Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Humans.
Everything and Nothing at All
Her knuckles rap quickly on the rough, wooden door before she loses the nerve. She turns away, chewing the inside of her lip and crunching the fallen leaves underfoot. Seven beats of her heart pass before the latch draws back within the mechanism. She misses a beat, a terrible fluttering in her stomach, but turns back in time to see a piercing, dark eye glowering at her from a crack in the door.
Cheyenne GoetzPublished 3 years ago in HumansLet Me Speak
From age five until I was roughly ten years old I lost my voice completely. Literally, no sound. Something inside me told me not to because speaking words meant I would protest, and that would have meant dangerous, dark consequences adding to an already tenebrous existence. Not only were my foster family abusive, they were also deeply religious; the type believing in the wrath of god and Armageddon. Because we were all allegedly living in ‘the end of days’, education was only tolerated up to what was required by law, but no further. I’m not sure why, but perhaps I stopped speaking to escape the spartan brutality selectively meted out to me. School was a refuge, but general overwhelm rendered me unable to articulate words with my own sounds. Instead, I listened, I read, and I wrote things down. Despite the countless books I voraciously devoured, I’d become accustomed to my aphasia, so I reposed within the solace of words and stories whilst my voice, literally and figuratively, continued to elude me.
Karen GarrattPublished 3 years ago in HumansThe Void
I’m falling, and it feels like there is nothing that will ever be able to stop me. In this darkness I’m thrusting out my limbs, but I can’t feel anything to touch or find something solid to stand on. All around me is impenetrable, unsettling darkness. Do my instincts keep searching for safety to stop me from going mad?
Craig MoranPublished 3 years ago in HumansRomantic Lifestyle
“He was alone. His girlfriend left him and his friend abandoned him. There was nothing. Just an empty space and tones of alcohol that he could drink in the pub.” I finished reading.
Paweł KuziemskiPublished 3 years ago in HumansSAMUEL
No words, just the relentless city and the vapour of breath. He led me, in slow motion, just like he blinked and spoke. With a fat plastic bag in one hand and rucksack on his bent back, he walked round the corner into the condemned shopping mall. He wouldn’t let me carry. His head panned calmly left and right, absorbing; blue-eyes circled by cropped grey hair and stubble; his acute consciousness palpable, because of what I knew.
Martin KirbyPublished 3 years ago in HumansUnprincipled Error
“The total amount, A, equals the principal, P, multiplied by the summation of one plus… where n is the number of times interest is compounded…” I feigned Herculean effort and grunted like I had just successfully squatted mom’s minivan. Mr. Purdue’s Advanced Algebra was my final labor. Pass the exam, and summer was mine.
Nom de GuerrePublished 3 years ago in HumansShort-changed
“C’mon, Billy!” He snapped his gaze up from the palms of his hands. His heart leapt into his throat, his stomach sank. Billy’s body was already riding the roller coasters right beyond the amusement park’s turnstiles. Two sets of anxious, questing eyes savaged Billy to the brink of tears.
Nom de GuerrePublished 3 years ago in HumansThe Gratitude Journal
When my sister told me I should start a gratitude journal, I rolled my eyes. Really? After the year I’ve had? What could I possibly have to be grateful for? I lost my aunt, best friend and entire business to Covid. The idea of “giving thanks” seemed completely paradoxical. But she insisted. I didn’t even know where to get one.
Christina WalkinshawPublished 3 years ago in HumansPaper Wishes
Kaylee paused from her brisk lap around the park, trying to catch her breath and idly watching passersby; a couple across the way, a family with their dog, and the small woman just now careening off the bench. Starting as though she could catch the woman, Kaylee relaxed as it became clear that she was in fact, stable on her feet. Stooping to collect another leaf Kaylee looked back at the bench where the woman had been sitting; there, left neatly behind her was a notebook. Rushing over to grab it, she desperately tried to catch the lady’s attention.
The Weight
My father was a bitter man. He was convinced the world was desperate to deceive and deprive him of all he was owed. Every neighbor with a nicer house or more expensive car was laughing at him. Every day spent at work was one stolen from his life. Every meal my mother made for him was just ash in his mouth. I remember once he likened his dinner to soil and accused her of trying to bury him in an early grave.
Wren ChambersPublished 3 years ago in HumansUntil the End
The breeze blew through my hair. A soft, gentle breeze, like that of one coming off the lake amid spring. I lay there under a tall oak staring at its immense beauty as if seeing it for the first, drowning out the noise around me. The buds have begun to blossom, giving color to its desolate bleak branches. It brought life to the tree, I thought.
Daniel MurrayPublished 3 years ago in HumansLittle Stars, and Dancing Spheres
The stars never cease to fascinate, as they have done the many tens of thousands of generations our species of modern humans walked the earth.
M. K. DockeryPublished 3 years ago in Humans