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Latest Stories

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

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‘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…
February 29, 2024
Fantasy Stories Marvel Chukwudi Pephel

Tragopolis

In the heart of a vast and mysterious forest lay a city like no other – Tragopolis. It was a fablesque city hidden from the prying eyes of the outside world. It was a place where secrets bloomed as bountifully as the surrounding flora. It was a city where…
February 15, 2024
Science Fiction Stories Jasnoor

Ethan Sheldon's Death

<< Ethan Sheldon’s [Deceased] Brain Autopsy >> Damn, this one's going to be a long one—an all-nighter mopping the floors in this creepy ass place. There is no music or sound except the splashing noise of cleaning fluid. I'm in a hallway; there's nothing to…

Count to sixty - Editor

Say Goodbye

by C.J. Miozzi

Dan scrambled to his feet. Disoriented from the fall, the teenager reached out into the darkness and touched the cold, stone tombstone he had tripped over. His heart raced -- his pulse throbbed in his temples.

"Mark," he whispered. "Mark. Where the hell are you?"

Dan spun about in the dim light of the crescent moon. Amidst the shadows, he spotted a small patch of grass illuminated by Mark's flashlight. The stocky teen kept low to the ground as he rushed over to the light. He looked around nervously, but couldn't perceive any movement in the large cemetery.

When he reached the flashlight, Dan saw Mark's prone form sprawled out on the grass beside it.

"Dude, come on, we got to get out of here." Dan nudged his friend with his foot. "That guard was right behind us. He can come around any minute."

Light fell upon the tombstones mere feet away from the two friends.

Dan dove into a mound of earth behind a tombstone.

The light scanned the area. "You punks aren't getting away this time," spoke the gruff voice of the night guard. "You're going straight to juvie, and your folks are going to pay for all those tombstones you kicked over." Footsteps shuffled closer through the grass.

Dan held his breath and squeezed his eyelids shut. Don't come this way, don't come this way, he pleaded in his mind.

The footsteps receded from earshot.

The teen mentally counted sixty seconds before letting out a deep breath. He rose to his feet and tried to brush moist soil off his new Philadelphia Eagles football jersey.

After ensuring the guard was nowhere in sight, Dan turned back to Mark, who still lay on the ground. As he squatted beside his friend, Dan held a finger near Mark's nostrils, and felt warm air pulse out.

Dammit, he thought. What if he's in a coma, or something?

The teen reached into his pocket and closed his hand on his cell phone. He took a deep breath as he formulated his plan. He'd call 911 and ask them to send an ambulance. He'd set his cell to play through his music tracks, and leave the cell with Mark, so that the paramedics could just head toward the source of the music. Then, he'd hop the fence out of the cemetery before anyone caught sight of him.

Dan pulled out his phone and flipped it open. The cell's light colored his green jersey in an eerie blue. A message popped up on the screen: "No reception."

"Having difficulty calling for help?"

Dan spun around with a start.

A tall, lanky man stood beside him.

Dan staggered back and shone the blue light in the man's gaunt face. "Dude, what the hell?" He passed the light over the man's body to ensure he wasn't wearing a guard uniform. "You scared the hell out of me. You don't… you can't just sneak up on people like that, man!"

The man's hawk-like face spread into a wide smile. He stared down at Dan with his pale eyes, one blue, the other grey. A milky film clouded the grey eye.

Unsettled, Dan broke eye contact. "Look man, my friend here is hurt. Can you stay with him while I go get help?"

The man ran a pasty hand through his long, thinning hair. "My name is Mareus."

Dan paused at the unexpected answer. "Whatever, man. Just stay here with my friend, okay?" He glanced around, but there was still no sign of the guard.

"I can't do that, Daniel."

Mention of his name snapped Dan's attention back to the man. "How do you know my name?"

"I am the soul collector." The milky eye stares straight through Dan.

"What?" Dan said, incredulous. "Are you some kind of mental case?" He noted Mareus' worn vest, his patched-up pants, his veiny arms. He's a hobo druggy.

With a sigh, Dan reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. "You want money? Here." He grabbed a twenty dollar bill, and offered it. "It's all I got. Just please, stay with my friend, and don't tell anyone that I was here."

"I hold the key to the next world." Mareus opened his loose leather vest.

Dan recoiled at the sight of an antique key embedded in the man's skeletal chest. Blue veins snaked away from the key, visible beneath the waxy flesh. Green light poured out of a gem that protruded from the circular bow of the key. The light throbbed, and within the gem, Dan saw swirling clouds and flashes of ghastly faces.

"Dude, what is that?" Dan pointed a quavering finger at the key.

"Say goodbye to your friend, Daniel." Mareus loomed forward, dwarfing the stocky teen.

"What? No!" pleaded Dan. "He's not dead; we can still help him!"

"It's time." Mareus stepped forward.

"No, please, look, he's still breathing! Just let me get an ambulance. I'll stay here with him; I don't care if I get sent to juvie." Frantic, Dan waved his cell around. Why can't I get a signal? I'm outdoors, in the middle of the city!

"You cannot help him." Mareus extended a gangly arm and closed his knobby fingers around Dan's wrist.

The teen almost lost his grip on his cell as he trembled at Mareus' touch.

Mareus guided Dan's hand. He shone the cell's light by the tombstone that Dan had tripped on.

Dan's blood ran cold.

A stocky teenage boy wearing a green football jersey lay still on the ground, his head split on the tombstone.

"Say goodbye."

©2010

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