Short Story

Trapped by the Spider. Content Warning.
**Warning: Contains depiction of kidnapping and torture.** I knocked on the door three times. Knock. Knock. Knock. My presence was greeted by a dog barking, and within a minute, the sound of locks fumbling. The door swung open and I was greeted by the acrid smell of Marlboro red’s–what Grandpa used to smoke. A man stood in the doorway with a mess of curly grey and smoke-dyed hair. A slop of a beard decorated his face with his high cheekbones that pushed on narrow, beady brown eyes. He stood taller than me, but was short for a man. His red and black flannel fit poorly over his round belly.
By Callum Summers12 months ago in Fiction
Before the rooster crows. Runner-Up in A Knock at the Door Challenge. Content Warning.
The latch clicked home with a metallic clunk that rippled through the door, into Martha’s fingers and up her arm, shrugging something free around her shoulder blades and returning her, in shattered pieces, to herself. She stood, spine sagging and cheekbones slipping into jowls, and listened for a silence ruined by her own breathing. In her mind’s eye, she saw herself, standing under the electric light, surrounded by the shit she had chosen to prettify plaster and concrete and the tawdry necessity of a hallway from which she was expected to come and go and come and go and come and go in pursuit of some sort of life worth living, and a shrinking nausea slithered through her gut. She slipped off her shoes, dropped her bag to the floor, and went through to the kitchen. Another day down.
By Hannah Moore12 months ago in Fiction
Project: Zeolara
The knock was fast and uneven. Varnsh dragged himself to consciousness. The banging on the portal cranked up a notch. Grouchy and groggy, he slid open the pod hatch, his rear trell-flaps twitching. Kr-ev was vibrating. His eyes shone. "We've got one!" Varnsh blinked, his limbs pulsing pink with pleasant surprise. "Really??"
By L.C. Schäfer12 months ago in Fiction
The Sea Remembers. Runner-Up in A Knock at the Door Challenge.
First drops of rain knock on my door, soft like shy fingertips. The night spreads its silent blanket behind the windows. That blanket falls thick and warm, and vast enough to cover the empty village from my view, but it cannot block out the angry growl of the sea.
By K.D. Popiel12 months ago in Fiction
Trust Me, I'm the Police
A guttural sound woke Sarah up from a dead sleep causing her to spill her bed sheets on the floor. Her cat, Bits, that curls up cozily on her chest at night flung off her in her fit as she could no longer feel his weight on her. Feeling around her bed in the dark room for her phone until her hand wraps around it causing its screen to illuminate her area. Wait, she thinks. Where is Bits? Again, she hears the same guttural sound that disturbed her sleep earlier coming from the corner of her bedroom. Sarah uses the flashlight on her phone to find the sound is Bits who, instead of groaning at her for flailing him off her chest, is curled into a tight U-shape in fright.
By Amy12 months ago in Fiction
Parallel Collision. Honorable Mention in Parallel Lives Challenge.
The morning was unremarkable. The morning welcomed me with the kiss of a thin fog coiling over the payment and just the whisper of slick frost and ice waiting for the sun to thaw it back into water. The streetlight on the corner flickered like it was getting ready to die out. I tightened my jacket around me and checked my watch while I rushed to the bus stop a block away. Seemingly reading my mind, the bus rounds the corner, headlights splitting the mist.
By Autumn Stew12 months ago in Fiction
Waiting. Runner-Up in A Knock at the Door Challenge.
The flat pad of my paw strikes the door, and it makes a sound almost like knocking. After a few long, agonizing moments, I finally hear footsteps approaching.
By Alison McBain12 months ago in Fiction
The Lion, the Witch & the Lack of Wardrobe. Content Warning.
So there I was inside my house, minding my own business, when there’s a solid knock at the front door. It’s Sandy — my neighbor of over thirty years — from across the street.
By S.E.Linn12 months ago in Fiction
Knock of Conscience
The knock came again. A soft, insistent rap-rap-rap—more a vibration in the silence than a sound. Eleanor Zaidy froze mid-knit. Across the dim room, her husband, Dr. Samuel Zaidy, stirred in his armchair. His eyes—fogged by age and medication—snapped open, wide with the same dread she’d seen too many times before.
By Muhammad Talha12 months ago in Fiction
Manticore. Content Warning.
I could nearly describe exactly the exact wording the Sherrif used. Almost, I could show you the way it felt when he grabbed me in mid-sprint, wrestled me to the ground and assured me nothing could be done. Without hesitation or error, I could imitate the tone of his voice and how unwavering his verdict was. But that would be pointless. What’s done is done and there’s no bringing back the lost.
By Thomas Speer12 months ago in Fiction
The Moon That Mended Itself with Light. AI-Generated.
They said the moon was dying. At first, I didn’t believe them. The sky had always been her stage — eternal, unshaken, perfect in her silver glow. But that night, when I looked up, I saw it — cracks running through her surface like veins of pain.
By Hamayun Khan12 months ago in Fiction
The Moon Who Whispered Words to Me. Content Warning. AI-Generated.
The night was quiet — too quiet to ignore. The clock had just whispered past midnight, and the world outside my window was dipped in blue and silver. The town lay asleep beneath a soft quilt of stars, and I sat alone at my wooden desk, a cup of warm tea breathing out curls of steam beside me.
By Hamayun Khan12 months ago in Fiction