Love
The Glacier Fox's Unseen Path
Kivi’s first mistake was chasing the snow hare. Her mother had warned her: "Storms ride on the backs of careless hunters." But the hare was plump, its tracks fresh, and Kivi’s belly growled louder than the gathering wind. She darted past the sacred stone markers—the ones etched with wolf teeth, warning "Beyond here, the ice forgets."
By Habibullahabout a year ago in Fiction
"The Man Who Sold Sunsets"
They said he was just an old man with a strange smile and a box full of light, but to me, he was magic. I first saw him by the boardwalk, just as the sun was dipping below the ocean, painting the sky in soft orange and pink. People were walking by with their ice creams and phones, not noticing him, but I stopped because I saw something strange—he was holding a small glass jar, and inside it glowed with the exact colors of that sunset. I thought it was just a trick, maybe a toy with lights, but then he looked at me and said, “Would you like to keep tonight’s sunset?”
By Hanif Ullah about a year ago in Fiction
Beneath the Basement Floor
Previously... Hira has uncovered pieces of a disturbing truth: her name tied to a psychiatric record she doesn’t remember, voicemails from her own voice, and a child claiming to be forgotten. A mysterious mirror message begged for help. Photos show her with a girl she doesn’t know. And now, in the basement of her building, an ancient wooden box and a tape revealed chilling therapy sessions she supposedly had. One message keeps repeating in different ways: “You left her behind.” The Trapdoor It started with a sound — a faint, rhythmic tapping beneath the floorboards of the basement. A sound no one else could hear. She returned to the basement that evening, armed with gloves, a flashlight, and a crowbar. She moved aside old furniture, broken filing cabinets, and a dusty mattress. And then she saw it — a square outline on the ground that didn’t match the rest of the concrete floor. She pressed her ear to the center. Silence… then, a heartbeat? She pried the corner open. A gust of cold air rushed upward — damp, earthy, and metallic. A wooden staircase led downward into darkness. Beneath the basement… there was another room. The Underground Room Hira descended carefully. Each step creaked like it hadn’t been touched in decades. The flashlight flickered. When she reached the bottom, she found herself in a stone room with no windows. The walls were covered in scratched writing. Dozens of them. Repeating again and again: "Find her. Find her. FIND HER." In the corner, a single cot with old bedsheets. Next to it, a desk, a tape recorder, and a stack of photos — of her. And the girl. A girl no older than seven. Same long black hair. Same eyes. In some photos, they were laughing. In others, crying. In one, Hira was hugging her tightly — like a mother would. Her knees went weak. “What is this?” she whispered. The Hidden File Inside the desk drawer, she found a thick folder marked "Ridge Town Psychiatric – SUBJECT H13". She opened it. Patient: Hira Saeed Case Type: Dissociative Identity Disorder Report Date: July 2015 Subject believes she has a daughter who doesn’t exist. Subject repeatedly enters altered state where she assumes “Mother” personality. Severe trauma suspected, but cause unknown. Subject claims: “My daughter is real. She lives in the place beneath the floor.” Hira dropped the folder. She was reading about herself. And yet, she remembered none of it. The Voice Returns Suddenly, the old tape recorder clicked and began to play. Mommy?" a soft voice whispered. Hira spun around, her light darting across the stone walls. Nothing. I waited here. Like you told me to." Her heart pounded. But you never came back." She backed up toward the stairs. And that’s when she saw it. A child’s drawing on the far wall. Crayon lines. Stick figures. A girl and a woman standing side by side, holding hands. Above their heads: “Me and Mama” The Rusted Door In the back of the stone room, almost camouflaged by shadows, was a small rusted metal door. It was locked. She rattled the handle. Something moved behind it. She stepped back. Then — three slow knocks from the other side. KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. Followed by a muffled whisper. “Hira…” She ran. Back in the Apartment That night, she collapsed on her bed, covered in dirt and dust. Her mind spiraled. Could the reports be true? Had she suffered a breakdown years ago? Was this “child” just a mental projection — something she invented to survive? But if so… Why were there photographs? Why did she have voicemails she didn’t remember recording? Why did the camera show her standing up in her sleep and whispering things to herself? She looked in the mirror again. Her reflection blinked out of sync. Once again, words formed in the fogged glass. “She’s still down there.” The Letter from the Past Early the next morning, an envelope slid under her door. No stamp. No name. Inside: a single letter, handwritten on torn paper. > "Hira, If you’re reading this, it means the walls between you and her are collapsing. You weren’t supposed to forget. You weren’t supposed to leave. Go back before it’s too late. She still believes you’re her mother." Signed: “You.” The Flashback And then it hit her — a wave of memory so strong it knocked her to the floor. She was in a hospital room. A child was screaming. Doctors were holding her down. A voice — her own — yelling: “Give her back! She’s mine!” And then the injection. Blackness. And silence. The Final Decision Hira stood in front of the trapdoor again. If this was madness, so be it. If she was wrong — if the child never existed — she’d find out once and for all. But if she was right… Then that girl had been trapped beneath the earth, forgotten, alone, for years — waiting for someone who promised she’d return. And now… Hira was ready. She took a deep breath, opened the trapdoor again, and began her descent — flashlight in one hand, the drawing in the other. To Be Continued... Next in Part 5: "The Girl Who Never Existed" She searched for herself... and found a lie.
By Abid Ali Khanabout a year ago in Fiction
Voicemails from the Past
The Story So Far… Hira's new life in Ridge Town has unraveled into something twisted. Strange voices. Photos of her taken in secret. A man — or a presence — living in apartment 7B. And now, her own image staring into the camera while she sleeps. She no longer knows who to trust. Not even herself. The Missed Call It started at 3:00 AM. Her phone buzzed — a call from an unknown number. At first, she didn’t think much of it. She turned it over and went back to sleep. But it rang again. And again. When she finally answered, all she heard was static. Then a voice. Low. Raspy. Familiar. “Hira?” She bolted upright. “Who is this?” she whispered. The voice hesitated. “It’s me. You.” Then the call dropped. She stared at the screen. The number was strange — a format she hadn’t seen before. Curious, she dialed her old number. The one she had when she lived in Karachi. The one she canceled years ago. It rang. Someone answered. But no one spoke. The First Voicemail Later that morning, she noticed a new voicemail. She pressed play. It was a recording of her own voice. But the words she heard… she didn’t remember saying. > "They think I’m dead. But I’m not. I’m still here. He’s keeping me… inside the mirror." She dropped the phone. The Mirror That night, unable to sleep, she stood in front of the long mirror in her bedroom. She stared into it, half-expecting it to shatter. Or to see another version of herself looking back. Nothing happened. But when she turned to walk away, her reflection didn’t move. She froze. Slowly, the reflection lifted its hand… and pressed it against the glass. Hira turned back sharply. It was gone. Just her own reflection again. Her breath fogged up the glass. In the condensation, a sentence began to appear — letter by letter. “HELP ME.” The Man in the Recording The next morning, she called the phone company and asked about the number that had called her. The operator hesitated. “There’s no record of that number being active. It’s not in any database.” “But it’s my old number,” Hira said. “I used it for years.” The operator paused. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but that number was never issued to you — or to anyone else in the last decade. It doesn’t exist.” The Hospital File Determined to find answers, Hira visited the town records office. She requested files on the previous tenants of her building — especially apartment 7B. At first, they refused. But a sympathetic clerk finally handed her a dusty folder, marked “Unresolved — Ridge Complex.” Inside were faded photos, handwritten reports, and a patient record. Name: Hira Saeed Status: Declared mentally unstable. Admitted to: Ridge Town Psychiatric Facility Diagnosis: Delusional dissociation. Claims of multiple realities. Alleged sightings of “herself” inside mirrors and windows. Hira’s hands shook. “I’ve never been to a psychiatric facility,” she muttered. Or had she? The Second Voicemail Back home, another voicemail. This time, a child’s voice. A little girl. > "He told me you forgot. You promised you’d come back. But you’re not her anymore, are you?" Hira screamed and threw the phone across the room. The Note on the Window She tried to calm herself, made tea, sat by the window to think. Outside, across the street, in the fog — something caught her eye. A figure. Standing perfectly still, staring up at her window. Even from this distance, she recognized it. It was her. Again. She ran downstairs. But when she reached the street, the figure was gone. In its place, taped to the outside of her building, was a single piece of paper. Written in the same handwriting from the photo frame in Part 1: “You left her behind. Go back before she forgets you completely.” The Box Beneath the Floor Hira remembered the basement — the old storage area beneath her building. Something was calling her back there. She grabbed a flashlight and descended the narrow, creaking stairs. At the far end of the basement, hidden behind loose bricks, she found a small wooden box. Inside: An old SIM card. A photograph of her holding a child. A cassette tape labeled "Session 3 – Hira’s Therapy." She inserted the SIM into her phone. Immediately, a message popped up. New Voicemail – July 18, 2015 She played it. This time, there was no voice. Just breathing. Then, a scream. Then, silence. The Tape Back in her apartment, she played the cassette. The voice of a doctor came through, clear but cautious. > “Hira suffers from severe delusional breaks. She believes she has lived multiple lives — sometimes simultaneously. She believes one of her realities is trapped inside a phone. The other... in a mirror.” Then her own voice. > “But you don’t get it. I am both of them. And one of us… is going to die.” To Be Continued... Next in Part 4: "Beneath the Basement Floor" The truth was buried deep — literally.
By Abid Ali Khanabout a year ago in Fiction
The Man in Apartment 7B
The Story Continues... The hallway leading to apartment 7B always smelled of old carpet and damp paint. It was as if time stood still in that corner of the building. Hira had passed by it dozens of times, but she never dared to stop. There was something about that door — the rusted brass numbers, the uneven doormat, the faint sound of movement behind it — that made her uneasy. She didn’t know his name. She didn’t know what he looked like. But she knew he was watching her. The Incident with the Sticky Note After finding the warning note that read, “Don’t look into 7B’s window again,” Hira felt trapped. Someone had been close enough to her door to slip it underneath — silently, stealthily. No camera had captured it. She checked the hall cams using her landlord’s shared app, but the footage from between 2:00 AM and 2:30 AM had been mysteriously erased. “Glitch in the system,” the landlord said dismissively. “It happens.” But Hira knew better. She decided to test something. That night, at 2:15 AM, she turned off every light in her apartment, stood at the edge of her window, and peeked through the blinds into 7B. Nothing. Just darkness. Then — a flicker. The curtain moved. For a second, just a second, she saw it: a pale hand slowly pulling the curtain aside. And behind it — a face. But not just any face. It was hers. The Doubts Begin The next day, Hira visited the property manager. She asked who lived in apartment 7B. He hesitated. “That unit’s been empty for months,” he finally said. “Hasn’t been rented since last summer. Previous tenant vanished.” She felt cold. “Vanished?” He nodded, lowering his voice. “Police called it ‘inconclusive disappearance.’ No signs of forced entry. No family to report her. Just gone.” Hira's legs felt weak. She asked for a name. The manager scanned his files. “Odd,” he murmured. “There’s no name listed here. Just a single word.” He turned the screen toward her. Written under “Previous Tenant” was: Hira. The Locked Door That night, she couldn’t sleep. Something about 7B called to her. It was madness, she knew, but she needed to see it — needed to confirm with her own eyes that it was empty. At 3:09 AM, barefoot and shaking, she walked down the hall. The corridor was dead silent. She stood in front of 7B. The doorknob was old, rusted, but not locked. She turned it slowly. Click. The door creaked open. The apartment inside was dark, musty, and freezing cold. Hira stepped in. The air felt thick. Heavy. Like she had walked into a sealed vault. She turned on her phone flashlight and scanned the room. Furniture draped in white sheets. Dust. Spiderwebs. But then she noticed something odd. Photos. Dozens of them, covering an entire wall. Every single photo was of her. At the grocery store. Taking the trash out. Sleeping. Some were taken from angles inside her own apartment. She dropped her phone. The Sound from the Closet As she bent to pick up her phone, a soft creeeeak echoed through the apartment. Her light turned toward a tall closet door in the corner. It was opening. Slowly. No wind. No movement. No draft. Just the creak of wood. Inside — darkness. Then, she heard it. A low, rasping whisper. Hira… She turned and ran. The Stranger at the Grocery Store The next morning, Hira tried to pretend it was a hallucination. Stress. Maybe sleepwalking. Maybe she imagined it all. She walked to the nearby grocery store to clear her head. At the counter, the cashier looked up, startled. “Back so soon?” Hira blinked. “What?” “You were just here. Ten minutes ago. You bought the same things. Same lipstick. Same notebook.” Hira’s mouth went dry. “I’ve been at home all day.” The cashier frowned. “No, I’m sure it was you. You even said your name — Hira.” The Recording Panicking, Hira went back to her apartment. She set up her phone to record herself sleeping — just to be sure. That night, she tossed and turned, but managed to sleep. The next morning, she watched the footage. At exactly 2:34 AM, the screen shimmered — almost as if the air inside the room shifted. The bedroom door opened. She didn’t move. A figure stepped in. The screen flickered. The figure walked up to the bed. And then… bent over to whisper something into her ear. Suddenly — Hira sat up in bed. But her eyes were closed. She got up. Walked to the camera. Looked directly into the lens. And smiled. Then everything went black. To Be Continued... Next in Part 3: "Voicemails from the Past" Hira’s old number is calling her… but she no longer owns it.
By Abid Ali Khanabout a year ago in Fiction
Paint Me When You're Lonely
A Love in Colors Lena’s world was a gray haze, heavy with worry and grief. After losing her mom, her tiny attic apartment felt like a cage, the silence screaming louder than her fears. Her only escape was her art—bright, bold strokes that let her dream of a life she was too scared to live.
By Shakespeare Jrabout a year ago in Fiction
The House That Waits at the Edge of the Fog
1. The Arrival Elena had seen the house in her dreams long before she ever found it. It sat quietly at the edge of a fading forest, shrouded in fog that moved like breath across the hills. Windows like closed eyes. A door like a secret no one wanted to tell. When she finally stood before it—real wood, real chill, real sky darkening—her bones knew it before her mind did. This was where the nightmares began. And now, maybe, where they would end. 2. The Whisper The key was already in the lock. Inside, the air smelled like time left alone. Not rotten—just forgotten. Dust floated like slow snow. The walls pulsed with stillness. The house didn’t groan or creak. It listened. That night, the whisper came. Not outside the room—but inside her head. Not words at first. Just… feeling. Like something was watching. Something waiting. Not cruel. Just patient. “Who’s there?” Elena whispered to the dark. The dark answered with a breath beneath her bed. 3. The History In town, no one would speak of the house. One woman, old and knotted like driftwood, told her: “That place doesn’t haunt you. It holds you.” “Why?” “Because it remembers.” Remembers what? Elena didn’t ask. She was starting to remember too. Flashes: A girl in the mirror who wasn’t her. A voice in the hallway calling a name she’d forgotten. A nursery with no toys. A crib that rocked by itself. 4. The Becoming The house didn’t hurt her. It fed her. Each night, the dreams grew stronger. She saw other versions of herself—crying, clawing, screaming. Not all were human anymore. And the voice—clearer now—said, “You’ve come back.” Elena didn’t run. She stayed. Because the truth was: she had been there before. Not in this life. But in another. And she had died in this house. More than once. 5. The Truth The house was alive. Not with wood and wires. With memory. It remembered every soul it held. Every scream. Every shadow pressed into its floorboards. It didn’t kill. It collected. Elena was its favorite kind of visitor—the ones who belonged to it before they were born. And now it wanted her back. 6. The Ending That Isn’t They found her car weeks later, engine cold, windshield dusted with fog. No footprints. No sign of struggle. Just a journal on the seat. Inside, only one sentence was written over and over again: “The house remembers me. And I remember it now.” The End? The House Doesn't Stay in One Place The house at the edge of the fog isn’t fixed to one location. It moves. Not quickly, and never when you look straight at it—but over time, it shifts. From one forgotten road to the next. From one dreaming mind to another. People don’t find the house. The house finds them—especially those who have a connection from another life, or a memory too buried to explain. Sometimes it appears in a photo you don’t remember taking. Sometimes in a sketch your child draws without knowing why. Sometimes in the background of a dream you swear you’ve had before. If you ever feel like a house is watching you… It probably is. And if you hear a whisper when no one else does, don’t answer. Because it might just be calling you home.
By Silas Blackwoodabout a year ago in Fiction
The Train We Missed Together
The rain came early that afternoon, turning the platform into a mosaic of shimmering reflections. I arrived at the station late, my coat soaked and shoes splashing with every step. The display board blinked — my train had left five minutes ago. I pressed my forehead to the bench, the chill sinking into my bones. Then she appeared. Standing under the dim lamp, hair plastered to her forehead. She held a violin case gently, like a piece of fragile hope. She glanced at me and half-smiled, as though she saw the same defeat. She swept into the seat beside me, breathing out: “Did you miss it too?” I nodded, unsure why my voice found its way out: “Missed it perfectly.” She tilted her head, water dripping from the tips of her curls. “Sometimes missing the train feels more right than catching it.” And in those words, something in me shifted. --- Returns to silence — but the kind that hums. She pulled her violin out of its case, hesitated, then played one slow bow: a long, sorrow-stitched note that vibrated in the air. It wasn’t practiced, only honest. A melody of rain and memory. People passed by, drawn to the sound, but neither of us moved. The world around us bookended itself, paused, waiting. I watched raindrops race across the puddles. Watched her fingers dance on the strings. I realized I’d forgotten how to listen—to silence, to music, even to my own breath. Until then. When the final note died, she closed her eyes and smiled faintly. “It’s been months,” she said softly. “I forgot this felt like… expressing something I still carry.” Something flickered in me — empathy, pain, recognition of a shared ache. “I’m Zayan,” I offered carefully. “Hania,” she replied. “I play… when I feel lost.” And just like that, we began talking—about music, moments, missed connections, and dreams deferred. --- Time stretched out sweetly. We learned the small beauties of each other’s routine. She arrived Sundays, violin in hand, under the same lamp that barely held light. Sundays weren’t allowed weekdays anymore—they were ours. We shared coffee in a nearby cafe. I learned she had once composed lullabies for her younger sister. She learned I’d written stories filled with characters I never had the courage to feel. We pieced together fragments of ourselves while rain pattered lightly beyond the window. One evening, snow bloomed in gentle white flakes. We missed another train, but this time intentionally. We sat on the bench under snowfall, breathing steam from hot mugs, leaning in close enough to feel each other’s warmth. She rested her head on my shoulder. I tucked strands of hair behind her ear, surprised at how natural it felt. “Missing trains is our version of magic,” I joked. She looked up at me. “It’s fate.” --- Months turned into seasons. We wrote letters kept in pockets, exchanged favorite songs, and conjured imaginary futures. She played private serenades; I began writing again—with color, with feeling, with hope. An anniversary came—one year since we first sat under that lamp. I showed up early with something hidden behind my back. Hania appeared, cheeks rosy from the cold, eyes bright. She asked, hopeful: “Did I miss something today?” I smiled, knelt low on the snowy platform, and opened a box where plastic stood—a ring. “Will you keep missing trains with me… for the rest of our lives?” Her hand flew to her mouth. Heaviness tipped toward joy. She nodded sideways tears, quietly bursting as she whispered: “Yes. Yes, I will.” People hurried past, but for once we didn’t notice time slipping away. --- That night, under streetlamp light and snow, I slipped the ring onto her finger. She leaned close, forehead resting against mine. Silence wrapped us. She finally whispered: “thank you—for making me brave again.” --- Epilogue (200 words of reflection) Weeks later, I sat on that bench alone, typing a story — our story. The train passed, empty now. I watched tail lights fade. No fear lingered; hope seated itself deep in my chest. Sometimes love doesn’t arrive on schedule. It arrives beside you—under a dim lamp, through raindrops, in missed moments. It arrives in unexpected pauses and shared silences. We still miss trains. Sometimes to compose songs in the station air. Sometimes to sit under snow and breathe each other in. Those missed trains became our ritual; markers of presence, of choosing each other again. Because what we found on that bench was more than romance. It was healing. It was faith in timing. It was a reassurance that even if life delays you, it may just be delivering something better. We never look for trains anymore. We just hold hands under the lamp and wait—together.
By Abdie bhaiabout a year ago in Fiction
