Short Story
Daisy Chains
To me now, the image of a seven-year old girl as a stern and humourless technical instructor is comical. It’s an image that must have been purged from my memory shortly after experiencing it, only to be reconstructed when I reached an age where Catherine O’Reilly’s inscrutable withering glare was not so intimidating. At the time, I had assumed that she was as skeptical as everyone else of a boy wanting to learn how to make a daisy chain. But as I avoided eye-contact, instead watching her hands as she described the proper place to pierce the daisy’s stem (“here”, she said, tolerating no differing opinions about proper stem piercing placement), something in her voice told me that it was not my gender that bothered her. Daisy chains were serious business to her, not something for amateurs to trifle with, and artisans do not teach.
By Michael Atkins-Prescott3 years ago in Fiction
Wings of Love
In the heart of a military base, nestled amid the sounds of drills and the hum of aircraft engines, two souls found each other in the most unexpected of places. Their story, like the Skyward Bond they shared, was marked by resilience, friendship, and the enduring power of love.
By Joseph Bayode3 years ago in Fiction
The Melting Horizon
In a coastal town named Harbor’s End, life had always revolved around the sea. For generations, fishermen had cast their nets into the deep blue, and families had built their homes along the rugged shoreline. But as the years passed, an ominous change began to ripple through their lives.
By Rodelyn Quimsing3 years ago in Fiction
I am a worm. Psalms 22:6
Kat sensed the environment as if she was a feral beast. In the stillness she heard her heartbeat, then the leaves sounded the drum roll for a chorus of crickets chirping. The chant of nature recreated the history of the land. She stood as an outsider, on the mast of the ship of Theseus who asked if a ship that is restored, with all the wooden parts replaced, is the same ship.
By Katherine D. Graham3 years ago in Fiction
The Melancholy Millionaire
In the heart of the city, beneath the towering skyscrapers and amidst the bustle of daily life, lived a man named Theodore Wainwright. To those who didn't know him well, Theodore appeared to be just another eccentric millionaire, known for his elaborate parties and peculiar habits. However, there was a deeper, more poignant story hidden behind his wealth and eccentricities.
By Bala Tahir Yunusa 3 years ago in Fiction
Out Of The Looking Glass. Top Story - September 2023.
The first mirror was an antique, something that Miriam had found when she first moved into this house, covered up by a sheet and thick layer of dust. The second mirror was from Ikea. Brand new, very minimalist, nothing to stand out next to the ornate, hand-carved frame of the antique. Which, of course, was the entire point. The idea for the piece had seemed to spring to Miriam’s mind as soon as she had found the old mirror. The old reflecting the new, the past contrasting with the present and vice versa. If she could get the angles right, it would make for some great photographs.
By Kelsey Clarey3 years ago in Fiction
Fantasy Metal
Silence. The only thing I could hear was a dull, muffled background noise. Maybe they were voices, shouts, cries, tears. It didn't matter. It simply didn't matter. I couldn't distinguish anything else except the silence. I'm not an idiot, mind you. I knew it wasn't possible to find it in the place I was in. Yet, there it was, that silence that muffled everything. It took importance away from everything except what was in front of me. That small image I had at my feet, that scene that captured every part of my being, like a black hole that kidnapped emotions, sensations, and swallowed them. What I had in front of me was the reason I was there, the reason why all the people around me were there. Maybe that's what made it so unnatural. Another thing in my life that could never have happened in my mind, one of those things that my brain, even though it processed all the possibilities every time, hadn't even noticed.
By Alessandro La Martina3 years ago in Fiction
A Prologue
He entered the pub and found what he was looking for. Noise, the clamor of dozens of drunken people trying to forget their bad day at work or their argument with their spouse. Some guys were at the bar, chests puffed out and backs straight, hoping to order a good cider. They were already anticipating the morning after, when they would boast about it to their friends. A quiet music played from one corner of the pub, its volume excessively high to drown out everything else. There was no place more chaotic in the entire universe. Perfect.
By Alessandro La Martina3 years ago in Fiction
Echoes of Eternity
In a world where dreams and reality often collide in the most unexpected of ways, two souls stand on the precipice of a connection that defies time itself. Sophia, a museum curator with an insatiable fascination for history, and James, a talented musician haunted by the elusive melody of his unwritten symphony, were two strangers living disparate lives. Yet, a mystical force, like the wisps of a forgotten love story, drew them inexorably closer.
By Vico Andiar3 years ago in Fiction
The Robbery
THE ROBBERY It was Monday morning at school when I was called to the principal's office to receive the worst news of my life, news that changed my life completely, I went to the principal's office and when I got there were two cops male and a female they came to tell me that my parents had a car accident on their way to work and they died on the spot, at first I didn't believe it but when they showed me their bodies at the mortuary I broke down in tears I felt like I got hit by a truck. After the funeral that's when life became difficult and unbearable, my parents had money and we lived a luxurious life I never lacked anything but when they died it was like they died with their money. They didn't have a will and they had lots of debts, Due to that the banks that they owned took the house and the cars even their accounts were blocked, It was a very hard time for me I had to move to my uncle's house in the township, but no one lived there my uncle died two years before my parents' accident.
By Thambisa Sithole3 years ago in Fiction
