-The best stories on the web-
Read or link to over 1000 stories listed under Stories to the left.
Submit your short stories for review as a Word document attached to an email to: Read@Short-Story.Me

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

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…
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…

Lily was annoyed and upset. Her mom switched her virtual reality helmet into school mode and while Lily’s friends were chilling on some Australian or Brazilian beach, she was locked in her room. Lily’s mom won’t unblock the helmet until the homework is done. Lily was thirteen and she didn’t care about a history class and what had happened 30 years ago. In those ancient times, people were so undeveloped that they actually had to travel if they wanted to see a place.


The teacher explained that in these times people could really touch other people just for the greeting and some individuals were careless enough even to sleep together in one bed. Lily didn’t care for such savages. No wonder they were absolutely defenseless when the virus came.

 

Lily’s homework was to research and prepare the story of her family in those times. It was optional, but her mom insisted that she do it. For reasons unclear to Lily, her mom was strongly attached to those times.


Sighing, Lily picked up her iPad 29 which was integrated with the helmet, looked for an ancient app called Instagram and opened her mom’s account. Since 2030 every moment of life had been recorded and everybody could put the virtual helmet on and watch their own life in 3D with friends and family. But back in the 20s people were still addicted to posting pictures of the important moments. 

 

Lily scrolled back to 2020 and saw a photo of her very young mom wearing a black square hat and sitting next to an old-school computer. There were several squares on the screen and in every square Lily saw a picture of a young, smiling guy wearing a black hat like her mom’s. Most of the young men in the picture had beards — a barbaric and unhygienic male trend of those days.


Below the photo Lily’s mom posted: “My graduation party during the lockdown. Looking forward to the day when I can hug everyone.” Unbelievable, keeping your physical body in a safe place was considered something incorrect, something limiting! 


Then this word “hug.” Lily knew its meaning but she couldn’t get the idea. Why would Lily’s mom want to touch all those people? Was it a strange dangerous method to learn if any person had a fever? 


Lily watched some explanatory videos about this ritual. Seems that people hugged each other to express their emotions. As if emojis were not enough! Of course, nowadays emojis are much more developed and appear as a hologram both in virtual reality and in real life, but even back in those days people had been already using them in messengers and chats.

 

One more sigh and Lily started to compose her homework. She wrote:
“When the virus came, my mom was a young, reckless rebel. She urged people to meet in person and propagandized physical contact. Even on her graduation day instead of celebrating this great achievement, she was hoping to see her friends. My mom is a very smart woman but even she didn’t realize the whole danger of being social. Her behavior shows us how careless and naive people had been before the World Restriction Law passed in 2023. I’m glad my mom has changed; she would never touch me or any other person because she knows how unsafe it is. Dangerous unhealthy times have passed and we’re living in a brave new world.” 


“Mom, my homework is done, can I please go?” — Lily asked the empty room, knowing the word “mom” would trigger a notification in her mom’s helmet... Her mom connected immediately, virtually nodded and switched Lily’s helmet into leisure mode. Straight away the girl connected to the chat with her friends, who were lounging on the rim of a volcano in Hawaii.


Her mom was left alone. Like all other parents, she had access to her children's notes, so she took a look. 


She saw her old Instagram picture and wondered If Lily realized that one of the guys in Zoom was her father? She doubted it. Lily was born after the beards had been prohibited and she wouldn’t imagine her dad having one. Then she read Lily’s note. 


If there were somebody else in the room, they would see a woman sitting alone in a helmet. Even through the helmet’s glass they would notice a strange expression on her face. Somebody from her generation would think that she was crying but how is this possible? People of the bright new age don’t express emotions. They use emojis instead. 

 

 

Bio: Russian living in Colombia, traveler, amateur writer

 

 

0
0
0
s2sdefault

Donate a little?

Use PayPal to support our efforts:

Amount

Genre Poll

Your Favorite Genre?

Sign Up for info from Short-Story.Me!

Stories Tips And Advice