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Latest Stories

March 19, 2024
Fantasy Stories Wondering Monk

Just My Imagination

The alarm clock went off and started playing an awful tune. Tom opened his eyes and closed them back, squinting. He reopened one eye and stood up to stop the torture. The phone was on the desk, in the furthest spot from the bed. Although he changed his way of…
March 19, 2024
Science Fiction Stories Ocelotlzin

Earth Is Dead

Recording… It doesn't matter who I was; I probably lived a long time ago, and I am now just a voice someone added to the audio-visual records. What is essential is the recollection of events that lead to the current state. So, a little history needs to be…
March 08, 2024
Flash Fiction Benoit

Some Enchanted Evening

It was a rugby tackle with tears: Chrissy burst in, sobbing and babbling, hugging James. Her face was all wet, eyes wild. What…? My parents split up, Dad has moved in with his boyfriend and I cannot join them. I am shut out. I have lost my dad. Torrent of…
March 08, 2024
Horror Stories Marvel Chukwudi Pephel

In The Hands Of My Legs

The car pulled up in front of the large salon. The neon sign, that sexy broad thing, on the salon'sroof read "Mr. Gil's All-night Salon". The exhaust pipe of the car was pumping solid smoke, theswirls moving from the car and towards the salon.…
March 07, 2024
Mystery Stories Vanessa Leigh Giles

Casualty of Love in the Time of Coronavirus

Chapter 1 Until Death do us Part ‘Ring, ring!’. I answered the telephone and asked, “Hello, good evening. Who’s this? “Hello.” This is Dr. Smith from Red Cross hospital. “Is this Mr. Locke, John?”, he asked, hesitantly scratching his bald head. “Yes, doctor.…
March 07, 2024
Crime Stories Robert Pook

Bar Room Trigger

Another return journey on footpaths so familiar. He strides across each crack in each paving stone. Regular loose drain covers sidestepped. Mapping long ago mapped in Richard’s desolate mind. His pace hastened by the sight of the oncoming storm. Quickening…
March 04, 2024
Horror Stories Ano Chinemerem

Sanctity

Where should I begin? I could begin by telling you about this comely boy, whom every notable person around the streets agrees his smile could charm the bills off one. Between one smile, there was his goodness, his dreams and humanity—a little far ahead?— but…
March 04, 2024
Flash Fiction Emanuel Diaz

Et Mortui Partium

As Rafael stepped out into the rain, it wasn't the ordinary drops that fell from the sky. Instead, it was a storm of souls, each one taking the form of shimmering jewelry as it cascaded toward the ground. Rubies, diamonds, and sapphires twinkled amidst the…
February 29, 2024
Poetry Jing Li Ava

London

‘Am I in London?’ "I am." Where is Elizabeth? Happy living story All of your chapter Bounlance joy Please my heart Power hand Wise mind Our baby Vow vow Love all love Miss I miss Endless wonder Bring us together Love all love Miss I miss For everything My…
February 29, 2024
Flash Fiction Rob Pook

Life Sentence of The Smith

Born nine months after his country won the World Cup.A child prodigy.Cast off at age twenty-four.Husband, father, emigree, away on the other side of the world.The blue-collar life.The dreams of success.The search for fulfillment.The long years of empty…
February 29, 2024
Mystery Stories Joshua Lowther

The Operator

Jason looked over to his right, his eyes barely able to focus themselves on the subject of his attention. His neck ached terribly from the strenuous movement. He was tired. The captain’s gaze came to rest on the rookie sonar operator sitting tense at his…
February 29, 2024
Flash Fiction Salvatore Difalco

The Chute

At dusk, we left our unit with a soft pink bundle. I carried it through the wet streets and into the black woods. I said I’d take it all the way, the bundle, but that we had to drop it in together. My wife’s green eyes flashed. “Don’t make me do that.” I…

She tells herself it's okay for him to greet her at the front door in his bathroom robe and follows him to the small back room where Bible study meetings often take place.

Refusing his offer of refreshments, she sits on a chair opposite the others stacked neatly beside the bay window.

“I’m so grateful to you for coming,” he says, between sips from the cup in his hand.

“That’s okay. It’s a lovely day for a walk,” she smiles, relaxing into the familiar smell of burnt candle wax that occupies the room.

“As I said on the phone, I would really value your opinion.”

She shuffles about on her seat, her eyes trying to avoid the piece of flesh lying against his thick thigh as he speaks from his seat on the floor, by the doorway.

His lips are moving, but the words she hears are coming from a voice in her head, shrieking: ‘Get out!’

‘Don’t be silly,’ a second responds, ‘He can’t know he’s exposed…. He’ll think you're a prude.

So what,’ the first voice returns. ‘Tell him to −’

He’s beside her now, reaching, saying, “The papers I wanted to show you are here.”

She stands, pushing her chair to the side. His moist breath lingers on her cheek; his arm brushes her hair.

“I’ll take them with me,” she says. But he moves closer and she feels a heat, only felt in this room during prayer times, swallow up the air around her.

Words stumble around in her head.  None find their way out.

She’s on the floor now, wriggling under his weight.

“Brother Luc − no,” she says, pushing against his searching fingers.

Her ears are closed to his whisper: “Sister Jan, you smell so nice.”

 

***

Sensing release, she lifts herself from the floor and without contact of eyes or exchange of words, gathers what is hers.

***

 

Arriving home, she takes off her clothes and leaves them in a pile close to the doorway in the corner of her bedroom.

Later, she will watch them go up in flames, together with the fantasy of a gentle seduction from the man she once held in such high esteem.

 

 

Bio: I have written a novel and a number of short stories, one of which ('The Last Leg') can be found on the Short-Story.Me website (http://www.short-story.me/crime-stories/455-the-last-leg.html). I am currently working on my second novel.

 

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