Short Story
In This Memory. Honorable Mention in The Forgotten Room Challenge. Top Story - September 2025.
That we lived in the house so long after what happened is something I'll never understand. We sealed up her room but the house itself was an altar to her presence. You couldn't walk over a creaky floorboard or see a line on a wall from one of her markers that didn't flood your mind with memories so vivid and strong it felt like a stroke. God, did we miss her.
By Adam Diehlabout a year ago in Fiction
The Heart of a Dog. Content Warning.
Author of the story (kamalali) In a quiet village nestled between green hills and winding streams, lived a humble but kind-hearted man named Haji Bilal. He and his wife lived in a modest home with their two children, a son and a daughter. Though they didn’t have much in terms of money or possessions, their home was filled with love, laughter, and generosity. The villagers respected them for their honesty and simplicity.
By Asghar ali awanabout a year ago in Fiction
Through the Keyhole
The door had never opened in my lifetime. It was as constant and unknowable as the spine of the house—paint layered until it shone like porcelain.. When we were children, my sisters pressed their ears to it, sure secrets were audible if you held very still. The key was gone, our mother said, with a practiced gentleness. “Gone with the old owners,” or “gone with the years.” Once, when I asked what was behind it, she wiped her hands on a dish towel and said, “A closet,” then, after a beat too long, “just old linens.”
By Rebecca A Hyde Gonzalesabout a year ago in Fiction
Apocalypse, With Peaches Part 2. Content Warning.
Simplicity hummed as she refolded the linens in the main room’s cabinet. She wasn’t sure why he had four pillowcases and no pillows, but that was just one of many mysteries she intended to solve over time.
By Fatal Serendipityabout a year ago in Fiction
Apocalypse, With Peaches Part 1. Content Warning.
The water pulsed again, one sudden blip of pressure, sharp as a snapped rubber band, then settled back into its usual stream as though it hadn’t just made Simplicity Grace want to commit a federal crime against plumbing.
By Fatal Serendipityabout a year ago in Fiction
In Search of the Better Note
Prologue: The Seam The choice is so small the strangers on the platform do not notice. A train exhales, its breath a dragon’s plume rolling through the cold air. Overhead, a gull carves a white vowel across the morning sky, a sound older than the station, older than the city. The announcement board flickers and rearranges times like a conjurer’s deck of cards, numbers shuffling themselves toward destiny.
By Rebecca A Hyde Gonzalesabout a year ago in Fiction
Couple missing on sea 1998 story
On a warm summer day in January 1998, a young American couple, Thomas and Eileen Lonergan, set out on what was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime—a scuba diving trip along Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef. By all accounts, it should have been an unforgettable experience. And in a tragic way, it was. The Lonergans were seasoned travelers and experienced divers. Thomas, 33, and Eileen, 28, were former Peace Corps volunteers and deeply bonded over their shared love of travel, nature, and exploration. In 1997, they left their home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and began a year-long tour through the South Pacific, with Australia as one of their final stops. On January 25, 1998, they joined a group of 26 passengers aboard the MV Outer Edge, a charter boat operating out of Port Douglas in Queensland. The destination: St. Crispin’s Reef, a stunning section of the Coral Sea famed for its clear waters and rich marine life. The group completed three dives throughout the day, with the final one beginning in the early afternoon. As the other divers slowly returned to the boat and began removing their gear, no one seemed to notice that two people hadn’t made it back. The crew of the Outer Edge conducted no formal headcount. By the time the boat left the dive site and headed back to shore, Thomas and Eileen Lonergan were still in the water—completely unaware they had just been abandoned. It wasn’t until two days later, on January 27, that anyone realized something was wrong. Crew members performing routine cleaning discovered unclaimed bags, passports, and personal items aboard the boat—belonging to the Lonergans. The alarm was raised, and a massive search operation was launched by the Australian authorities. Helicopters, planes, and boats scoured the area for days, covering thousands of square kilometers. Divers and rescue teams combed the reef, but there was no sign of the missing couple. It was as if they had vanished into the sea. In the following weeks, disturbing clues began to surface. A diver's slate—a plastic writing board used underwater—was found drifting in the ocean. On it was a handwritten message, believed to be from Eileen, dated January 26: “To anyone who can help us: We have been abandoned on Agincourt Reef by MV Outer Edge. January 25, 1998, 3pm. Please help us. Come to rescue us before we die. Help!!!” More items later washed ashore, including wetsuits and a tank labeled with one of their names. The evidence made one thing horrifyingly clear: the Lonergans had been left behind, alone in open water, drifting miles from shore with no food, no fresh water, and no hope of rescue. The public outcry was immediate. How could such a mistake happen? Why was no one keeping track of the divers? The boat’s skipper, Jack Nairn, was eventually charged with manslaughter, but was acquitted in 1999. The court found that while the incident stemmed from negligence, it did not meet the legal threshold for criminal responsibility. However, the tragedy led to major changes in diving industry regulations across Australia. Headcounts before departure became mandatory, and safety protocols were tightened to prevent a repeat of such a tragedy. Though conspiracy theories have circulated—some suggesting the Lonergans faked their deaths to disappear—they are almost universally dismissed. Friends and family say there was no indication the couple had any such intentions, and no credible evidence has ever supported that theory. Experts believe the couple likely succumbed to dehydration, drowning, or possibly even a shark attack after drifting helplessly in the open sea. The waters of the Coral Sea can be deceptively calm, yet they stretch endlessly, and survival without rescue in such a situation is virtually impossible. The story of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan remains one of the most chilling cases of maritime abandonment in modern history. Their bodies were never recovered, but their disappearance stands as a somber warning of the fragility of life—and the devastating consequences of human error. The 2003 film Open Water was loosely inspired by their story, offering a fictionalized account of what it might have been like in those final hours. Yet no film or article can fully capture the terror, isolation, and heartbreak of being left behind in the vastness of the ocean. More than two decades later, their story still lingers—an eerie silence beneath the waves.
By Israr khanabout a year ago in Fiction
Nighttime – Intrusive Thoughts
Nighttime – Intrusive Thoughts I see you sitting in the corner, watching me, wondering if I’m intimidated by you. I hope that corner is cozy, because you will not be let out. You love to bother me at night, right when I’m on the brink of sleep. I can feel you come close to me, but I won’t let you intrude. I know you are a part of me, but I rebuke you. Stay in that corner; nobody wants you. You take a part of me, but I don’t want any part of you.
By LaWanda Dixonabout a year ago in Fiction
Beyond Doubt. Content Warning.
Carl Bent knew how to win. He’d spent two decades turning murderers into victims, thieves into misunderstood strugglers, liars into saints. He did it without conscience, without warmth, and without ever letting a jury glimpse his soul. If he had one left.
By JR Danielsabout a year ago in Fiction
The Finale : Whispers of the Forgotten: A Descent into Eldoria Manor
The Finale Chapter 1 Alistair froze, his hand still raised, the rock still in his grip. The whisper was not in his ears, but in his mind, clear as day. It was the voice of a woman, a profound sadness clinging to every word.
By Tales That Breathe at Nightabout a year ago in Fiction
At Midnight Came A Stranger
Silence. I was falling into a bottomless dark well when a rope tied itself around my waist and swiftly pulled me back to the top. Before I could investigate who or whatever was responsible, I heard a loud tapping noise that invariably drew me out of my sleep.
By Philip OYOKabout a year ago in Fiction
