Latest Stories

actung

THE ELEVATOR

Annie Nevins has been working as a nurse in the same hospital for almost six years and in those six years she had never come across anything particularly strange, unusual or out of the ordinary, well that was or is until right at the end of one shift in particular. Having made her way into an elevator so she could then make her way out of that hospital she had been working in for almost...Read On

Added: 14 Dec 2019 | Category: Horror | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 955 | Tags: elevator  

Adrienne

Waltzing Matilda

A drunk mystery woman appears at the care home social.

I had been living at the care home for a few months when the recreation committee decided to have an end of summer indoor street dance. It’s not that we didn’t have regular recreational events, we regularly had a pub night. Local musicians e.g. vocalists, guitarists, keyboardists & accordionists, who once played the club circuit, now found purpose and meaning in playing the care home...Read On

Added: 14 Dec 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 346 | Tags: carehome  entertainment   | 1 Comment

actung

Albert P. Hoffman

'Today we are gathered here to celebrate the life of Albert Patrick Hoffman ....' speaks a priest in the near empty church of St Martin's priory. A closed coffin stands angled before the steps which lead up to toward the altar and the small attending congregation sit up towards the front of the church taking positions either side of the main aisle. Albert had lived an unexciting and...Read On

Added: 11 Dec 2019 | Category: General | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,809 | Tags: life   | 2 Comments

DenimAngel

Scamp's Adventure #7 : A Spaceship Adventure

What will the animals do today ?

It was a quiet day at the farm...  Scamp, the monkey, heard about the local space shuttle building contest open to all ages and told Sparky, the pup. The contest was to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 11. They thought it would be great fun to enter. Miss Emily had just had a new refrigerator delivered and the box was in great shape and all they would have to do is find things...Read On

Added: 09 Dec 2019 | Category: Childrens | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,906 | Tags: friends  animals  fun  moon challenge   | 4 Comments

bmcatt

The Worry Stone

A chance meeting at a county fair helps to heal a young man's broken life

My life fell apart when I was ten -- and that night will stick with me forever. It was mid-summer and Mom and Dad wanted a weekend to themselves. I was spending it with my grandparents -- Dad's parents. We'd had a good time with a quiet day -- just Grandma, Grandpa, and me. That evening, one of their friends, Gene, came by to visit. We were sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea and nibbling...Read On

Added: 09 Dec 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,009 | Tags: remembrance  countyfair  firstkiss   | 1 Comment

Ghostreader

The Way You Are

You find so many people are bruising But you, you are mostly amusing I like the way you love. You do it like a foxglove. I like the way you dance. You do it like a stance. You find so many people are runny But you, you are mostly funny I love the way your hair flows, Spreading your style everywhere. You're like a style fountain. Enough zazz for a whole mountain. You find so many people...Read On

Added: 05 Dec 2019 | Category: Songs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 138 | Tags: loving  amusing  funny     | 2 Comments

NateChal

The Lavender Town Dare

A high school kid dares to climb the Lavender Tower at night.

  "Go into the Lavender Tower at night," they said.   "We dare you," they said.   Obviously they'd never had the courage to try it for themselves. For the fourth time the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as something in the cold, dark room flitted amongst the headstones commemorating countless deceased Pokémon. Shaye tried to ignore the dark shapes he saw―or thought he...Read On

Added: 05 Dec 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 679 | Tags: lavender town  ghosts  spirit  dare  gravestone  pokemon  phantom  

tom8o

Dream On

January 16, 1989, Tomatlán, Mexico. I was sitting on the left side of a second-class bus two rows behind the driver. No one bothered to get off for the ten-minute stop in Tomatlán. The driver’s assistant stood at the front of the bus ready to collect tickets from any boarding passengers, but there were none.  As we sat parked in the street with the engine running, I took in the view from...Read On

Added: 04 Dec 2019 | Category: Adventure | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,136 | Tags: dream  travel   | 1 Comment

maryruth

A lifetime of memories

Early in the morning  I wake Something seems wrong I have no idea why Very slowly I get up Not making a sound Checking and listening  I find nothing has changed I try to shake it off As I snuggle under the covers Memories come of you Knowing they will take me away I smile once more A lifetime of memories  Of you      ...Read On

Added: 02 Dec 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 63 | Tags: loss   | 3 Comments

NateChal

The Oak Street Inn

A well renown tavern on Oak Street finds itself hosting a dangerous necromancer.

  The evening, as it always did, brought revellers and merrymakers of all sorts to Oak Street. Locals and travelers alike could never resist experiencing the famous Oak Street Inn for themselves. Even the wealthy scions of Thursk, the great city shadowing the humble town of Sylva, managed to steal away from their uptown lives for an evening of conviviality and pleasure.   Maylin...Read On

Added: 30 Nov 2019 | Category: Fantasy | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,674 | Tags: magic the gathering  ancient tree  tavern  magic  summoning  demon  necromancy   | 1 Comment

Lev821

Four doors down

An angry postman starts opening the mail. Perhaps it would be better not to do that.

The letter-box slammed shut, the sound reverberating throughout the road, and inside the houses in the vicinity. Geoff Howell turned and stalked back along the path to the gate, not bothering to close it behind him. He walked to the next house, angrily posting their mail, and rummaging in his bag for more.  He was 46 years old, lived alone in a third floor flat, was five feet six inches...Read On

Added: 27 Nov 2019 | Category: Crime | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,229 | Tags: short story  horror  fiction   | 2 Comments

AnnaMayZing

The Long Road Home. Chapter 13.

They could see the tiny clouds of smoke bursting in air. The guns at Brenner were no longer silent!

Innsbruck, December 15 th 1943   The night wore on. Huddled together for warmth in the now freezing carriage, Katarina and Maria dozed fitfully. The hours seemed to pass by so slowly but, eventually, the cold, grey dawn began to push away the darkness. As the light grew in intensity, a few white snowflakes began to fall past the window. Maria wiped her hand across the...Read On

Added: 27 Nov 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,455 | Tags: ww2  history  innsbruck   | 5 Comments

redwriter

First Date Set-Up

Teenage girl questions her father about the early onset of romance

Added: 25 Nov 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,361 | Tags: recall  daughter  affection  romance     | 6 Comments

rune

In The Beginning

A life experience that will happen only in my dreams ...

Fifteen to two hundred million of them swim every time. Only the strongest amongst them will survive to reach their peak destination. Their three days lifespan is spent looking for their one and only life partner that only lives for forty-eight hours till it may be reborn again the following month of their life cycle. If they get lucky they meet and join together. The union of two...Read On

Added: 24 Nov 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 215 | Tags: thinking  rune   | 6 Comments

NateChal

Halls of Amenti

An American fortune hunter finds more than treasure in some ancient desert ruins.

Then for a dwelling place, far 'neath the earth crust, blasted great spaces they by their power, spaces apart from the children of men.  Surrounded them by forces and power,  shielded from harm they the Halls of the Dead.                                        - The Emerald Tablets of Thoth      I was once told by a friend that the desert was a terrible, unforgiving...Read On

Added: 23 Nov 2019 | Category: Horror | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,658 | Tags: elder god  lovecraftian  desert  ruins  adventure  undead  ritual  

NateChal

Star Wars: Unfortunate Circumstances

Nadska finds that the planet he thought would be safe still isn't beyond the reach of the Empire.

  Nadska knew he was in trouble. He’d had the misfortune to be planet-side when the first of the Star Destroyers emerged from hyperspace above Kashyyyk, now everyone on the jungle world was trapped. The imperials had already jammed global communications and were commencing a well orchestrated assault on the planetary defences. That was all Nadska knew, he honestly didn’t care what the...Read On

Added: 21 Nov 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 691 | Tags: star wars  darth vader  wookie  lightsaber  space   | 2 Comments

Rebellious_Soul

Divine Descent Ch 3

If life is a game, it's obvious I'm losing.

Fatima pov Fatima it seemed had no choice in the matter as she was carried out of the trail. Why isn't she fighting back, why not scream and thrash and see if anyone would come. Except no one would come, people would rather avoid conflict and pretend it doesn't exist right in front of their faces rather than intervene. Plus four to one was certainly not a fair ratio and seeing where this...Read On

Added: 13 Nov 2019 | Category: Fantasy | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,033 | Tags: home  roommates  alone   | 1 Comment

bigfishybob

Musical Differences

The Bee Flats. They'd come up with the name in Paul's dingy basement flat, which always smelled dank and foisty no matter how many Glade Plug-ins Paul threw at it. Jacko always felt a little ill the day after he'd spent time at Paul's, the damp air permeating his already overworked alveoli. The copious amount of weed they smoked obviously didn't help matters. They were proud of the name as...Read On

Added: 13 Nov 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 325 | Tags: whatever  challenge  flash   | 1 Comment

Sherzahd

Scattering Apart

Jin looked out over the city from the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in Seoul, it was a breath-taking sight. And he hated it. He hated the crowds. He hated the busyness. He hated the noise. He hated the tall buildings. ‘Skyscraper’, such a simple, yet symbolic word – to scrape the sky. Is that our way of letting God know that we’re here and we’re trying our best to touch Him? Or...Read On

Added: 12 Nov 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,191 | Tags: love  life  loss   | 8 Comments

bigfishybob

The Break

They had planned it as the holiday of a lifetime, but Jen had known all along that it was her final attempt to save their marriage. She'd had very little help from Alex, as usual, other than a few affirmative nods and grunts over his evening bottle of Scotch. Now here they were in San Francisco, in a lovely boutique hotel with a balcony and a magnificent view of the bay. It had cost and arm...Read On

Added: 12 Nov 2019 | Category: Thriller | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,321 | Tags: relationships  thriller  

bigfishybob

The Return

It was much more isolated than he'd imagined. He'd pictured the cemetery by a church. Near a town. Near  something . Not this - just a cemetery, in a forest, with nothing - and no-one - around. The darkness didn't help, or the creeping fog. Despite this, and despite the pervasive atmosphere on impeding doom he felt, he quickly found the grave. A shiver ran through him as he read the epitaph....Read On

Added: 11 Nov 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 430 | Tags: horror  supernatural  ghost story   | 4 Comments

Survivor

Remembrance Challenge: Camp Funston

They also served

In March 1918, some of the first recorded American cases of what became a worldwide influenza epidemic, also known as "Spanish flu", were reported at Camp Funston. The 1918 influenza pandemic, usually set as January 1918 up to December 1920, was an unusually deadly flu epidemic. It infected 500 million people around the world. Probably 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million...Read On

Added: 11 Nov 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 805 | Tags: musings  camp funston  fort riley  spanish flu  world war i   | 11 Comments

redwriter

Remembrance Challenge: Lest We Forget

Thoughts at a memorial

On Ploegsteert memorial in Belgium, no faces show. Only names carved on slabs Along curved walls of the imposing colonnade Impressive, the stone lions that guard. Eleven thousand names of the multi-ranked Casualties of war, who share this dubious banner NO KNOWN GRAVE. Consider these lives snatched into oblivion Ripped out of all existence, Yet, three kilometres north lies Ypres ...Read On

Added: 09 Nov 2019 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 98 | Tags: memorial  ypres  grave  remembrance   | 7 Comments

rune

Scorpion Grass

Time may past ...

  His dark sleep-deprived tired eyes were focused looking on a bunch of beautiful blooming little flowers. The flowers are small, measuring 6mm. in width. Each radially symmetrical bloom has a fused corolla that opens into five rounded lobes. The flower is powder-blue with a conspicuous, bright yellow center. Flowers are arranged in tightly coiled, rounded clusters that unfurl as the...Read On

Added: 08 Nov 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 356 | Tags: thinking  rune  zhelourielle   | 4 Comments

gypsy

Remembrance Challenge - Remembrance is a Living Thing

Souviens-Toi/Remember

Added: 08 Nov 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 831 | Tags: remembrance   | 6 Comments

redwriter

Wishing for Home Chapter Five Getting There

An unexpected visitor gives Danny new hope

The next morning, over the cold porridge breakfast, no mention was made about the use of the belt. Not expecting any, Danny was subdued but not suppressed. Anger and resentment still burned inside him. He couldn’t bear to look at Albin Flint, half expecting to see a self-satisfied look on that sour face. As he entered the kitchen on his way out to school, Eliza Flint said coolly, “You know...Read On

Added: 06 Nov 2019 | Category: General | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 4,053 | Tags: sobbing  visitor  hope  despairing     | 4 Comments

AnnaMayZing

Remembrance Challenge: Remembrance

No-one noticed the lone, white-haired gentleman sitting on a nearby bench with sadness in his eyes.

Sunday morning, cold, damp and miserable. The dark rain-clouds which had, less than an hour previously, let fall a deluge of freezing rain upon the fields and hills surrounding the small Pennine village, were beginning to break. Their stark edges becoming wisps of pale grey. For the men and women who had gathered around the well-kept war memorial, the weather was a mere inconvenience....Read On

Added: 04 Nov 2019 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 985 | Tags: memories  forgiveness   | 10 Comments

Survivor

Never Forget the Good Times

The pup has the memory of an elephant

Ding Dong! The doorbell rings. Opening the door. "Trick or treat!" Out the door goes the pup. Romping about with visitors.   Each one gets the same. Handing out goodies. Asking each one what they are. Really! Oh, perfect! "Get back in, Victor." And they are off on their way. Now he's standing up on his hind feet. What's this! He's trick or treating. Good boy. You get a treat. ...Read On

Added: 04 Nov 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: micro fiction   | 6 Comments

redwriter

Wishing for Home Chapter Four Rebellion and Result

Danny flaunts the Flint's restrictions

Danny Rogan slumped disconsolately on the edge of his bed. Just one more punishment. And for what? Lingering too long at the farm enjoying the sight of a newborn calf. Things were just getting worse and worse in this awful cottage. Being brave was one thing. No matter what his mother and father expected of him, being home was the only thing. He gazed out of the bay window to where the...Read On

Added: 02 Nov 2019 | Category: General | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,715 | Tags: callous  tears  pebbles  forbidden   | 3 Comments

AnnaMayZing

The Long Road Home. Chapter 12

“Il Treno,” she said, using up most of her knowledge of Italian. “Where is it?”

Brenner. December 15 th 1943   For the first time in many months, Katarina and Maria found that they had a little time to relax. The Army began to dismantle the compound, beginning with the damaged huts at the far end. The first two huts remained in use. One for accommodation and storage, the other for minor injuries and ailments. As the time to depart approached, the two...Read On

Added: 30 Oct 2019 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,219 | Tags: history  nurses  ww2   | 4 Comments