Love

He Conned Women, Then Bought a $2 Ticket He Refused to Scratch.
Leo has a tin box. What's inside isn't money. He spent two years folding sheets in the laundry room of the Ritz‑Carlton downtown. He could tell a bespoke shirt from off‑the‑rack just by looking at the seams. Tony from housekeeping said he was the only server who'd check the stitching with his fingers. Leo didn't answer. He was soaking a wine‑stained cuff in soda water, the temperature held steady at forty degrees.
By Jin3 months ago in Fiction
The Holiday Date
Chapter 1 Right before Christmas break, my boss Eileen Ren called me into her glass office, shut the door, and tore me a new one.
By Jin3 months ago in Fiction
The Boy Who Stopped Time
Part One: The Shop That Smelled Like Yesterday On the narrow cobblestone street of Rue de Mémoire, between a baker who sang to his bread and a florist who talked to her roses, stood a tiny clock shop with a crooked wooden sign that read: "SOLEN & SON Keepers of Time" Inside, every wall was covered with clocks. Grandfather clocks with deep, dignified ticks. Tiny silver pocket watches with heartbeat pulses. Cuckoo clocks that announced the hour with cheerful birds. Antique brass clocks that hummed like sleeping cats. They were all different, yet all said the same thing time moves forward, always forward, whether you are ready or not. The shop belonged to an old man named Henri Solen. But Henri had died on a Tuesday in March, quietly, in his favourite armchair, with grease on his fingers and a half-repaired watch in his lap. Now the shop belonged to his son, Theo seventeen, hollow-eyed, and utterly unable to wind a single clock. On the morning after the funeral, Theo walked into the shop, sat on his father's stool, and did the only thing that felt honest. He let every clock in the room run down. One by one, the ticking stopped. The cuckoo birds fell silent mid-song. The grandfather clock's pendulum swayed once, twice, then hung still. By evening, the shop was the quietest place in the city. If time had taken his father, Theo reasoned, then time could stop.
By Kamal ali3 months ago in Fiction
The Peony Lass
David an' Connie had been married fir over 20 years. David wis a hard-working man who served the community, but his anger an' temperament often got the better o' him. Connie had been born intae a wealthy family, an' David wis seen as the natural choice fir her tae marry. Her father approved, an' he wisnae terrible.
By Paul Stewart3 months ago in Fiction
The Girl Who Carried the Lantern
Part One: The Village That Forgot the Sun In a valley tucked between two ancient mountains, there was a village called Ashenmoor. It was a place where the fog never fully lifted where mornings arrived grey and evenings left even greyer. The people of Ashenmoor had long forgotten the warmth of sunlight, not because the sun had vanished, but because they had stopped looking up.
By Kamal ali3 months ago in Fiction
To See You Again
The room was beautiful. Not expensive or luxurious... A kind of beauty that felt impossible. Warm sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a breathtaking view of Brooklyn Harbor. The water sparkled beneath a golden afternoon sky.
By Amber3 months ago in Fiction
Two People Connected Through a Magical Book
The Book Hidden on the Highest Shelf On a cold November afternoon, Olivia Hart wandered into an old bookstore she had never noticed before. The narrow building stood between two modern shops, its faded wooden sign barely visible beneath layers of ivy. She had no particular reason for entering. In truth, she was simply trying to escape the rain. The store smelled of old paper and dust, and its shelves stretched from floor to ceiling. As she browsed through forgotten novels and worn journals, her attention was drawn to a thick leather-bound book resting on the highest shelf in the corner. The cover was dark blue and strangely warm to the touch. There was no title. No author's name. Only a single sentence engraved in silver letters: For the one who needs to be heard. Curious, Olivia opened the book and discovered that every page was blank except the first. Written in elegant handwriting were the words, If you can read this, then the book has chosen you.
By Robert Redford3 months ago in Fiction
Sit A While . Runner-Up in You Had to Be There.
She stopped halfway up. I was a few meters ahead before I realised, she was bent in two holding her back up and catching her breath.
By Elizabeth Butler3 months ago in Fiction
Echoes of Deep Water. Content Warning.
The tide at Blackwood Bay didn't pull out; it whispered. Maeve stood on the wet sands, the bioluminescent foam licking at her bare ankles. To the townspeople, the glowing blue water was a curse the blood of the Leviathan that slept in the deep trench. But to Maeve, a marine biologist whose family had guarded the coast for generations, the sea was an old, possessive lover. She held a copper lantern high, casting long shadows across the black jagged rocks. "You're late," she called out to the waves. The water bubbled. A few yards out, the sea parted without a sound. A man emerged from the surf, though "man" was a generous term. Julian possessed the striking, aristocratic features of a lost prince, but his skin was the pale silver of a shark’s underbelly, and webbed, clawed fingers tipped his hands. Along his neck, hidden beneath dark, soaking hair, gills pulsed rhythmically. He walked ashore, the water sliding off his shoulders as if afraid to touch him. "The deep currents were restless tonight, Maeve," Julian said, his voice a low, melodic echo that vibrated directly inside her skull rather than her ears. "The elders feel your island's construction drones drilling into the shelf. They want blood." Maeve felt a shiver run down her spine, but she didn’t retreat. Julian stopped inches from her, the scent of ozone and crushed pearls enveloping her. He was an Eldritch prince of the abyssal deep, a creature that should have inspired primal terror, yet her heart thudded with a reckless, human longing. "I tried to stop the council," Maeve said, looking up into his pitch-black eyes, which lacked any whites or irises. "They don't believe the legends. They think it's just oil down there." "They will learn," Julian murmured. He raised a clawed hand, his touch surprisingly tender as he stroked her cheek. His skin was freezing, a shock of absolute zero that made Maeve gasp, but a strange, intoxicating magic numbed the pain, replacing it with a euphoric warmth. "But I did not come to speak of greedy men. I came to see if you made your choice." Maeve looked back at the distant lights of her coastal town. It was a safe life, a predictable life. But it was suffocating. Every day she analyzed water samples, dreaming of the vast, terrifying ecosystems Julian described—cities made of living coral, trenches where starlight was traded like currency, and ancient songs that could move continents. "If I come with you," Maeve whispered, her breath fogging in the cold air, "I can't breathe down there, Julian. I’ll drown." Julian smiled, revealing rows of sharp, needle-like teeth that should have horrified her, but only made him look heartbreakingly wild. "The sea demands a transformation, my love. A exchange of elements. You must give up the air to inherit the ocean." From the cliffs above, a flashlight beam suddenly pierced the fog. "Maeve!" a voice shouted from the distance. It was her supervisor, Miller. "Get away from the water! The sensors are registering a massive seismic anomaly right off the coast!" Julian’s posture shifted instantly. The gentle prince vanished, replaced by a predator. His gills flared, and the bioluminescent water around his legs began to churn violently, turning a angry, neon crimson. "They run out of time," he hissed, his Eldritch aura flaring, making the air feel heavy and pressurized. "Julian, wait! Don't hurt him!" Maeve pleaded, grabbing his arm. The texture was smooth like wet marble, but beneath it, muscles like coiled steel flexed. "Then choose, Maeve," Julian commanded, his dark eyes locking onto hers, pulling her mind into a vision of the deep sea a world of terrifying beauty, free from bills, clocks, and small-town expectations. "Stay in your cage of dirt, or rule the abyss with me." The ground shook. A low, bass-heavy rumble vibrated from the ocean floor as the Leviathan stirred, responding to its prince. The pier at the edge of the bay began to splinter. Maeve looked at Miller’s flashlight, then down at the glowing water. She dropped the copper lantern. It hit the wet sand and sputtered out, plunging them into a world lit only by the ocean’s magic. "Take me," Maeve said. Julian’s expression softened into something resembling worship. He caught her in his arms, his webbed fingers securing her waist. "Hold your breath for the last time," he whispered against her lips. He kissed her, and it tasted like salt, starlight, and ancient secrets. As Julian pulled her backward into the crashing, bioluminescent waves, Maeve opened her mouth to scream, but instead of water filling her lungs, a cold, magical fire bloomed in her chest. The darkness of the deep ocean welcomed her home.
By Kamal ali3 months ago in Fiction
Where the Phoenix Falls
The ash-fall always made Kaelen’s prosthetic lung click. He stood on the edge of the Obsidian District, the mechanical copper valve in his chest rhythmically wheezing against the sulfur air. Below him, the Neon-Spire city of Vespera pulsed with cold blue light, but up here, in the ruins of the Old Kingdom, the world was dead.
By Kamal ali3 months ago in Fiction
In 5 years. Content Warning.
Boy meets girl, and boy meets boy It was the first day of our unconventional arrangement—our marriage, if one could call it that. Viar and I found ourselves thrust together into this unfamiliar territory, and I must confess, the whole experience felt like a dizzying haze, a blend of confusion and anticipation. I was determined not to dwell on the implications or emotions that accompanied it. To me, this was merely an arranged union, carefully orchestrated and devoid of any romance or heartfelt sentiment—a simple obligation, nothing more than a social contract between two individuals.
By Aoife’s stories 3 months ago in Fiction
Counting Connections. Top Story - June 2026.
The fluorescent bulb above aisle seven had that low-grade hum that made you slowly question your own sanity. It was almost as if Jess could feel the vibration going through the soles of her safety boots. She wondered for the fifth time if she should turn it off, but then the darkness of the warehouse would engulf her on a night shift.
By Sam H Arnold3 months ago in Fiction