Top Stories
New stories you’ll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
BARE HUNTER
Greg, my boss, had called to tell me we needed to discuss what the company's owners were up to. He was going to pick up a pizza and come to my place to clear the air once and for all.
Tina D'AngeloPublished 4 days ago in ChaptersThe Silent Dinosaur
The toy dinosaur on your bedside table hasn't roared in years; The batteries inside of it died a long time ago. But it was silent long before the batteries lost their juice.
C.R. HughesPublished 5 days ago in PoetsDreamed a Dream
“When I consider this carefully, I find not a single property which with certainty separates the waking state from the dream. How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream?”
The Burnout Train
This poem was written in response to the Rattle® Poetry Ekphrastic Challenge for April 2024 and was ultimately not selected. You can find more information here. https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/ The image that this poem was specifically written about can be found here. (April 2024 – Gerrie Paino's “Night Train”) https://i0.wp.com/www.rattle.com/ekphrasis/EC24Apr.jpg?ssl=1
Rae Fairchild (MRB)Published 4 days ago in Poets- Content Warning
Trauma Carnival
I have unpopular opinions on one of my old favorites, The L Word. First is: Jenny is my favorite character. Second: The show was originally about Jenny, her trauma, her broken identity and the way her sexuality was explored as an awakening that brought up many memories of childhood abuse.
Melissa IngoldsbyPublished 6 days ago in Art Vocal Bonus Leaderboard: 05/29/2024
Welcome to the weekly update of the Leaderboard! We're thrilled to showcase Vocal's most discussed stories, popular picks, and rising stars. Here are this past week's standout contributors and their remarkable achievements.
Vocal TeamPublished 4 days ago in ResourcesMy Worst Nightmare and How I Got Rid of It
When I crossed 40, I started feeling different changes in my body, and the most unwanted and painful was a decrease in bone density leading to a weakened neck, lower back, and pelvic floor.
Ainy AbrahamPublished 5 days ago in ChaptersShoutout to My Parasocial Elders
Shoutout to My Parasocial Elders, to my Community Healers whom I’ve never met. ⠀ Shoutout to Mimi Zhu who taught me to
R.C. TaylorPublished 7 days ago in PoetsPeaceful Purpose
I have noticed that in the professional sphere, as far as I have noticed, that many people choose to come to work, mainly with the intention of collecting a paycheck, which I completely understand, unfortunately, we all need money to survive in this world. I also feel very strongly about the fact that if you are going to work in a profession, you should certainly treat that profession, whatever it may be, with the dignity that its purpose entails, whether you are working in the medical field, or working at a fast food restaurant, you should do you best to do the best job you can, because when it comes right down to it, we are all humans, going through the trials, and challenges that this life can bring us, by working together.
Kaylon ForsythPublished 7 days ago in HumansAt the Sheltering Doors
The doors, they always scrambled for the doors first. When they arrive and always by night it was a race to desperately bar the creatures entry to the house in the slow crawl of numb feet that the dream would impose upon him. He never seemed fast enough and the creatures uninhibited by the same constraints always made the doors first. The houses in his dream-scapes vary night to night - Some are mansions, others shacks and some are distorted contortions of his childhood home which burned down when he was ten. But the doors are always the same – frail, loose hinged and never could be fully shut. The creatures too vary – twisted and corrupted forms of animals and people familiar to him: family dogs preternaturally swollen to twice their size with rotting coats of mange and slicked damp with dark liquids of decay. The people too were bloated vestiges of ones vaguely familiar to him but whose names escape him. Their eyes gorged wide with dark blood which streaked their mottled faces in crusted trails like lost rivers which hung from their chins swinging in ropy columns beneath paling yellowed teeth. To let them break through would mean death. This he knew with grave certainty. At the door was desperation and panic as their stench emanated forth, sickly and pungent like vomit and mold and ending in a gruesome exhalation like cancer, the stench sticky and clinging invading his nostrils and lungs never to be expunged. Then in the sudden waking he never knew if he repelled them or not.
Kevin RollyPublished 4 days ago in HorrorMetamorphosis Chronicles | Pt5
There is a mosaic Beneath my feet Pages of poems Torn and taped together ❀ Beneath the soil There is blood And broken bones
The Write Equipment
So many wannabe writers these days. I mean, yes, they write. So that makes them writers on some level, sure. But they aren't content just to pick up a pen, or sit down at a keyboard. Oh, no. They want recognition. Payment.
L.C. SchäferPublished 6 days ago in FictionDinah the Grama-Saur
Dinah the Grama-Saur Technology Archaeology My name is Dinah, I’m a Grama-Saur. You ask, “What’s that?” So, I’ll tell you more.
DeEtta MillerPublished 7 days ago in PoetsThe Dreamer
“I hope you can help me understand why I keep having this reoccurring dream, Doctor. It’s become an obsession, dominating much of my life, and I’m sick of it. It feels as though the only way to end the dream is to die.”
Mark GagnonPublished 6 days ago in HorrorThe Moon is Full of Drama
I have been taking pictures of the moon for almost 20 years now. That's a long time in photography years. (What are photography years? That will have to be a whole other article). So the statement I am making is, why is the moon full of drama? I guess my reverse question to you is, how could it not be? Look at the picture above for example, this image screams “I am ready for a night out on the town” It has glitz and glam and all the makings for an evening of fun. I took this image as a few different shots, some out of focus of the stars, and then of the moon, blended to give you a feel of depth. It is a fun little photography trick.
Nagoh Creative (Greg)Published 5 days ago in PhotographyEvanesce
We were alive at one time We lived and breathed We loved and wondered And yes we dreamed We felt our hearts beat to the rhythm of the wind
Soul Tied
The sun rises in the forest again peeking through the greyness of the clouds in the sky. The same grey as the chain that still lays around my neck. The year is 3000, 2999 is officially over only it didn't end as expected. I suppose we should've known better though. People had the same thoughts in 1999. Fearing the world would possibly end simply because of a new number. Quite ironic actually we used to fear the end of the world we welcome it now.
Jazmine AmbrosiaPublished 7 days ago in ChaptersAn Unexpected Appointment
“Hi,” Standing at about five-foot-six inches — including her five-inch stiletto tan boots — the stranger smiled a friendly, all-knowing smile.
Movie Review: 'I Saw the TV Glow' Starring Justice Smith
I Saw the TV Glow (2024) Directed by Jane Schoenbrun Written by Jane Schoenbrun Starring Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Fred Durst, Danielle Deadwyler
Sean PatrickPublished 12 days ago in HorrorIndigo
Today you tell me you are a baryonyx- slender-nosed, crocodilian, a dense-boned, fin-spined predator who hunts the
Penny FullerPublished 7 days ago in Poets