Fantasy
The Obsidian Cube
The Obsidian Cube Sometime back in the 1980s... The cube was so black it actually glowed in the darkness around it. That is the only way I could describe it. It was cold to the touch. Not ice cold, but certainly colder than the ambient temperature in the room. It wasn't large, Maybe four inches on a side. But it was surprisingly heavy.
By Michael Mayr5 years ago in Fiction
The Devil Needs an Accountant
Alisa starred at the Indeed posting for an Exec Accountant wanted in a remote location. She applied for the job simply because it paid more, and it couldn’t be any more work than she was doing now. She was currently working as an Accountant for Wilson and Phillips Ad Agency. Totally hating it by the way. The first job right after grad school, and it was practical, comfortable, and safe. Her mother practically guilted her into accepting the job. All her talk of “Do you know how much money I spent on school for you”, really made Alisa feel guilty like she had to take the job to start paying her mother back. Her father died before she got to high school and her mother NEVER let her forget how hard it was raising her alone. She would remind Alisa every day before she left for school to keep her grades up so the colleges would pay HER to come to their schools. For the most part, she did, she graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University. Right after that, she spent an additional year earning her Masters, something that she felt she should be prouder of. Every day since then she’s just felt like something was missing. Maybe her dad, or her entire teenage livelihood (or lack thereof thanks to her mom’s strict rules). She couldn’t figure it out, but she just felt empty. Her mother bragged to all her friends about how “Lisa’s making big-time money at that agency”, but in Alisa’s mind it couldn’t be more boring. Like bored to literal death boring. She didn’t work with ANYBODY her age, being 24 and being surrounded by 30+ generation is excruciating. Every weekday, she did the same thing. She got up at 5:00 a.m. slid into a pants suit and spent zero time on “work appropriate” makeup. Nothing special. There’s no one worth looking at or flirting within accounting. It was just herself, old lady Colleen (32), grumpy all-day Mr. Grandal (42), and Jason Stocks (asshole, 53). The under 30 crowd could typically be found in Marketing, which is what she should’ve majored in. Alisa checked her phone, she didn’t like to spend too much time brooding over what she wanted to change about her life, she’d rather just suck it up and eat it. The phone read 6:45 a.m. “Fuck, I’m going to be fxckin late!”, she groaned. She grabbed a stick of gum because gum stops excessive smoking, and she was down to four cigarettes a day. She grabbed her purse and kissed her dog Allie on her way out. She ran down the hall of the two-story apartment complex and made it down to the back door entrance. She could see her bus pulling up right as she was crossing the st….
By B. Arceneau 5 years ago in Fiction
The Emerald Wood's Woman
When magic and legend were established in the woodlands, there lived a lady who aged according to the moon's cycles. She lived far from the monarchy that claimed to dominate the nation, far from the shadows that hung over men's souls. Only by venturing beyond the mountains fashioned like two sleeping bears and into the Emerald Wood could one locate her. Only a handful would ever meet her, for she was a solitary creature who remained cloaked to all those to whom she did not care to disclose herself. Her existence has been passed down through the centuries as a legend. The Woman of the Emerald Wood was as old as the Earth itself, and her wisdom swelled and faded with the moon each month.
By Nikhil Shah5 years ago in Fiction
My Shadow Self
The sky was darkened by the gray clouds sweeping slowly across the sky as the rain continued to pour down around me. Wet leaves clung to my knees and elbows as I crawled on the ground looking for my prey. The wild boar had stopped to eat. The sound of the droplets hitting the leaves and under bush hindered the animal's ability to hear any of my movements.
By Ireland Lorelei 5 years ago in Fiction
Heavy Breathing
Stinging air slaps my lungs as I gasp them, like they will be my last ones. A slow chilly breeze brushes its fingers along my spine and tries to steal my rage from me, tries to steal my fire, the only thing I have left. My chest is tight and heavy and I can't seem to get enough air into my blasted lungs, I'm dying. I wish it would just clutch me like a rose to a lover's heart and that would be the end of it.
By Mikayla Decker 5 years ago in Fiction
In Us, Hope - Part One
Thousands of footprints marked a trail through the sandy dunes, only to disappear from the howling sandstorm that threatened the lives of the last remnants of a fairly impartial country. They were hearty, or stubborn and their ancestors had devised a plan for this situation. It was, to them, a sort of pilgrimage; a journey that would get their spirits ready for the tough road ahead.
By Casey White5 years ago in Fiction
Indefensible
It was nice while it lasted. For a time I believed they trusted me. For a time I thought myself worthy of that trust. To be fair, I really did try. I kept my abilities and better judgement at bay in pursuit of a more ordinary life amongst those content with an inexplicable degree of mediocrity, considering their own individualised power. After all, they had welcomed me in when those for whom I had dedicated my life abandoned me; thrown me to the wolves so to speak. It was in less than pleasant company that my habit of charming and bending the feeble minds of others to my whim had finally caught up to me. In my carelessness, I had become the perfect scapegoat for a corrupt institution. Even so, this strange, mismatched group of travellers gave me the benefit of the doubt and offered me a new path; one which I was in no position to decline. Somehow they were willing to look beyond the picture that had been painted by ones with far more prestige than myself.
By Bree Beadman5 years ago in Fiction
Tales from the Queendom of Space: Book One
Chapter One: The Awakening “Okay child. Wake up.” Emaza’s grandmother said. She sat up and groaned. Another day. She was bored of this life honestly. “Come get your breakfast.” Grandma declared, sticking her nose in the air. She always acted that way towards her. Grandma and the other family, including her mother, hence why she was living there. It was as if they never even wanted her there. She sat in her bed and cupped her head in her hands.
By Anaya Wright5 years ago in Fiction
