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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…

It took her the better part of the afternoon to drag him from the trunk of her car and down into the basement.  He was heavier than she remembered.  As she tied him to the post, she knelt down and looked at him again to be sure.  But she was sure.  She knew from seeing him again that morning at the gas station that it was him.  He with the blue eyes and the white teeth and the neatly trimmed beard.

 

She had not been this close to his face since the time he lay on top of her, pushing into her, with his hand over her mouth and the other pushing up her leg.  His neatly trimmed beard stinking like cigarettes and Tex-Mex.

 

She went upstairs and pulled the car into the garage and made sure all of the lights were off and the doors were locked.  She did not want anyone to think she was home.

 

“Sara’s gone for the weekend.”  They would think.  “Sara’s gone.  She must be out.  Sara’s gone away.”  She giggled that last part over and over again. “Sara’s gone away.”

 

She went into the garage and took out the suitcase and walked down to begin.

 

He woke up from the sound of her on the stairs.

 

“What?  Wh . . .”

 

Before he could go any further, she began.

 

“Rock, Paper, Scissors.”

 

“What?”

 

She repeated slower.  “Rock . . . Paper . . . Scissors.”

 

He started asking questions and talking too fast and pulling at his ropes and yelling.  She ignored all of it and instead pulled the rock from the suitcase.  It was something she found out by the park a week after it happened with him.  It was not a very large rock but it was just heavy enough to work and still light enough for her to carry.

 

She walked over to him and undid his pants.  He moved away from her and tried to turn his body away but the ropes held.  She pulled down his underwear and looked at him for a moment.

 

All the damage something so insignificant could do.

 

“Rock.”

 

“What?  What do you mean, rock?  What is….”

 

She did not bother answering him.  Instead, she stood over him and raised the rock over her head.

 

“Rock.”

 

She paused long enough for him to understand.

 

She waited for him to scream and beg her to stop whatever it was she was doing and then she crushed the rock as hard as she could upon him.

 

The scream was as loud as she had imagined.

 

She left the rock and went back to the suitcase.

 

“Paper.”

 

He was still crying from the rock and so she said it louder.

 

“Paper!”

 

He was not paying attention but it did not matter.  She sat down next to where the rock had landed and grabbed a section of his swollen skin.  She leaned in to hear the “whisp” sounds the paper made as it cut into him.  His body jerked with every slice and his screaming began again.

 

When she was satisfied, she returned to the suitcase.

 

“No, no, please, no.” In between screams and curses, he apologized over and over for all of it.

 

“Scissors.”

 

“No, god no!  Stop this, please, I won’t tell, I won’t tell, I swear….”

 

“Scissors.”  She repeated a little louder.

 

She sat down again next to him and raised the scissors high above his waist.

 

“Please, please, just listen okay, just listen…”

 

But she did not listen.  Her first strikes were hesitant as she was unsure but as she continued she worked into a frenzy.  Almost a rhythm.  She raised the blades just to her head level and then hit with them as hard as such could into him.  Over and over and over again.

 

When his crying stopped, she stopped.

 

She stood over him and looked at what she had done.  She watched him sob and the dance of his body turning from side to side in pain.  She returned to the suitcase and pulled out the gun.

 

He saw it immediately and screamed.

 

“No . . .”  He spoke in a broken whisper between heavy breaths and sobs.    “Please, you’re done.  It’s done . . . okay?  Rock, paper, scissors.  Rock . . . Paper . . . Scissors.”

 

She walked over to him and pointed the gun downwards.

 

“No,” she corrected him, “Rock . . . Paper . . . scissors . . . shoot.”

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