Top Stories
Stories in Criminal that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.
The Catch
I glance at my watch as a toxic cloud of cigarette smoke escapes my lips. 5:36 A.M. As I shift my weight from one foot to the other, my shoe hits a protruding tree root.
Beth FitzgibbonPublished 5 days ago in Criminal
Partners
Nahum struck the axe into the chopping block and raised his hands, turning slowly to face the lawman. “You be careful with that sidearm, son. Making me a might nervous, it must be said.”
Robert JackPublished 8 days ago in Criminal
2:23
Every time I lace my running shoes, I think about Ahmaud Arbery. To summarize the Arbery case: in February 2020, two white men, Travis (34) and George (64, a retired police officer) McMichaels got into their vehicle -- Travis with his shotgun, George in the bed of the truck with a .357 Magnum -- pursued the unarmed Arbery (25) through their neighborhood, and blocked his path with their vehicle.
Laura PresleyPublished 9 days ago in Criminal
Treasure Hunt
Danny walked around the park, taking in the early spring day. The leaves were just starting to bud and the air smelled of fresh dirt. He’s had his head in his books so much lately that it felt like he was just coming out of a cave. It was good to be outside. After completing the loop around the pond, he sat on his favorite bench, the one that overlooked the water. He felt something underneath him and stood up again. A small black notebook, the kind he always imagined writers carried with them everywhere, sat on the bench.
Erica EllisPublished 17 days ago in Criminal
Stupid Assassin
The street below is as empty as it always is in the warehouse district at-- What time is it? Matthias Stone pushes up the sleeve of his simple black suit jacket. His silver watch reads 7:15, but he thinks maybe the hour hand approaching 8, and the minute hand being over the 3, means it is 8:03. He’s not sure why he even wears the thing, since he can’t read the time. One of these days he’ll invest in a digital watch, or get one of those phone things.
Byron HamelPublished 17 days ago in Criminal
THE LEDGER
The entire room felt like a swirling buzz. With weak, labored breathing, Bryan roused to consciousness, unable to completely grasp the situation he’d found himself in. Blinking rapidly, yet unable to see, he gradually became aware of his scenario and surroundings. There was a course, black bag on his head; nothing porous enough for him to get more than a dark glimpse of moving shadows, rhythmically swaying in front of him. Muffled sounds, like what you’d expect from an old phonograph, teased his ears behind the humming of faint tinnitus. Eventually, the dull sound fluctuations evolved into recognizable speech. Two men were in the room; older, rugged, yet distinguished sounding men whispered loudly to each other, not far away from where he sat.
We Were Partners
“Hello Tim,” I greeted, squeezing past the organized piles of junk on the floor of my brother’s apartment. I set a few bags of groceries, that I had picked up earlier for him, on his cluttered kitchen counter. I suppose I’d forgotten what it was like to live single—no one cared about the mess. My nose wrinkled at the smell in the air. Just because we lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, the permeating stench of fish in his apartment did not make it any more bearable.
Nathaniel WarrenPublished 23 days ago in Criminal
CHARITY
CHARITY By Shanita Hogan “Oh my goodness! I won! I can’t believe it!” exclaimed Trudy. Trudy runs over to her sofa and moves her newspapers, books and coat onto the coffee table looking for her phone.
The Yellow of Bolzano
On January 5th, 2021, Benno Neumair reported his parents missing from the house they shared on the edge of Bolzano, Italy. Bolzano is in the Alto-Adige region or Italy—northwest of Venice, in the alps, near Liechtenstein. It’s an area where the locals speak German rather than Italian. In fact, when I was at a language school in Bologna, learning Italian, one of the other students at the school was a man from Bolzano. That’s right—he was in his mid-twenties, grew up IN ITALY, and was learning Italian.
Steven AnthonyPublished 29 days ago in Criminal
The True Crime Story Behind the Movie “When a Stranger Calls”
Photo by Khoa Võ from Pexels . . . Over the years, society’s relationship with phone calls has seemingly changed. Once regarded as the essential mode of communication, now mostly considered as nuisances and headaches. While the phone’s role in modern culture has witnessed a shift, its place in horror movies remains analogous to the same. Nothing creates increased jitters than the silent, scary, and creepy phone calls that leave people cold feet.
Swati SumanPublished 30 days ago in CriminalThe Monkey Selfie That Created A Copyright Legal Battle
Copyright is the right that authors have over their literary and artistic works. You have a copyright over the stories that you write. We give attribution to photographers of the images that we use as the one above because of the right that they have over their work.
Olivia MarlenePublished about a month ago in CriminalWe Tell No One
‘Richard?’ Malcolm’s voice broke through the static, forcing Richard to look up like a deer in the headlights. It was laughable, how much of the therapist stereotype Malcolm looked, dressed in his army-green cardigan, disheveled black curls peppered with grey, and slumped shoulders that carried the weight of everyone’s demons and denials.
Kat MorrisPublished 2 months ago in Criminal
