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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…

The wind howled in the night while smacking up against the house, which made me get out of bed and shuffle over to the window.

I stared directly across the street at my neighbor’s bedroom window and shook my head when the outline of a teenage girl popped out at me. I would be lying if I said this hadn’t happened before, which begged the question if my neighbor was keeping her prisoner in his house.

Rob repositioned himself in my bed. “Come back to bed.”

The girl continued standing right where she was while tears rolled down her cheeks.

“In a minute,” I said.

“What could possibly be so important that you want to stay up? I mean we already wasted the opportunity of your parents being away for the night.”

The hairs on my back pricked up at the arrival of a man who was now standing by the girl in the window from across the street. His eyes widened as he stared at me a few seconds longer than he should have before he jerked the girl by her ponytail.

“There’s a girl standing by the window. You have to see it.”

“So what? It’s not our problem your neighbor has insomnia.”

I turned around to face him. “Just get out of bed and look.”

He sighed. “Fine. If it really means that much to you...”

Rob got out of bed, scurrying to the window.

“There’s no one there, Claire.”

I whipped my body around again only to discover that Rob was right because the curtains had been closed in the bedroom window across the street.

“I’m telling you there was a girl. You have to believe me.”

“It doesn’t matter now, does it?”

***

Rays of sunlight poked through my bedroom the following morning, signaling that taking out the trash could no longer be ignored.

I darted out of bed, leaving Rob to himself since he would have had a fit if I woke him up before noon on a Saturday.

It wasn’t long before I trekked outside, as I didn’t even bother to scoff or roll my eyes at the realization that it was yet another day of sepia drenched across the sky.

Something touched my back after I dumped the trash in the garbage can, causing me to scream.

I blinked and then opened my eyes again, realizing it was the man from the previous evening.

“You know, it would behoove you to mind your own business young lady,” said the man.

I put my hands on my hips. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think you can figure that out yourself.”

“Are you threatening me?” I asked.

“No. I wouldn’t say that.”

“I’m not the one that grabbed someone in an abusive manner last night.”

Something splashed onto the ground, causing my attention to shift towards the man’s trash. I cringed at the discovery of trickling blood from a towel that snuck out several inches from the garbage can while the scent of bleach wafted through the air.

“There’s blood oozing out of your garbage can.”

“So, what’s your point?”

“Did you have an accident or something?”

The man remained silent while refusing to look away from me.

I inhaled a breath, forcing air into my lungs. “Tell me something. Who was that girl standing by the window last night?”

He smiled at me, showcasing his crooked teeth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The man was gone before I could even open my mouth again and his front door slammed behind him, echoing in the background.

I bit down on one of my nails while the mattered simmered in my mind for another few moments.

He could have prepared a cut of meat that was bloody and made a mess, which forced him to use bleach to clean it up. No. That couldn’t be it. People didn’t use bleach to clean up a mess from a piece of meat since the motives had to be more nefarious than that. After all, it was the only logical answer.

I went back inside several minutes later and turned on the TV in the kitchen as I let the eggs crackle in the frying pan for a bit.

“Today marks the three year anniversary of Kim Lively’s disappearance, and the case remains unsolved to this day. She would now be 18,” said the news anchor.

I stared at the photograph the news had propped up on the screen as I blinked several times, realizing she had an uncanny resemblance to the girl in the window.

The increased volume of the sizzling of the eggs in the frying pan forced my attention back to the stove, making me press the off button on the remote.

The TV turned black in a flash before I scooped the eggs onto a plate.

But I knew the truth, and that was enough for now even if I had been the only one to see the girl. Although for what it was worth, I never saw the girl again because it was as if she vanished into oblivion.

 

End

 

 

Chris Bedell's previous publishing credits include essays on the

online magazine Thought Catalog. He has also had several stories

published on online literary magazines, which include "Surface

Tension" on Crab Fat Literary Magazine, "A Little Accident" and "The

House That Never Was" on Quail Bell Magazine, "The Wronger Murder",

"Game Over", and "Poof and I'm Gone" on Short-story.me. Furthermore,

Pidgeonholes Magazine will publish one of his stories in December.

 

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