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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

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…

The moon cast its pale glow over the forest of Fenlock illuminating the eyes of the creatures that dwelled within. Mist intermingled with the trees giving moss just enough moisture to creep over every surface in the wood. Unsettling noises broke the silence of night in the trees, but seldom was there anyone around to hear it. Tales of the forest of Fenlock were well known to any folk living even remotely near the region. Everyone had heard of the disappearances, the anomalies, and terrors that seemed to inhabit the trees. It was common knowledge among all the children who lived near never to venture into the trees. No one was ever caught in the woods after dark or in the woods at all, except for this night.

A woman of middle age traipsed along the pathway at a brisk pace casting quick glances from side to side then around. Her breath could be seen in the moonlight. This woman had long black hair beneath the cowl of a traveling cloak. Her lips were full and a harsh red compared with the fair skin of her face. Her eyes were a vivid green suffused with fear; fear for the snoring bundle wrapped tightly in her arms. The woman pulled back the cotton flap and looked at the cherubic pink face of her daughter. Her tiny little fists were tucked under her chin, and only a wisp of warm air escaped from her mouth when she breathed. Just beneath her lower lip was a birthmark, a perfect circle. The woman ran her thumb across the child’s chin and smiled as she pulled the bundle to her protectively.

When the baby began to stir and fidget the woman pulled the cotton flap back over her child’s face and continued on her way throwing more glances around the area. Her steps quickened as she stepped onto the stone path she had been searching for. The path twisted and turned, winding ever closer to the center of the ancient wood. At last she came to a circular clearing, overshadowed by looming trees that reached out to grasp the two fugitives, for they were fugitives. She was a mother who could not give up her daughter as she was expected, and the baby who was born on the second full moon of the year. Always a baby was born on every second full moon of the new year, a child touched by spirits they say. Strange things happened around these children, they say, odd occurrences, unnatural things that shouldn’t be. When they tried to take the child away, of course the woman couldn’t let it happen. She wouldn’t allow it. Didn’t allow it. So she stole away with her child into the night followed closely by the light of torches and angry shouting.

She stepped up to the stone outcropping in the center of the clearing laid her little girl on the flat top of the stone, and knelt. She pulled her cross out from around her neck and held it between her clasped hands as she prayed to God. Tears dropped silently as she rocked back and forth as she plead. As the shouts grew nearer behind her she started to weep, little whimpers and gasps escaped her, but she only continued to pray. She rested her clasped hands next to the little bundle on the stone outcropping and leaned close to the little girl to whisper, “No voy a dejar que te tienena mi hija.” From behind her came angry yelling as men entered the clearing holding weapons of unspeakable horror.

A whistle of wind and a soft thump silenced the woman. She gasped and fell in a heap on the ground, but as she looked up a bright shining light had appeared. And she wept on the ground at the beautiful sight. She closed her eyes, laid her head on the ground, and was no more. A pool of blood surrounded the woman an arrow protruding from her back. The man standing nearest the woman dropped his bow and fell to his knees.

The men stood astonished and wide-eyed staring at the beam of light before them. The light seemed to kneel beside the woman for a moment. Then it stood and stepped over to the kneeling man and his bow. The light leaned close to the man and whispered something to him in a language unknown to the man. The light then began to grow brighter and soon even brighter lighting up the entire clearing around them. Then it was gone. And so were the little girl and her mother. Never to be seen again, and never again was a child born two moons after the new year.

All the men in the clearing asked the man with the bow what the light had said to him, and he told them. “Never again will I let you take a child of mine. A daughter of the moon.”

The End

Bio: I’m just a young aspiring writer hoping to progressively gain the skill to distinguish myself in the future, and I also wouldn’t mind writing a line of books as big as the Harry Potter series…. Hope you enjoyed the story. Big thanks to Short-Story.Me.

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