Holiday
Merry and Bright. Honorable Mention in Out of Season Challenge.
“Did you find everything you need today?” “Yes, thanks.” The cashier forced a cordial smile, but Annabelle could feel the annoyance as the woman put her fan aside to ring her up. Shopping wasn’t high on people’s list of things to do on a day like this, and she felt like she was disrupting the thrift store’s peace just being there.
By Phar West Nagleabout a month ago in Fiction
The Easter Rarebit. Honorable Mention in Out of Season Challenge. Top Story - September 2026.
For some context, watch this: The first thing to note was the temperature. For a rabbit, this was a strange sensation. With all of his fur and energy, he should be just fine with this type of weather. But there was the bigger problem of knowing too much about what time of year it should be.
By Kendall Defoe about a month ago in Fiction
Portable Holidays
Of course, it was out of season. Time passes differently for us older folk. It seems to become compacted. Squished. I used to live in places that saw four distinct seasons. The regular stuff: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. The years passed with regularity, and the seasons helped with that steady march of time.
By Pauline Evanoskyabout a month ago in Fiction
We Wish You a Merry Halloween. Top Story - September 2026.
I don’t usually come out until after dusk. I don’t want to. That’s all. And anyways, my daughter, Allie, and her husband work all day and in the evening they like to see me. So, if I don’t come up from my basement suite, they’ll come down and annoy me.
By Marlena Guzowskiabout a month ago in Fiction
Here's to new tradition!. Honorable Mention in Out of Season Challenge.
I was always the odd ball amongst my siblings. I was rebellious where they were obedient. Loud where they were quiet. I was a Halloween fanatic when they were talking about Christmas in July. My parents were the type to decorate for Christmas the day after Halloween. My childhood wasn't terrible, exactly. But every once in a while, they found little ways to remind me that I didn't quite belong. Usually, it was something harmless. Another joke about my obsession with ghosts, another eye roll when I got excited about Halloween decorations, another reminder that I was the weird one. I would always just laugh with them but I quickly grew tired of the jokes.
By Mallory Farnumabout a month ago in Fiction
Dóda's Christmas. Winner in Out of Season Challenge. Top Story - September 2026.
I was always scared of sanatoriums. But they also seemed like a magical place to me. My mother basically grew up in one, and there lived the sister of my great-grandmother for a short time. I thought about it when I visited the graveyard in September.
By Imola Tóthabout a month ago in Fiction
Pumpkin Spice Hallucination
I noticed the ornament when I was on my twentieth box of Pumpkin Spiced Everything merch. I thought one of the other stockers was screwing with me, honestly. Or one of the packers threw it in a box as a joke, and didn’t have the deal to find an actual home for it, so just tossed it on a shelf to be Somebody Else’s Problem. Can’t blame any of us, really – we’re minimum wage workers, who really gives a shih tzu about proper procedure? You want us to work our butts off, then pay us a living wage. Otherwise, well, a leprechaun Christmas ornament is just going to lay on a shelf.
By Meredith Harmonabout a month ago in Fiction
WINTERGLOOM
Christmas lights hung on the porch as most houses did in December—but, it was late August. The thick black wires were tacked gently onto my copper gutters. I didn’t mind the slight intrusion, they went well with the wind chimes and glass bottle suncatchers. Of course, other houses on the block look pristine with their manicured lawns and freshly painted siding, but they were empty shells. Cold, sterile frames made from generic wood and drywall. I was different. I breathed. I felt. I saw. I knew.
By K.H. Obergfollabout a month ago in Fiction
