Light

What do you do when it all becomes too much

Dana looked down at the blood on her wrist; the thick red line followed a path slowly down the inside of her arm. She lifted her arm, the thick red line mesmerised her, every slow advancement of it taking her back in time. She was happy once she thought, or was she ever happy; her mind struggled to find a happy moment, a moment she did not hate her life or what she was. The red line...Read On

Added: 02 Mar 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,789 | Tags: suicide  life  triggers   | 1 Comment

MikeStone

Little Boy Blue (Part 1)

He’s always one step ahead of me. He’s also one step ahead of the neighbors too, thank God!

A short story excerpted from “The Rats and the Saps” Chapter 1: Mother I guess I’m older’n them hills on this god-forsaken planet. I don’t reckon I know how old those hills are. Come to think of it, I don’t rightly know how old I am neither. No matter. I usta turn a man’s eye. Now I ain’t much to look at. No matter. I’ve had a hard life. I don’t need no man’s pity and I ain’t ashamed...Read On

Added: 02 Mar 2019 | Category: Science Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 5,543 | Tags: earth2  andromeda  robots  humans  draco  evanor  thort   | 1 Comment

Collapsed_Universe

Rain

For someone I used to love.

Sprinkling softly, the rain falls down to earth, like tears from the heavens. Ironic in this moment, as my own eyes start to well. I close my eyes and bite my lip, pushing back my feelings as a clap of thunder shakes the ground. My once-treasured thunderstorms are leaving me empty, broken. Thanks to you. Bittersweet I suppose, I always knew deep down I was never good enough. Oh so painfully...Read On

Added: 02 Mar 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 356 | Tags: rain  metaphor  heartbreak  loss   | 5 Comments

Lev821

Dear Friend...

Ben decides to follow through a seemingly spam email asking for money. Is it real?

The sun’s heat was particularly humid in the open plan office, as though the windows were large magnifying glasses, the workers under inspection, the heat rebounding from their computer monitors to bombard them as though they were in an oven. Benjamin Lowell looked up as a shadow fell over him. Trevor Ingram was standing there, holding out a bacon and egg sandwich and a Styrofoam cup of...Read On

Added: 01 Mar 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,123 | Tags: email  computer  spam  money  drama  fiction   | 4 Comments