Young Adult
Andreas Szakacs on Michael: An Actor’s Reflection on Legacy, Performance, and Emotion
As an actor, I didn’t approach this film as a historian or critic. I approached it as someone trying to understand performance, emotion, and the weight of becoming a legend. And in that sense, the film offers more questions than answers.
By Andreas szakacs5 months ago in Fiction
A Boy, a House, and the Quiet Between Them
The house at the end of Willow Street had always been there, even when people tried not to notice it. It stood a little apart from the others, as if it had slowly stepped backward over the years and decided not to return. Its paint had once been white, though now it carried the color of old paper left too long in the sun. The windows were tall and narrow, like eyes that had learned not to blink.
By hassan khan5 months ago in Fiction
Azelle. Content Warning.
Elias was walking around the village he called home. The truth was, he wanted to be at home with his mom, Mira. She was the one who told him to leave. She thought he needed to make friends or at the very least, talk to kids his age. The village only had around 100 people living in it. They lived on land owned by the king of a nearby, larger village. They were unpaid laborers, allowed to stay only if they provided crops to the king. Some considered their situation merely less than ideal, while others called it slavery with the only difference being that they could technically run away. As a young kid, Elias didn't worry about those things. He just enjoyed life for what it was. While walking, he noticed the temperature was warm enough for no one to need a jacket, but cool enough that wearing pants still made sense. A gentle breeze carried fresh pollen through the air, and the white clouds were few and far between. As he took in the sights of men and women working, he was approached by some older kids. They invited him to play tag, but he didn't want to play. The kids were a little shocked, but instead of leaving him alone, they dragged him off to play with them. While playing tag, a girl named Zarah pushed him into some mud. She apologized, and Elias accepted her apology. But the longer he played with the older kids, the more he realized their "accidents" weren't accidents at all. They played multiple games, and in each one, he was pushed to the ground or slammed into a tree. He had cuts on his arms and legs that made his skin feel like it was constantly on fire, and the black-and-purple bruises ached so badly he didn't even want to move. He begged to go home, but his pleas were ignored. As the sun began to set, the older kids decided it was the perfect time to sneak into the nearby forest. He was hesitant. Ever since he was old enough to walk and talk, his mom had told him never to enter the forest. She said it was home to feyfolk magical beings who were extremely dangerous but she never explained how or why. Elias was rightfully scared, but the older kids laughed it off. They said feyfolk didn't exist and that his mom had made up a fake story to keep him from running off. Reluctantly, he followed them into the forest. It was filled with oak, pine, and birch trees, all so tall they blocked out most of the sunlight. The deeper they went, the darker and eerier it became. Eventually, they reached a small clearing and decided to play truth or dare. Zarah picked truth. Tori picked truth. That left Elias with dare. His challenge: go deeper into the forest where the feyfolk were said to live and stay there for five minutes. He was clearly terrified. Seeing this, Zarah offered to walk him farther into the forest. After a while, they came to another clearing, and she left him there. He sat with his back against a tree, wishing time would move faster. He didn't even realize he had no way of knowing how long five minutes was, the trees were too thick to see the sun. Suddenly, a small green light started flying in circles around him, then darted off. Elias stood up, ready to run for his life but before he could move, the green light slammed him back down. Pain shot through his body as he heard a soft giggle. Gritting his teeth, he asked if the creature was a sprite, a pixie, or a fairy. The green light moved rapidly when he said "fairy." Then, without warning, the fairy zipped away, vanishing into the trees. Elias scrambled to his feet and bolted. Every step felt like his body might collapse, but he made it back. The other kids weren't impressed. He'd only lasted about a minute. But when he told them he saw a fairy, their faces changed. They didn't mock him. Instead, they turned and left the forest in a hurry. Elias ran straight home to his mom. Their house was very small. On one wall was a furnace and counter for making food. The center of the room had a table with 2 chairs with broken legs, not too far from the table was a fireplace that was their only source of heat. On the back wall were their beds. The mattresses were made of feathers and different animal hides and they were held up by wooden logs. Mira was more than shocked seeing Elias covered in cuts and bruises. She made him sit at their dining room table before she pulled out some ointment she had purchased from a traveling doctor. Mira rubbed the ointment on him and she just hoped it worked. The ointment didn't sting or burn like regular ointment or rubbing alcohol, instead it had a cooling sensation. Once Elias had the ointment over his cuts and bruises, Mira told him that they were out of money and she would be going to a nearby village for work in the morning and to go to their neighbor, Harlin, for anything. After getting the ointment over his cuts and bruises, Elias and his mom eat dinner before they get in bed to sleep. The fireplace was lit, but the house was still cold. The wood inside of the fireplace was small and didn't burn long, so just like his mom had already been used to doing, he tried to go to sleep as fast as possible. Elias woke up to the morning sun beaming through the window and onto his face. He stretched and noticed his mom had already left. He rubbed his eyes before noticing some toast and a small bowl of grits. The toast had gone hard from sitting out, and the grits were cold. He didn't care. Some days there was no breakfast at all, but it made him wonder if his mom had eaten. After eating, he sat in silence, unsure of what to do. After debating for a while, he went outside. The wind was stronger than the day before, but it still wasn't cold. The clouds above had thickened, shifting from soft white to an ominous gray. In the distance, Elias saw Harlin working in the fields. He walked over and asked about feyfolk and what made them dangerous. Harlin leaned on his hoe, his expression darkening. He told the boy that he once had a brother, Davin, who befriended a pixie. At first, the friendship seemed harmless, playful even. But over time, they realized the pixie wasn't emotionally mature. None of the fey were. The trouble began when Davin stopped visiting the pixie, choosing instead to spend more time with his wife and children. The pixie grew jealous. That jealousy turned into resentment and that resentment into rage. One night, the pixie killed Davin and his entire family before turning its wrath inward and ending its own life. Harlin looked Elias in the eye. Harlin's calm demeanor changed to be far more serious. "If you ever come across a feyfolk that's gotten attached to you," he said, "don't talk to it. Don't wait. Kill it. Squish it in your hand." Elias nodded, the warning echoing in his mind. Later that day, Elias returned to the forest and went to the same place where the fairy had appeared before. He waited for hours. At last, the fairy returned floating gently through the air. It circled around him a few times before disappearing into the brush. A short while later, it returned, dragging a large leaf behind it. On the leaf sat an assortment of berries, some dark, some pale, some shiny and fat with juice. He hesitated. The warning from his neighbor rang in his head. But he was hungry. He picked a berry and tasted it. Some were sweet, others bitter, but all were fresh and edible. Elias ate until the leaf was nearly bare. Then he looked down at the fairy. It hovered in front of him before slowly landing in the center of his open palm. He stared at it. The fairy blinked, wings softly fluttering. For a moment, he hesitated. Giving just enough time for thunder to strike. Elias jumped backwards at the sound and so did the fairy. It flew at him fast. He held out his hands in a desperate attempt to defend himself but the fairy was on his chest. Elias sat there, frozen in fear not knowing what was or will going to happen next, but as he calmed down he could feel the fairy gripping down on his shirt. The fairy wasn't trying to kill him. It was a hug. The hug you give someone you care about when you're scared, so he hugged the fairy back and started to think maybe not all feyfolk are as bad as everyone makes them out to be. Elias sat with the fairy for a while expecting rain but it never came. Just the sound of lightning and thunder in the distance mixed with the smell of rain that continued to make him think it was coming. But it didn't. The fairy saw this as an opportunity to play with Elias and although he was hesitant he did play. They played games like tag, hide and seek, and whatever else they could think of before the fairy left. Elias didn't know where the fey had gone but it never came back so he left the forest. Thunder rumbled in the sky above as he left, and he heard the heavy sound of rainfall. But when he looked around, the forest was dry. Only once he stepped past the trees did the rain hit him all at once, thick, heavy sheets of it. Elias ran through the storm, soaked by the time he got home. Water dripped from his hair, his sleeves, even his socks. He stripped off his wet shirt and pants and set them near the fire to dry. Then he wrapped himself in a blanket and sat down close to the fireplace, shivering quietly in his underwear while thinking That was the first time I played with someone and didn't get hurt, he thought to himself. Everyday for a year, Elias went to the forest and played with the fairy. No matter if it rained or snowed. Or if it was cloudy or sunny, they were always together until Elias had to work the fields. He was now 15 and his days were starting to be filled with long and grueling work hours. It always felt like the sun was constantly beaming down on him, no matter the time of year. One day in particular, he was sitting underneath a tree and drinking water he got from a nearby creek. It was the middle of summer. The sun was beaming down on the world, making it so hot that if you spilled water on a rock it would turn to steam faster than a pot over fire. Zarah came up to him and sat next to him exhausted. She pulled out a piece of bread and broke it in half and gave one of the halves to Elias. Elias asked, "Why are you giving me bread?" "It just turned noon," Zarah explained, "You still have to work the whole day." Elias reluctantly started eating the bread. He slowly chewed waiting for whatever joke she had planned but she just sat there looking forward, eating her bread that tasted like regular bread. They sat together in silence. Elias didn't know what to say to Zarah because since they were kids she had bullied and picked on him making this the first time she had ever done something nice. "Do you do anything in the village?" Elias asked, "I mean…" "I know what you mean." Zarah quickly said cutting Elias. "I'm a teacher. I'm not going to spend my day working in fields or dealing with animal shit." "So you'd rather deal with baby shit?" Zarah punched Elias in his arm. "Shut up!" She said, "It's different." Elias rubbed his arm. It didn't hurt or sting but the punch was hard enough for him to feel it. Eventually the two parted ways to continue their work but Zarah was left in Elias's mind for the rest of the day. When he got home his mom was over their furnace cooking some kind of bird and peanut butter bread. She had been working non stop for weeks just to do something nice for Elias and now she was working even harder to make food. Elias tried to give his mom a break by taking over, but fumbled so bad she joined him. They ended up cooking together. That night Elias snuck out and went into the forest where he met with the same fairy he had met so long ago, who he had named Azelle. The night was warm enough for him not to need a fire but the forest was so densely packed almost no light was inside, so he made a small fire. While he made the fire Azelle brought nuts and berries she had found for Elias to eat while he talked. He talked about his day and the conversations he had and she just listened. She could talk but she was so small no one could hear or understand her, so just like Elias, she wished and prayed to the Gods to be the size of a human. Three years passed. Elias was now 18, his days fully consumed by field work, but he never stopped visiting Azelle. When Elias left the forest that night Azelle immediately started praying to be bigger when she was visited by a Demon. It had red skin, horns that curled, and a tail. Azelle was so terrified she couldn't move as the Demon got closer and loomed over her like a predator over its prey. Azelle swallowed the spit in her throat, "What do you want from me?" she asked. The Demon smiled, "I'm here to grant your wish. You want to be bigger don't you?" Azelle said, "Yes, I do." The Demon said, "I'll make you bigger under one condition. If Elias doesn't love you like you love him you have to spread the love you have to others." Azelle thought for a while but she decided to take the deal. The next day when she woke up she was bigger. So much bigger that she spent the whole day learning how to walk and fly all over again. At night she flew to the village. She did her best to stay hidden until she found the house Elias lived in. She looked through a window and saw him cooking food with a woman which made her jealous but what made her furious was when he told the woman "I love you." In that moment Azelle's eyes went from green to the red rage she felt in her heart. "Why did he tell her he loved her?!" she thought, "After everything I've done to hear him say those words? He betrayed me like this?" "Byōki ni natte shinubekida." She said that so fast she didn't realize until the woman started coughing. She told the woman to get sick and die and it happened. The singular cough quickly turned into multiple coughs until she collapsed. Elias caught her before she hit the ground and immediately started getting ready to leave and see a doctor, but by the time he put his shoes on she had already died. Elias sat next to her, crying until he had passed out next to her. The next day, when people found out, a funeral was held for her. Mira had touched the hearts of so many from her raw and unfiltered kindness, forcing a bond with many so strong her death left them inconsolable. That night when Elias got home it finally set in he was alone. His mother was dead and he had never even seen a picture of his father. He was alone. Elias needed someone to talk to so he went to the forest and waited for Azelle when a woman appeared. She had silky smooth hair, green eyes, green wings, and beautiful skin. The woman ran to him and hugged him and they both fell to the ground. "Who are you?" Elias asked. The woman pulled away, a little shocked. "It's me, Azelle. I got bigger!" Elias was shocked. Not only did Azelle get bigger but she was gorgeous. Maybe the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. They locked eyes when Azelle's eyes turned from green to pink then slowly turned magenta and Elias's did the same. Next thing either of them knew their faces were together. After each kiss Elias felt his mind being filled with nothing but Azelle. "I have to be close to her. I have to touch her. I have to kiss her." Filled with nothing but love and lust, Elias pulled her close and the forest swallowed them whole. When they were done Azelle admitted that she had seen the funeral and wondered who the woman was. Elias explained it was his mother who had died making Azelle feel horrible. She admitted she was responsible for her death and apologized. In that moment Elias felt pure rage and anger towards Azelle that was so strong all he wanted to do was kill her. "Azelle, can you close your eyes for a second?" he asked, "I have a surprise for you." Azelle covered her eyes with her hands. She sat there smiling, fully trusting Elias while he was plotting something. Elias grabbed a fallen tree branch and hit her in the back of the head. She fell to the ground, her head was bleeding, but she wasn't dead. Elias kept swinging the tree branch over and over again until the branch that had snapped in half was now covered in blood. The months that followed were Elias forcing himself deeper and deeper into work. He tried to forget about Azelle but he was constantly haunted by her face and when it was quiet he could hear her giggling in the wind. Eventually people started to notice how paranoid he was and people started to distance themselves except for Zarah. Where people saw a man losing his mind and couldn't be saved she saw someone who just needed someone to talk to, so one day she went to talk to him. She learned exactly who Azelle was from Elias and everything she had done since they first met. This made Zarah feel guilty. It was her fault Mira had died and he had gone crazy, so she took it upon herself to take care of Elias until he could take care of himself. Eventually those visits led to a friendship, that friendship led to a relationship filled with hugs and kisses. After many years of love the two married and had a child of their own. Elias is now 21, Zarah is 22, and their daughter, who they named Mira, is 1 year old. The old house Elias lived in with his mother had been upgraded. He spent years making the house nice and comfortable for his family. One day when he woke up he noticed his wife wasn't in bed and his daughter was also gone. He went outside thinking they were probably out getting fresh air but they weren't there. In fact no one was outside. The whole village was empty. He then heard a giggle. He turned to see who it was but before he could think of what to do he was tackled to the ground and onto his back. His arms and legs were pinned down and when he looked up he saw Azelle looking down at him with a calm, unreadable face. The once stunning fairy now had dirt covering her face and her hair was rough with leaves and sticks inside. She looked and smelled like a wild animal. Elias tried to get up but she was so much stronger than him. "You had a family." Azelle whispered, as if she was struggling to fully comprehend what she had just said. "Why did you do that? I thought you loved me." "Get off of me!" Elias tried to move his arms but she wouldn't budge. "Tell me how you feel about me." she said calmly, "Tell me how much you love me so we can finally be together… forever." Elias was shocked. He sat there for a moment waiting for her to laugh it off like a joke or for him to wake up from this nightmare, but it didn't happen. "I hate you." He said before screaming, "You killed my mother, forced me to have sex with you, then killed my family and friends! I should've killed you when Harlin told me to." Azelle started to cry, "I'm sorry you feel that." she said calmly before leaning forward and biting deep into his neck. She continued to bite into his flesh and spit it out over and over again until he was dead and she was covered in blood. She then felt someone watching her and saw the Demon she had made a deal with so long ago. She looked up into the sky, the sun beaming down on her as she remembered the deal she made so long ago before standing. She started walking in a random direction planning to spread the lust she felt for Elias to whoever she could find.
By Ervin Street (Ej)5 months ago in Fiction
No Good Deed
Oscar Love lived in the Greenwood Apartments for most of his adult life. It wasn’t the best, but it was a roof over his head. He was able to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. What more could a man ask for. He spent several years sleeping on cots in homeless shelters when he could, but often, he slept on the ground. As bad as Greenwood was, it was a step up.
By David E. Perry5 months ago in Fiction
Hide and Seek. Top Story - May 2026.
Aryn arrived on time to her babysitting appointment at the Charles house. The day had been exceedingly average until this point. The weather had been nice, a clear, warm day. School had been unremarkable, which suited Aryn fine. Predictable monotony was always preferable to locker room teasing or finding maxi-pads stuck to her desk. She expected the evening to be uneventful, too. While 6-year-olds are full of energy and sometimes surprises, Willow was an only child. Sitting for one kid generally meant a controlled kind of chaos.
By Rebekah Conard5 months ago in Fiction
The Haunting Cypress:
The bell rings shrilly and loudly through the halls of Idyllwild High signaling our release from this teenage-rage-fueled asylum. I weave my way around idiots shoving each other into lockers and just barely dodge the hooting-and-hollering football players pummeling through the halls. I open my locker, and a pile of muck covered leaves spills out of my locker and onto my boots. Roars of laughter echo all around me and a squirrely, high-pitched voice cuts through the noise from right behind me.
By Tattoos & Tarot5 months ago in Fiction
Dead End Hiking. Top Story - April 2026.
I told him I wasn’t in the mood. No, not that, you dirty-minded imbecile—just not in the mood for hiking. It had rained, so the trails would be muddy, with thunderstorms looming. I was tired from a busy work week and had not slept well. He insisted, badgering me, challenging me to a duel on the mountain, and, fool for him that I am, I finally agreed after hours of cajoling.
By Andrea Corwin 5 months ago in Fiction
Choosing A Dream. Winner in The Unhappy Ending Challenge. Content Warning.
"You. Fucking. Useless. Ungrateful. BRAT!" A shower of spit and vodka landed on Dave's face. "All you want is my money, just like your garbage father!" She took it all out on Dave's arm, twisting it like the key of a wind-up toy. Tighter and tighter with every word.
By Sasha Desideri5 months ago in Fiction
Defying Freedom. Content Warning.
Rye had always been aware that her burden was much heavier than others'. That had been clear from the lifelong training she had endured under countless teachers, whom her parents had sent her to as soon as they could. These teachers taught her how to fight, how to pickpocket, how to blend in and be invisible. Yet, even though Rye despised the attention without the need to hide, she always managed to find herself at the center of attention, inducing drama. Whether it be her saving a girl from some old creep who had been following her, or battling a group of trouble-making fools choosing to cause a fuss in the market space. Rye knew she had been practically raised to be heartless and cold, but she couldn’t help but yearn to protect those who had no idea of the atrocities that hid just under their noses.
By Monica Carneiro5 months ago in Fiction
