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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…

He thought he was going to throw up as he staggered to his feet and headed towards the bathroom. Rasmussen splashed water on his face and drank water by cupping his hands and drinking from the faucet.                                                                                                                     

He went back to his bedroom and looked around for Shirley, his live-in girlfriend. There were two empty shot glasses on the end table, and several empty beer cans, but no Shirley as he looked around.

He stumbled to the living room and saw Skip and his wife Roxie sprawled out on the convertible sofa. They were both sleeping soundly as he looked at Roxie’s big white ass, covered in thin pink panties, while she slept on her tummy.

Rasmussen jiggled her ass and asked, “Hey Roxie, where’s Shirley.”

“How the fuck should I know Rasmussen, it’s not my turn to watch her. Now get your grimy hands off my ass.”

“Why is he holding your ass? Her husband wanted to know as he woke up.

Rasmussen went back to his room, opened the closet door and found that Shirley’s clothes and her big red suitcase were gone.

Jerry and Roxie told him that they had no idea that she was gone, all they remembered was that Roxie brought a bottle of Absinthe out of the truck, when they came back to Rasmussen’s place last night, after drinking lots of beer at the bar over in Laughlin.  

“Want to take a ride over to the other side and see if she went back to the bar,” Rasmussen asked Jerry.

“Can’t do it buddy. Remember we told you that we were leaving for El Paso this afternoon, after Roxie picks up her paycheck in Fort Mohave.”

Jerry told him that they would be back in a few weeks, after Roxie straightened out a few things with her sister. Roxie asked why Shirley would take all of her stuff, if she was going across the   river to drink.

Rasmussen fired up his Harley and rode three miles to the bar that they hung out at. He checked the parking lot and did not see Shirley’s car. He knew that she didn’t have to be at the strip club until four that afternoon and he tried to think of reasons that Shirley would leave him. He thought that they got along pretty well, and he didn’t think anyone would try to take her away from him.

The day bartender recognized Rasmussen when he walked in. He greeted Rasmussen and put a PBR on the bar before Rasmussen ordered it. “Have you seen my old lady this morning,” Rasmussen asked while the bartender wiped down the bar.

 

The bartender hadn’t seen Shirley in several days, and he didn’t ask Rasmussen any questions about her whereabouts, because Rasmussen was known to have a short fuse and would knock anyone that got in his way on their ass.  

Rasmussen was on his second beer when he heard the reporter on the local television station say that a female had been found dead in a car in the parking lot of the Pioneer Casino.

He rode over to the Pioneer and asked a patrol cop that was controlling the scene if he could talk to someone. He suspected that the woman in the blue car might be his girlfriend. A detective came over and walked him to the blue car, advising him not to touch anything.

“Yeah that’s her, what happened,” he asked the cop.

“Shot in the chest once with what appears to be a small caliber weapon,” he was told.

The detective then asked Rasmussen for his driver’s license and if he owned a gun as he looked at the Bullhead City, Arizona address on Rasmussen’s license. “No, I don’t own a gun, I’m an    x-felon,” Rasmussen replied while the detective reached for his handcuffs and asked Rasmussen not to resist. He was taking Rasmussen to the station so he could ask a few questions.

Jerry pulled his pick-up off the road ten miles out of Fort Mohave. Roxie handed him her .32 pistol and watched as he stripped it and handed the parts back to her. She threw the parts into the Colorado river one piece at a time and said, “Bye-bye Shirley.”

The End

Leroy B. Vaughn's short stories fiction and creative nonfiction, essays, articles, and book and movie reviews have been published in print,e-zines, anthologies and podcasts.

 

 

 

 

 

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