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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 square headed man lived in a house of four sides, with a wife who could break on demand, a very young daughter who loved sneaking into others' households and stealing plastic utensils. Sometimes she constructed little men made from parts of spoons and forks. They lived under her bed. 

The husband demanded that his meals be cut into squares or cubes. A cube was really a square pulled towards others. Like falling in love with several people at once. That's how he explained it to the Tupperware salesmen at lunch break. The wife's maiden name was Emily Frost and she always wore non-latex gloves when washing the dishes. The daughter, Amelia, had eyes like dark precious stones. She hated silverware and lunchboxes. She harbored a secret passion for falling from great heights. Life went on for years as if well-oiled machinery with an occasional bill from the Maytag Man or the Plumber with PVC lust. The square headed man kept demanding that his wife and daughter must think inside a box, or else they will fall prey to endless loops. Whenever the father spoke like this, Amanda would break plastic spoons behind her back, or swallow tiny pieces of cardboard. 

One night, Amanda snuck into her parents' bedroom. They were having sex like two squares, almost becoming a cube. Amanda went back to her room and imagined a thousand little boxes falling from the sky, landing in her room, crowding her out. She imagined jumping out the window, breaking both legs. She imagined being carried away by some big black bird who mistook her for the girl who once nursed him. 

Shortly after graduating college with a degree in Square Anthropology, Amanda eloped with a curly haired boy to the jungles of East Acidonia. She sent postcards to her folks. Pictures of her diving from planes or wrestling with alligators or sticking her nose near propellers. She said she was getting married to the curly haired boy who was also pigeon toed. The father thought that this meant he had claws. He had horrible nightmares of the daughter waking up with scratches along her body and face. 

Then the wife met a man with large almond-shaped eyes. He taught her how to have sex without feeling cornered. She said she hadn't laughed like this in years. She left the husband a note: I have found a new life. Will not be back. Stay away from beef jerky and men who smoke cigars. They will give you cancer. I will stay in touch. Love, Emily Frost. 

The square headed man decided that he would not take this sitting down. He thought: enough of this shit! The world was becoming an ugly city with receding corners. He figured it this way: The globe was a plane composed of straight lines. If he kept walking in straight lines, sooner or later, he would find his wife and daughter. In other words, the world was flat. He kept walking until he fell off the world. While floating, he met his wife and daughter in a free fall. They tried to stretch their arms and hold hands. They tried to create a desperate sound as if this would bring their bodies closer. But the universe was not the shape of a cube with receding corners. Nor was it the shape of concentric circles of longing. It was mostly space. 

Bio: Jessie Woods lives and works in New Jersey. He likes writing flash fiction and doing visual arts.

 

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