Our General Fiction category is for stories of 1,000 to 10,000 words that do not fit into any other category, or that would work equally well in multiple categories.
If your story is primarily in a specific genre, please submit it in that category rather than in General Fiction.
The tenor for the trip was set when the two mild, innocent-looking Midwestern girls got up from their seats on the Greyhound, a few hours before it was set to arrive in New Orleans, and went into the tiny bathroom at the back of the bus together. They eme...
She sat there with her laptop glowing Her stare was continuous, never knowing He watched her with eyes slowly going His heart was overflowing She had no idea he had feelings She could not tell it had reached higher than the ceilings They had only limited...
I draw a circle with a stick, so big I have to walk a ways to join its ends. Dust rises as I drag: steam from a train, smoke from a pipe. Pa smoked a pipe and it smelled fine. My circle is a farm for my animals. Right now they live in my dress, in a pocke...
As I sit and watch the day begin I realize I have been here for some time A peace connects with my soul Time is standing still I don't think of the cancer growing in my body I don't think of being alone I remember all the good I have seen All the smiles a...
I had a bit of a debate on Reddit a few weeks ago with a high school physics teacher that stated his students have to solve the problem the way he showed them how to solve the problem. I stated I liked showing students that there may be easier methods to...
Strange, isn’t it? Those small things that get listed in the memo pad of the mind. Brief, inconsequential in their setting, and outcome, yet noted, sharp and clear as any major incidents that give our lives direction. A lifetime ago, drawn by the music, I...
It takes time and patience, To cure my toxic ways, My awareness and presence, Needed now almost always, Live to die a little, I die every day Ask me how I am doing, I would lie in every way Hero of my own story? But who are the villains? Wear a cap every...
A dream come true in real life is like last year’s dandelions blooming into roses. This is when the virus that causes MS is discovered. Then a vaccine and new treatments are developed, and MS is no longer a menace. MS is the Crispr of life. It is a harsh...
My heart has been ripped straight up through my throat and right out of my head to the stars. You might feel loss like this too, but did you also know that a new spark can start a new fire that even warms my heart with forgiveness so that I can throw off...
When I was younger, my father called me his little nest—his little heir. My earliest memories were of him holding me close, like he couldn't bear me being too far away, like I was the lightning rod that kept him grounded in the middle of a thunderstorm. H...
It was between him and her, and her and her, and like always I was caught in between, a bottle of bourbon trapped between my thighs while I nursed the glass—the alcohol burned fresh paths down my throat, drawing parallels with the scars that ran down my a...
The old man sat at the table, watching the couples dance. He stared into his glass of Schnapps. The taste did nothing for him. Nothing did anything for him anymore. He wasn’t sure why he’d come. The lecturers and professors got younger every year. He felt...
The air tasted like lavender body wash and gunpowder. Fireworks dotted the night sky as the bang-bang-bang of New Year explosives ricocheted off the buildings in New Glory. Avery sucked in a deep breath and her hands to the moon, meaty palms up. It was gl...
Oh God, I want to get out of here," she moaned aloud to no one in particular. "Leave? Before the fireworks at midnight?" I, handsomely dressed in a black suit, slipped onto a barstool beside her. “Do I know you, sweetie?” She didn't turn towards me when s...
I glanced up from my desk and there she stood – a smallish-framed, disheveled woman with a noticeably dirty blouse, hands, and face. "May I help you?" My lips downturned at the thought of her grubby hands touching my precious books. Her face flushed, appa...
