Fiction

1/0: Entries from the End Times
“I’ll quit.” I stopped sipping the rich, white broth directly from the well. “I’ll quit,” Etan repeated through a mouthful of tender dark meat he’d torn from the chicken’s leg. “I’ve let you down twice now, and I’ll be damned – well, I am damned – I’ll be double damned if I do it a third time.” He reached out to place a reassuring hand on my upper arm, but then immediately retracted it as if he were a leper and he didn’t want to infect me with his touch. “I’m telling you, so you’ll hold me to it. I’ll quit.”
By Wen Xiaoshengabout a year ago in Chapters
The Accidental Love
A FORGOTTEN CHALLENGE (This is chapter 1 of The Accidental Love. Stay tuned for more.) As I walked towards my class today, a faint sense of anxiety settled in my chest. I wasn’t sure why or did I? As soon as I entered the class, my attention turned toward the blackboard, and I knew why I was feeling anxious. It’s the start of our new session – class 10th and every year the teachers used to write the names of the top scorers on the blackboard. Raghav, Advait, Rhea, Tanvi, and Jay. These were the names written on the blackboard. To be honest, I didn’t expect Jay’s name on the blackboard. Not that he was not good at studies, but he was also not one of the top scorers. He was one of those students who always used to crack jokes in the class, never taking anything seriously. And it was not only me, but nobody expected him to perform so well. He had got 9.8 CGPA. Everyone was only talking about him today. As I sat down, I heard Jay and his friends talking.
By Akshitaabout a year ago in Chapters
Businesswoman Chapter 129
Entrepreneur Paul looked at the numbers on the screen. Seven figures. He wanted to do more so that he could earn more. He revised his strategy. With his knowledge of business, the might to fight the forces of ineptitude and misrepresentation lingered in his bones. The thought of the bomb threat also did not sit well with him. He wondered if it affected his performance, but then banished the thought as he considered his prowess in front of crowds. He looked down at his phone. He called the woman who could steer his mind in the right direction.
By Skyler Saundersabout a year ago in Chapters
One Night, One Choice, A Lifetime of Regret
The clock struck 11:48 PM. Rain tapped lightly against the glass windows of Café Azure, muffling the buzz of distant traffic. Inside, Liam stared into the last sip of his lukewarm coffee, trying to read answers in the swirling foam. His phone lay on the table, screen lit with a message that had shattered his carefully built walls: “I’m in town. Can we talk? – Maya” It had been three years since he’d last seen her. Three years since that night—the night when everything changed. Back then, Liam had been at a crossroads. His career had finally taken off; his first novel hit the bestseller list, and New York had come calling. And then there was Maya—his college sweetheart, the girl who loved poetry more than people, who dreamed of quiet beaches instead of bright lights. She asked him to stay. He asked her to come. She didn’t. He left. The choice seemed logical at the time. He was chasing a dream, and she wasn’t part of it. Or so he thought. But dreams have shadows. And in every success, Liam felt a ghost trailing behind—the echo of laughter, the scent of lavender on her scarf, the unsent letters in his drawer. Tonight, she was back. And he didn’t know why. The doorbell above the café jingled, pulling him back to the present. She stepped in slowly, her gaze scanning the dim room before landing on him. The years had left her untouched—same gentle eyes, same hesitant smile. “Hi,” she said, sliding into the seat across from him. He swallowed hard. “Hi.” Silence lingered for a moment. Not awkward—heavy. Full of things unsaid. “I wasn’t sure you’d come,” she said, fiddling with the ring on her finger. “I wasn’t sure either,” he admitted. “You look… the same.” “You don’t,” she said softly. “You look tired.” Liam half-smiled. “Life.” She nodded. “I read your books. All of them.” That surprised him. “Even the ones no one liked?” “Especially those,” she smiled. “They felt more like you.” He wanted to ask her so many things. Why now? Why after all this time? But all he managed was, “Are you happy?” She hesitated, then looked down at her hands. “I was. For a while. Got married. We moved to Italy. It was beautiful… until it wasn’t.” Liam’s chest tightened. “I’m sorry.” She shrugged. “We grew apart. He wanted children. I wanted quiet. He found someone else who didn’t.” She looked up. “And you?” He laughed bitterly. “I have everything I thought I wanted. Fame, money, city views. But I still wake up sometimes, wondering what life would’ve been like… if I hadn’t walked away.” Maya’s eyes glistened, but she didn’t look away. “I wondered that too.” The rain outside grew heavier, and for a moment, they sat in a shared silence—both aware that this was a rare moment life had offered, and it wouldn’t come again. “I came back,” she said finally, “because I needed to know. Did we make the right choice that night?” Liam didn’t answer right away. He remembered that night vividly—her standing in the doorway, tears welling up but refusing to fall. Her voice trembling as she said, “If you walk out, don’t come back.” And him walking out anyway, pride and ambition clouding everything else. He looked at her now, more woman than girl, more fragile and stronger at once. “I think… we made the only choice we knew how to.” “But was it right?” He thought about that. “Maybe it wasn’t about right or wrong. Maybe it was just timing. And timing can be cruel.” She smiled, a sad, knowing smile. “Would you change it? If you could?” He reached across the table and gently touched her hand. “In a heartbeat.” Her fingers curled slightly around his, a brief touch of something long lost. Then, she pulled away gently. “I’m leaving tomorrow. Just passing through. I didn’t come to rewrite the past, Liam. I just needed to hear it. To know I wasn’t the only one who still wondered.” He nodded, though his throat tightened. “You weren’t.” They stood. No promises. No dramatic declarations. Just two people who had once loved and lost, now sharing a moment of closure. Outside, the rain had stopped. Maya opened her umbrella, gave him one last glance, and walked away into the night. Liam didn’t stop her this time. He watched until her figure faded into the distance. As he turned back, he felt the weight of a thousand memories—but also the strange lightness that comes with finally letting go. Some choices are made in seconds. But their consequences… echo forever.
By M.SUDAIS about a year ago in Chapters
Businesswoman Chapter 128
On a shady street with puddles that swirled brown with mud, the Collectivists showed themselves. “What is this?” Common Man asked.
By Skyler Saundersabout a year ago in Chapters
The Broken Word – Part 5
The days that followed should have been a time of peace. The clans, cautiously at first, resumed old trade routes and opened council fires. The blood feud that had festered was soothed, if not fully healed. Word traveled across the provinces that the rift had been mended—and with it, Elira's name grew in places she'd rather have stayed forgotten.
By Richard Baileyabout a year ago in Chapters
Businesswoman Chapter 127
Boldness empowered Entrepreneur Paul. His gait seemed smart but laid-back at the same time. He wore wheat boots, denim jeans, a flannel shirt and a leather jacket. He strolled into the c-suite office at Defy All Inc.
By Skyler Saundersabout a year ago in Chapters
FULGORN
PROLOGUE The Canticle of Light -As told by the Triarch High Creed Before the first spark, there was only the Void—empty and still. Yet within that stillness stirred three primordial desires: to know, to be, and to shape.
By E.K.Mwauraabout a year ago in Chapters
The Broken Word – Part 4
Elira’s voice had returned, but the power it carried was no longer hers alone. Each syllable of the Binding Tongue pulsed with a second heartbeat—Marrek’s influence embedded like a splinter beneath the skin of her magic. Her speech wavered between liberation and control, and though she stood stronger now, every invocation whispered danger.
By Richard Baileyabout a year ago in Chapters
A memory
It was Psychosabbath. Katina had woken up early to attend the church service. She and her sister Despina had gathered the day before to prepare the offerings. But no blessing or prayer from a priest can ease the pain. It's been four years since her son, her pride, was lost at sea. Charalambos—her Bambis, as she called him—was lost. Lost, not dead. It’s easier for a mother to be told her child has died than that he is missing.
By Foteini Tzouvelekiabout a year ago in Chapters
Businesswoman Chapter 126
Loreen sat back in her chair at her apartment in downtown Wilmington. The socials all showed the pictures of the venue where she was supposed to speak. The newscasters offered sobering facts but no solid leads to who placed the threat.
By Skyler Saundersabout a year ago in Chapters
The Broken Word – Part 3
The route to the Thorned Archive’s remnants lay through the Hollowwood—a forest not mapped by any cartographer still in possession of their sanity. Trees grew in spirals, bark blackened with old warding runes, and fog clung low to the mossy ground like breath that wouldn’t leave.
By Richard Baileyabout a year ago in Chapters