Young Adult
The Leprechaun in the Basement
The scratching started three nights before St. Patrick’s Day. At first, the homeowner assumed it was mice. The house was old, built sometime in the 1940s, with narrow crawlspaces beneath the living room floor. Small animals getting in wasn’t unusual. The sound came in short bursts—scratching, dragging, then silence.
By V-Ink Stories5 months ago in Fiction
The Portrait of Matteo. Top Story - April 2026.
Seventeen-year-old Manny got off a public bus at a busy intersection in downtown Philadelphia. When the bus released its brakes and passed his narrow view, he checked whether the art museum across the street was still there. He had been visiting it every day that week but wondered for a second the veracity of its presence. Now, the spring sun betrayed its gray highlights, giving it a warm glow.
By Paul Aaron Domenick6 months ago in Fiction
An Apple Orchard's Gems
The summer was hot, and every day the sun blazed. Some evenings it cooled by 15 degrees, which gave a bit of relief. Then there were the ongoing roasting weeks of no rain, no shade, no clouds. Even the insects were quiet and grounded, no buzzing. The birds hid in the scattered trees' leaves or flew off to the forests. Everything slowed down to survive the unusual heat in a climate usually comfortable.
By Andrea Corwin 6 months ago in Fiction
AI Interrupted
Kristin loves AI. Ever since AI became a thing, she has been on the phone or using it on her laptop, uploading photos and stories to her social media. It’s like it was made for her. It’s brilliant and perfect in her eyes. She can escape the daily grind of high school and other trivial matters thanks to AI. She spends her days creating things like an image of a goat eating at a diner with a monkey as a waiter. She proudly shows it to all her friends. Her friends seem to love the wild ideas she comes up with. They even insert their own ideas at times. Anytime there’s a new assignment due, she is thrilled because it’s an excuse to improve her AI technique.
By Meredith McLarty6 months ago in Fiction
taking the train to the sea
Stranger Danger The clanking steel wheels crash against the hot, expanding metal of the rail track as puffs of steam engulf the station. The clouds in the sky swirl like blobs of paint mixed in water; the faint sprinkles erupt as if struck by a paintbrush. These scattered showers dance across the sky as they splatter against basalt roof tiles and voluminous oaks. People dressed in heavy jackets depart from the train car, stepping past me, past the concrete squares that litter the ground. Like salmon, they push on unimpeded, past everyone around them on their way to work.
By Thomas Bryant6 months ago in Fiction
