-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 18, 2023
Science Fiction Stories L Christopher Hennessy

Broken Girl With Blonde Hair

NYC, 2236, and Harley Ambrose decided to take her home. Her name was Arabella and she was broken. Ambrose lived alone on floor two-twenty of a building project and he was aging but not considerably old. For over a week now he had passed Arabella sitting on…
March 18, 2023
Crime Stories Jason Smith

Did Annabelle Murder Her Family

Their mother had been unconscious for forty eight hours and they’d been told to expect the worst. James and Gregory talked, Annabelle preferred the silence her brothers found uncomfortable, they were strangers to her. “Is anyone hungry?” Asked James. “I could…
March 18, 2023
Science Fiction Stories L Christopher Hennessy

A Man Named Damo Ura

They called themselves Mechanics and had discovered a planet long dead, its Sun extinguished now for thousands of years. From this planet they took samples of plants and animals which used to be there in abundance and decided to breathe life into them. At…
March 13, 2023
General Stories Devin Householder

The Best Of Intentions

Luli slid gently out of Alfie’s arms as she checked his nightstand clock [9:54pm]. The California new year was still two hours away. A nearly full moon lit the way over to the window of her boyfriend’s twelfth-floor Avalon Towers apartment, an empty Stanford…
March 13, 2023
Flash Fiction Lawrence Hartmann

Authentic

I want to be authentic. I want to be ME, as I was when I was a boy. No filters, no strategies for life-coping. I want to walk out in the sun everyday and feel that I am 100% ME. Towards this goal, a few months ago, I embarked on a reading adventure. I would…
March 13, 2023
General Stories Emanuel Diaz

Gravitational Meow

Calis Dafelis, a female laboratory animal science researcher, loved felines and was currently studying the behavior and abilities of her favorite suborder of animals in California. She was particularly interested in the myth that cats always fall on their…
March 06, 2023
Poetry Paweł Markiewicz

Arethusa And Alpheus

Introduction to the myth The myth has happened in darkness of forest, near the old druidic altar with the stone. It was foggy then, shrouded in last summer. Here a fawn was born at dawn and morn - no woe! Near the spring that belonged to the moony grove,…
March 06, 2023
Science Fiction Stories L Christopher Hennessy

Sora, My Future

“ That guy’s the angriest loneliest guy I know! “ George laughed. “ Says he’s in love! Every time I visit a cyberdoll I fall in love, too! “ Tokyo, 2360, and Ric Henry let them laugh. He drank his beer and didn’t care because he knew what was real and he had…
March 06, 2023
Poetry Emanuel Diaz

It Is Not My Fault

"It is not my fault, I swear. I was merely seeking knowledge and power, just like any other magician. When I found the Necronomicon, I thought I had struck gold. But the secrets I learned from that eldritch tome were far beyond anything I could have imagined.…
March 06, 2023
Crime Stories Peter Greenhall

Tortured & Taxed Part I

"Right, do you remember the fella you met the other day, the one from Brookbourne, by the Exhibition Centre?" JJ often had to emphasise every detail to Tommy two fists. He was never the sharpest tool box, but he never questioned anything that JJ asked him to…
March 06, 2023
Fantasy Stories Emanuel Diaz

A Not So Cute Mountain of Cuteness

In the mystical land of Japan, there lived a Ryūjin shinkō dragon by the name of Viryu. Viryu was an ashen-colored dragon with black spots, and she was a protector of nature. She had lived for centuries, watching over the land and its inhabitants, but she had…
March 06, 2023
Flash Fiction Paweł Markiewicz

The Broken Soul In My Homeland

Do you know where this world has got so much evil in it? When I was in the Osuszek-grove for the first time, I was fully grown. I went there on a bike after finding out about it on the internet, a few years ago. I drove south through my whole town, on the…

Cal and Carrie Dodd, each twenty five, left their apartment at 9:00 AM and loaded their car with camping equipment. “It looks like we have everything we’ll need for a week. There’s plenty of food in the coolers, and we can always catch some fish,” Carrie said.”

“I have my hunting knife, and I put the hatchet in the back. We might have to chop some fire wood. I guess we have everything, Carrie, so let’s go camping.”

They left their town and headed for the mountains.  After driving for two hours, they entered Running Creek, a small town that was the gateway to the Mitawin mountain range. “I think we should stop and get some lunch before we head up the mountain.”  There’s a diner, Cal,” she said and he drove up to it, parked, and they went in and sat at the counter. A waitress went to them and placed silver ware and menus on the counter. “Welcome to Running Creek.  You folks planning to go camping?”

“That’s why we’re here,” Cal said.  “Say, what’s the meaning of the name of the mountain?”

“It’s Lakota for ‘my wife’. Some time ago, the Lakota lived in this area. Apparently, a Lakota village was attacked by the tribes’ enemies, and a girl, who was recently married to a young brave, was kidnapped by the invaders. The brave was heart-broken. He left the tribe and went out on his own to try to find his wife. What people here believe is that the young brave can be seen on the mountain searching for his wife. It’s a nice love story.

“So, what can I get you?”

After eating, Cal and Carrie drove toward the mountain. “What did you think about the love story?” Carrie asked.

“No matter where you go, there are folktales about spirits and ghosts. They’re just old, wives’tales.”

After driving along a mountain road wide enough for their car, he came to a clearing and stopped. “This looks like a good spot to set up camp,” he said and both unloaded the car and set up the tent.

“Cal, according to this map, there’s a lake about a mile to the west.  Let’s go fishing.”

“Good idea,” he said, they got their fishing gear, and headed for the lake. As they approached the lake, they stopped in their tracks. “What the hell.”

“Cal, do...do you see an Indian?”

“Yeah. I see an Indian, and he’s coming toward us.”

“The love story. Jeez, Cal, it’s true.  My God.”

“He’s coming straight at us. Jeez, he’s holding a knife,” he gasped, as the Indian ran at Cal and stabbed him. Carrie screamed as Cal fell to the ground, dead. Before she could move, the Indian picked her up and ran into the forest.

****

One month later, the Running Creek sheriff entered the diner and sat at the counter. “What’s new, sheriff?”

“A mystery. A man’s body was found not far from Crystal Lake. He had been stabbed. We found two fishing poles but only one body. We searched the area and found a camp site and a car. I ran the tag on the car, and found the owners…Cal and Carrie Dodd from Brainerd. We learned that they came up here a month ago to go camping. The mystery: who killed the man, and what happened to the woman?”

 

The End

While teaching speech and English at a community college, Mr. Greenblatt wrote short stories and plays, one of which won a reading at Smith College.  After retiring, he wrote short stories, novellas, and plays.  Several of his stories were published in on-line magazines, and others were published in print anthologies.

 

 

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