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Latest Stories

November 27, 2025
General Stories Abdul Basit

When Ego Finally Melted

Life in Dera Ismail Khan always moves in its own rhythm. The main bazaar stays busy from morning till night and people from different backgrounds pass through it every day. In the middle of this bazar stands the Choggala, a kind of small fortress where police…
November 27, 2025
Horror Stories Ben Macnair

Life Like

The hushed reverence of the Nude Gallery had always been Sarah’s sanctuary. At thirty-two, she often found the modern world a cacophony of shallow noise, but here, amidst the silent, sculpted figures, a profound quietude settled upon her soul. She wasn't an…
November 27, 2025
General Stories Hossam Belal

My Time For Courage

I was a child in Gaza, but I wasn’t like the other children—fear set me apart. Yes, I admit it: I was afraid. And I don’t see any shame in that. I was still just a child, and children have the right to feel fear—especially when they grow up in a place like…
November 27, 2025
Flash Fiction Syed Hassan Askari

The Mistake That Stole Seventeen Years

Sara was the politest girl in her family. She was quiet, shy, and gentle. She would wake up early in the morning to perform Fajr prayers. She would make tea for her parents and then walk to her college—two long kilometers—with her books pressed tightly to her…
November 27, 2025
Horror Stories Ben Macnair

Gone Fishing

The silence of Oakhaven Lake was usually a salve for Barry, a thirty-year-old city slicker who considered himself an outdoorsman by virtue of occasional weekend trips and a subscription to an adventure magazine. But today, the quiet was merely an…
November 27, 2025
General Stories Steven Robnett

Walks Far Woman

I am a geriatric social worker at Cherryvale Memory Care Center. While normally I do not lead outings for patients at the center, I did, on one occasion, as a special favor. The outing, I was assured, would be for a couple of hours and with only one patient.…
November 27, 2025
General Stories Matias Travieso-Diaz

Shattered Glass

When a man carries an instrument of violence, he'll always find the justification to use it. If we really want to escape this war, we have to stop bringing it with us. Brian K. Vaughan, Saga, Volume 1 The last two generations have grown amidst frequent…
November 27, 2025
Horror Stories Syed Zeeshan Raza Zaidi

Where The Road Remembers

The night I first saw her, Karachi had folded in on itself. The city—usually a sprawling, restless mass of neon, horns, and heat—felt strangely hollow, as if someone had cupped it in both hands and gently dimmed the edges. I had been driving for Uber for six…
November 27, 2025
Fantasy Stories Sani Ibrahim

The Clockwork Sparrow

In a city of clanking pistons and hissing steam, where the sky was a permanent tapestry of grey smoke, Elara’s workshop was a sanctuary of intricate wonder. She was a tinkerer, an artist of gears and springs, and her greatest creation was a sparrow. Not a…
November 27, 2025
Flash Fiction Frank Talaber

303 Jen

Time’s recollections flitter like butterflies alighting from fields of sun-cast flowers as I stop before an apartment building staring as snapshots of a life like Kodak moments blur by, one after another. I’ve been here before. Two children and … good God! ……
November 27, 2025
Horror Stories Ben Macnair

A Boat Upon The Shore

The sea, they say, offers solace. A vast, indifferent expanse that swallows grief as readily as it does the sun. After Clara, its ceaseless roar became my only companion, the rhythm of its waves a balm to the ragged edges of my soul. I’d retreated to this…
November 27, 2025
Fantasy Stories Carolyn Brotherson

The Changing

Transforming into an animal was more painful than one could ever imagine. Perhaps that prospect is why Mother prohibited Éana from her Changing, a ceremony that all prospective druids in the Court of Flowers went through after their first year of training.…

They say hindsight is 20/20, but I’m in no need of its accuracy.  I’m aware that I’m in the throes of an obsession, one with dark eyes, full lips, and hands that make my resolve crumble. He is perpetually busy except for the occasional late night evening of which I’m certain to be available for. He has a small apartment, a soul depleting day job, a mind full of ambition to succeed, and an epic chip on his shoulder that he hasn’t.  There is no room in his life for me.  Well, I suppose there exists a miniscule amount of room he sometimes creates and I oblige, but with the clear ache of wanting more.

 

It is Thursday about noon.  I will hope he asks to see me tomorrow.  And if he does, I will say yes. I will smile when he texts, my heart will pitter pat when I see him, I will make the drive out to his place and accept he’d rather not take me out but stay in, I will tell him I miss his face, I will spend time thinking about him and how good he feels, I will long for him, I will hope he changes his mind about me, I will wish that maybe next time he’ll ask me to stay.

 

I will go to work looking forward to the end of the evening when I’ll see him.  I’ll focus on the pile of papers strewn about my desk, pay absolute attention to my co-workers’ needs because being engrossed is the only way to make the time pass.  I’ll drive home in heavy traffic and allow my mind to wander about what to wear later.  I’ll be home and try to relax, clean a little to pass the time, and read more lines of a book without grasping the layers of meaning beneath.

 

Then I’ll get in the shower.  I’ll scrub, I’ll shave, and I’ll wash.  I’ll lotion, apply make-up, and curl my hair.  I’ll give myself too many look-overs in the mirror to make sure I appear just right before leaving.  Then I’ll listen to music on the drive and sing in the car.  My spirits will be up.

 

I’ll arrive.  He’ll be dressed down, offer me wine, and we’ll chat on his couch.  Then he’ll kiss me.  I’ll kiss him back.  We’ll talk some more and have a second glass of wine.  Before the conversation will exhaust itself he’ll kiss me with more demand and I’ll moan into his mouth.  We’ll get off his couch and go to his bed.  He’ll undress himself and then me in between urgent kisses.  We’ll fuck.  It’ll feel amazing.  I may or may not cum.

 

We’ll stay naked in his bed, tired, out of breath.  We’ll talk some more.  Then he’ll fuck me again.  He’ll ask me what I want and I won’t have any clue how to answer.  I have extremely limited sexual experience, a disposition toward shyness, and the degree of that isn’t entirely clear to him.  He’ll cum.

 

We’ll talk a little longer and then I’ll hope he’ll ask me to stay, but he won’t.  So, my heart will sink a bit as I pick up my clothes strewn across his bedroom floor.  I’ll dress and tell myself that it’s okay.  I don’t need to stay the night.  It doesn’t matter.

 

He’ll walk me to my car.  I’ll kiss him one more time, my hands on his face, his hands on my waist.  It’ll be about one in the morning.  I’ll get home before two.  I won’t be tired.  I’ll be re-thinking the whole evening and wondering what I’m doing and when I’m going to stop.

End

Bio: Dorothy Kollat is the author of The Oasis Resort series and The Writer's Desire. She lives in California.

 

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