-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

July 08, 2025
General Stories Michael Barlett

Dance Of Death

CHAPTER ONE 1940 Chief Inspector Kenneth Langford offered the Commissioner a crisp salute, and then walked back through the labyrinth of passageways to his own small office. Langford was a member of the London Metropolitan Police, commonly referred to as…
July 08, 2025
Poetry Markus J

The Winter Blues

the winter blues has a grip on me, all so tight Its icy tentacles wrap around me and squeezes freezing my fingers and toes with its nasty frostbite staving off the cold is a battle, an endless fight it brings forth an assortment of nasty diseases The winter…
July 08, 2025
Horror Stories Sushma R Doshi

Deliverer Of Messages

A loner in my childhood, my scrawny and weak figure prone to being bullied by sturdy and robust boys, I tended to wander around places frequented by few. Those curvy roads which fell into darkness after evening without street lights, the area near the pond…
July 08, 2025
General Stories L Christopher Hennessy

With A Side-Eye I Cherish

for Brittany ma amour Up to my neck in sadness for something just out of reach and she came along and fired up my life with kisses and the physical. The moment I looked into her eyes I didn't want to share her with anyone else and keep her all to myself. In…
July 03, 2025
Poetry Markus J

The Days Of Future Dreams

the days of future dreams the flames once rose high thinking our lives would end up supreme thinking our future seemed a far of dream but in the end nothing is what it seems many times the winds of changed has blown this way one minute we`re lapping the cream…
July 03, 2025
General Stories L Christopher Hennessy

Bad Girl

Part 1I lost the entire manuscript when I assassinated my laptop with sauvignon blanc as I rubbed the lower back of a woman who dozed drunk on my bed, sweating. She was crazed, somewhere between screaming and lying about the orgasm. Bree was a miracle to me,…
July 03, 2025
Horror Stories Nelly Shulman

Black Is Our Colour

“I swear she could have been you. Look! This girl is your long-lost twin.” Fi nudged me, and I smiled. “Never had or wanted one.” I stood up. “Let’s go, or the bargain hunters will clear the shelves before us.” We dived into the vintage emporium across the…
July 03, 2025
Poetry Markus J

The Transformation

"I need a brake" words that twisted my heart- shattering the dream that we would never part. I asked myself 'what ever did I do wrong? sad, gloominess could`ve easily been my song. I wouldn't let the anger and misery grow or cultivate- uprising feelings I…
July 03, 2025
Flash Fiction Benoit

Jae

It was Jae’s birthday today. She turned eight. What a beautiful sunny girl! Hyo planned a surprise or two; Li, his wife, did too. Birthday cake, a puppy and … Don’t forget, they grinned just before he drove off. Traffic was intense. A long call came from…
July 03, 2025
General Stories Matias Travieso-Diaz

Fear

Leandro stood outside the Kroger, leaning forward as he shivered in the early March dawn. He hated this moment: the cold, the fatigue, the feeling of helplessness, the anticipation of another day ahead at his degrading job picking collard leaves under the…
July 03, 2025
Horror Stories Mihko Askiweno

Found You

Panic gripped her as she staggered up the steep, rocky incline, breath coming in jagged, shallow gasps. Sweat streamed down her face in torrents, her hair clinging to her forehead and cheeks in disheveled clumps. Her legs trembled with exhaustion, molten fire…
July 03, 2025
Poetry Markus J

Lost On The Path

But alas; sometimes I think we've lost our way- too many strayed opinions...one too many a survey. Walking on the road ahead, just following the herd of sheep- with a hypnotised mind, wide awake yet very fast asleep. While yelling...join the team of the…

“What are you going to do with all of those water balloons?” Tortoise asked.

There must have been a hundred of them in every color, constructing a rubber pyramid that wobbled above a red pull-along wagon. Hare grabbed the top balloon, and launched one at Tortoise’s snapper. When the balloon burst, Tortoise tasted metal in his mouth, and felt like his stomach had dropped out of his shell.

“You can’t be serious,” Tortoise coughed. “What could have made you this...this... evil?”

When Hare pelted a balloon right into his eye, Tortoise kicked his two unbound legs frantically, and rocked the chair in the hopes that one of the oak legs would give out. His hands had gone numb an hour ago, if you could call them hands anymore. Two bloody nubs chained to a wooden chair. Another balloon burst Tortoise on his stomach, and he hopelessly watched the pellets drip down his yellow bone chest.

“At least tell me why,” Tortoise moaned, spitting while he spoke, but Hare did not respond.

“Was it those nasty brats? I know it was wrong, but, maybe, it’s not you. Maybe Trix really are just for kids?”

Hare popped a blue balloon in his hand, and growled.

“You don’t even remember me?” Hare grunted through gritted teeth. “How can you already forget me, Tortoise? You ruined my life. You didn’t have to do that. You could have been quiet, or at least honorable. But no. You told the entire world about your amazing race against the Hare. And then,” Hare paused. “THAT BOOK!”

Tortoise winced. Hare looked nothing like the youthful rabbit he raced all those years ago. A dark gash ran from his gnarled right ear to his mouth, and his white fur, where there was fur, was stained a brownish-yellow.

“Oh, yeah, you got a copy of that book, huh?” Tortoise asked quietly.

“Everyone got a copy,” said Hare, dragging each word like a dead body. “My wife left me almost immediately, with the kids mind you. Lost my job, had to sell my hole to a snake, and my parents… I don’t even know. They must have changed their name and moved.”

Hare looked up at the hanging caged light, and Tortoise spotted the fur below his brown cheeks had soaked.

“I saw some dark things, after that,” Hare said, looking at Tortious with absent eyes.

Hare turned away from Tortoise, and dumped the red pull-wagon. As the balloons rolled under the Tortoise, Hare hopped around Tortoise like a pogo stick, popping the balloons with his feet. From behind his mangled ear, Hare pulled out a gold Zippo and flipped the top. Tortoise thought of screaming, but worried that would only add fuel to the flame, which wasn’t lacking for fuel.

“Well, you may not want to hear this, but this is not my fault. You took two naps and ate breakfast during a race! You, Hare, shouldn’t feel bad, but you need to take responsibility for your actions. Maybe that’s the real lesson from our race,” Tortoise surmised.

Hare considered Tortoise’s anecdote for a moment, closed the Zippo, and began leaving the room.

“See, there you go! Taking responsibility for your actions. Now, just don’t forget to untie me!” Tortoise yelled.

When Hare had nearly left the room, he stopped, lit the Zippo again, and turned to Tortoise.

“You’re wrong. That’s not the moral, because the story didn’t end that day.” Hare said before tossing the flame into the fuel underneath Tortoise. “You may have won the race, Tortoise, but life isn’t a god damn race.”

 

End

 

Bio: David Gregory is a marketing pro from Washington, DC who loves humor fiction. When he's not pretending to know something about politics, David is wrestling with his first novel, and begging people to read his humor fiction magazine at www.FunnyInFiveHundred.com.

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