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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…

We first saw the footprints on an icy February night.

Milly our black turning gray Lab was outside sniffing and pawing a fresh bootprint close to our outside cellar door.

The fact she had three legs never seemed to bother her too much, while not the most graceful or nimble canine in her old age she could still get around.

Declining health, failing kidneys & the passing of time had her days numbered.. But engrossed in the moment, having a purpose, she was like an overgrown pup.

An inch of new snow had covered the already frozen ground, Her nose traversed the outline of one of the prints in a double line that started out at the edge of our surrounding woods.

Someone had walked to the basement hatchway doors, They hadn't turned around, The doors was padlocked shut. Something was happening here?.y

After a lot of coaxing & finally by the scruff of the neck we returned inside shortly thereafter,

The chill followed us and I stood in front of our fireplace heating my hands in the few remaining embers of a waning blaze.

I will need to get more wood, I thought to myself, After this mystery is over..

Heather had finished a chore in her home office, after I told her the story she sat there physically shivering and unsettled.

"We need to check the basement..I mean it's probably nothing, a kid was walking thru the woods, cut through our property to get to the road, the other prints must have been covered when you got outside"

Yes of course, I thought & fought the urge to say the bootprints leading to the door would have been the first ones to disappear in the falling snow.

This house in the woods had been her uncles'.. an outdoorsman if there ever was one, He always said he was in Heaven on earth living here, hunting, fishing & watching the stars.

A 20 minute drive from the Interstate & close enough to civilization to hear our screams if Bigfoot knocked on the door, we had made it our home a few years ago after Uncle George had passed.

After adding a few modern conveniences such as satellite TV & an updated kitchen it was totally livable, comfortable & serene.

The tragedy had taken Uncle George had happened this time of year, Mid -February, give or take a few days off the calendar from now,

A terrible auto accident , a tractor trailer with faulty brakes had slid on the icy road & broadsided him on the highway,

Uncle George had died instantly, Milly, protected somewhat by the seat back had lost a leg after being pinned between the car & the frigid road,

They were on their way to a observe the Canis Major, "the Great Dog" constellation from a mountain observation point. The star pattern crossed the meridian this time of year.

Heather & her uncle had been very close, The spitting image of her mom, Uncle George's sister who had died in childbirth,

She had been a living memory of her to him. So having foresight (or maybe intuition), he had left this property, his house & the care of Milly to us in his will.

I opened the inside basement door & prepared for the waft of mold and dank air that slapped you in the face in greeting. Down a set of cold concrete steps & found the drawstring of the 60 watt light bulb that hunt bare overhead.

We often joked that a mushroom farm could be created down here pretty easily, Right now however, in the icy darkness I doubted even fungus stood a chance of survival.

The basement room at the bottom of the stairs had an old freezer standing guard against one wall. Uncle George would store his fish & game in it,

Relics of his outdoor passion, Fishing poles, tackle boxes, camouflage clothing, a box of shotgun shells & other tools of the trade were stored on metal shelves.

A twisted hunk of metal & glass on a wobbly tripod leaned against a dark wall, The remains of Uncle Georges' refractor telescope he had bought in Tokyo in the 1970's.

We had talked about selling this stuff, We had no use for it, just dusty memories, lying in darkness waiting for their next assignment or garage sale.

The opposite end of the room led to the outside aluminum access door, There was no evidence of recent entry, Nothing but spider webs and rust, dust & neglect.

We stood there for a moment, Not a mutual feeling of fear, More of one of making contact..

"Where's Milly?.. Did she come down here with us'? Heather walked back toward the other room, the steps back into our home, out of this gloomy place.

"At her age she doesn't even try the steps anymore..Three legs pointing downward isn't a preferred position for any creature '.. I followed behind her, the absolute quiet disturbing & everywhere.

As we reached the top of the stairs another set of dark, sleet covered bootprints was there to greet us, these led from the side door just down the hallway from the basement door where we stood,

The prints abruptly ended in front of Milly's dog bed.

We hadn't heard anything while in the basement, Surely Milly should have at least whimpered a bit when we has descended?..or barked if in the presence of a stranger?..

Come to think of it we would had seen a shadow if someone had walked past the open cellar door?.. A visible chill came over me,

The prints were similar to those that were outside, The heel pattern that of snow boots, A snowy outline of large feet that appeared out of nowhere in our home & again no set of prints leading out exiting our home. A one way walk from nowhere, & Milly was gone...

Heather stared at the floor, the empty dog bed, the 'Life is a Beach" calendar on the kitchen wall ..Incredulity slowly turning to understanding and I saw acknowledgment enter her eyes.

"Come on!, We have to back down stairs, bring the flashlight," She pointed at the mag-lite on the counter, I followed her down the musty steps, & in the poor light she began to burrow through a pile of Uncle Georges' belongings,

She found them under a rain slicker, an old pair of snow boots, Duck boots we called them sometimes, She wiped the dust off them quickly with a rag & high-tailed it back up the stairs.

The boots were a perfect match for the prints leading into our kitchen, Heather stopped, looked at nothing and everything, a knowing smile on her face.

"Put on your jacket we need to go back outside"..She quickly got jacket & gloves on we took the boots and the flashlight outside & I led her to the scene of the footprints.

The ones' that I had seen initially & had gotten Milly so excited had been covered by the newly fallen snow,

In there place was a new set, bootprints leading from our side door heading back into the woods accompanied by a set of dog paws, a set of three which changed to a set of four just a few feet from the edge of the woods. Both sets walking alongside the Alpha male.

The snow had stopped, We both looked in the mid-February night sky, Sirius glowed strongly & Canis Major was radiating overhead.

There was an energy in the calm stillness, a warmness spread throughout us despite the freezing temperature we stood in.

We silently took it all in for a moment & walked back inside.

The house was very warm, A light glowed from our den, We entered it and saw a roaring blaze in the fireplace, several logs were creating an inferno.

I thought about the little I knew of fixing old telescopes,

Heather thought about the 20 pound bag of dog food she had just bought & wondered what time the local animal shelter opened..

The flames jump and spat and for a minute seemed to form a smile..

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Michael French lives in a seaside town on the North Shore of Long Island.

He lives with a four legged Tibetan Terrier named Milly.

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