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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…

There's sunlight streaming in through the window. The morning sun seems to be getting comfortable about the prospect of it being morning. There don't appear to be too many clouds outside to obscure much of anything. I'm lying on the floor next to a paper, but it's not the paper that I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about the flesh on her legs as she reads the paper. She seems to know that I'm looking at her legs. I suppose that I could call her attention to the perfection that I'm seeing when I'm looking at the way she's sitting there with those beautiful legs crossed as they are, but I'm afraid that it might mean that she would be interested in what I'd be interested in, and we'd be right back in bed.

“What should we do today?” she asks. I'm weighing the sound of her voice and the emotion behind it. There's a piece of delicious music about it that hangs there in the air precisely the way only it could. It makes everything seem to vibrate with something that feels like my pulse.

"I don't know that I care," I say. "We're here. And my here is with you, and I have the day off so...y'know...everything else is incidental." She smiles. I notice that she's still looking at the paper as I notice that I'm still looking at her legs. All the visual gravity in the room seems to head in their direction, so it only makes sense. Of course, I'm here on the floor next to someone so beautiful that she couldn't possibly exist, so my whole conception of what does and doesn't make sense is a bit suspect.

"We have the day off, though." She says. "We could do anything. Anything at all. Do you have any ideas?" And all that I seem to be doing is looking at her legs, but her words are prodding me in other directions, so I'm thinking about other things, like the fact that she's looking at a paper now. And now I'm looking at a paper in the morning light not far from the chill of the world outside.

And just as the moment hits, it occurs to me that it’s strange. The precise geometry of her beauty seems to be perfectly in line with the way that things are right now. The precise geometry of her beauty is a hell of a lot more timeless than what she’s reading right now. And when was it that reading words of ink on large sheets of newsprint in the morning had come to be so retro? It’s like we’re pretending to be a couple on a Saturday from a few decades ago. Only it’s now, and now isn’t even a Saturday, or a Sunday, or any kind of a weekend.

“We could take over the world,” she says, turning the next page into the world news section. She has my attention. There might be laughter, and it might be mine. I'm looking right at her, as she looks right at the paper. I'm smiling. I suspect that she might be smiling as well, but I'm trying not to look too far into her. I feel like it might casually consume me on my way into the next moment. "We could always take over the world."

"I don't think that we have enough time for that," I say. She smiles and glances over. Her eyes meet mine. I am suddenly quite aware of my pulse in ways that I don't think that I'd ever been before. I once had a similar but altogether different experience when I met eyes with a lion at the county zoo.

“Nonsense,” she says. “It’s not even 10 a.m. yet. We could take over the world and then have a late lunch somewhere.” She turns her beautiful gaze back to the paper in front of her. I feel my breath catching itself as the whole room seems to regain some sense of balance.

"I don't know," I say, gazing into some kind of weird ad involving a pensive squirrel with a bindle over its shoulder. "That's a huge step for us."

“What,” she asks in a casual stretch, “world domination?”

"Yes," I say, gazing up at the ceiling. "World domination sounds like it could be easy. At least...YOU make it sound easy. That wouldn't be the problem," I say, tossing aside the housing section of the paper. "I mean...what are we going to do once we actually take over the world? That's a hell of responsibility for one couple."

"So," she says, standing to stretch a bit more formally. "So we get other people to help us out. Like...advisors and things."

"Yeah," I say, looking up at her. "But it could be a hell of a time just interviewing everyone to be our advisors."

“You’re right," she says, curving perfectly into a tree pose as her eyes scan the world outside the window, “That could take the better part of the afternoon.”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” I say.

"So maybe we put a pin in the whole world domination thing and come back to it later." She says. She looks at me and nods. I can do nothing but nod in return.

“Yeah...that’s a good idea,” I say, losing my balance on my way to my feet. The whole room looks like it could start spinning at any moment.

"But we need to come back to the whole world domination thing later-on totally," she says. "I think that we'd be really good at it."

And I'm looking at her, as she's looking at me, and just at the moment, I can't imagine her possibly being wrong. A little while later, she's going to suggest that we go out for a walk. I might be a little bit resistant, but there's no way in hell that I'm going to tell her that I don't want to go along with her.

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