Top Stories
New stories you'll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
Neurodivergent Dogpile . Top Story - April 2025.
My mind is in what seems like constant warfare. I’m autistic, with obsessive compulsive disorder diagnosed. Highly suspected ADHD, living on a sundae of anxiety, depression and trauma. There’s no sprinkles though, there’s not really any cherries either, just the stems from so many “and the cherry on top…” scenarios. The sundae of my mind has kind of melted into a goop soup of mental illness and disorder. I also had to spend most of my life not realizing what flavors were even in my sundae. For a long time I thought that it was only one flavor, the autism spectrum of rainbow sherbet.
By Josey Pickeringabout a year ago in Psyche
The Plank. Top Story - April 2025.
The Plank D. A. Ratliff A Detective Elijah Boone Mystery The resounding thud of the car door slamming in the dead of night satisfied him. He leaned against the front right fender, lit a cigarette, and waited. It was five minutes until midnight, and he was about to come into a lot of money. He blew out a smoke ring and watched it float toward the streetlight, which cast a brighter light than he liked for such meetings. He wasn’t too worried. Lakeshore Drive was so deserted at night that not even the cops drove through. The location offered what he needed—privacy.
By D. A. Ratliffabout a year ago in Fiction
Dark Roast. Top Story - April 2025.
For Belle's Challenge (Entry No. 2): Who the hell let him in here? I was not planning on having my breakfast interrupted by anyone I knew, much less him. But, here I was, right after my run – fourth for the week (okay, third) – sitting in a local café and seeing his face on the same set of seats I would use to finish up a large black coffee before heading home. It was not busy for a Sunday morning – the best time for a run – and I was happy to feel the caffeine and heat flowing through my chilled body. I also had a sandwich to go, but I would have finished it before I got home. That was the plan.
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in Fiction
I tried to be heartless, and here is what happened. Top Story - April 2025.
You know when the shit hits the celing and life is an absolute mess everywhere, yeah that is what I am talking about. My existence has had 22 years on this gorgeous - gorgeous mortal realm and in the recency of my being, my life has sucked a lot. I have had my share of darkness since forever, but of late, my desperation for light has been at its zenith. I have wanted my life to look like the glorious lives of Rory gilmore, an academic scholar, while being the perfect 4.0, a beautiful boyfriend( maybe not necessary), a great deal of money, a stellar institute I go to, a high qualified job in writing or journalism, and parents being super proud of me.
By Hridya Sharmaabout a year ago in Confessions
The Snow Weavers. Runner-Up in 500 Word Shockwave Challenge. Top Story - April 2025.
It was summer when the snow fell. I was only 8. I'd never seen snow before, except in videos and online. But from my bedroom window, I saw a white dusting. No, heavier than a dusting... A blanket, like linen laid across the yard and into the fields beyond the fence.
By Addison Alderabout a year ago in Fiction
The Deal. Top Story - April 2025.
Orange smoke filled the air, blocking the sirens flashing outside from being seen. Screams from blind mouths rang out against a chorus of shouts from police. Uniforms holding guns charged through the glass doors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and disappeared into the orange fog.
By The Invisible Writerabout a year ago in Fiction
Duty Above All Else. Top Story - April 2025.
As dawn broke in the eastern sky, the Army of the Soulless crested the hills surrounding the village of Tranquility. When they appeared, even the area’s most dominant predator, dire wolves, moved deeper into the surrounding forest. The Army of the Soulless had only one goal—defeat and destroy every living creature in their path. The Jikininki soldiers were driven ever forward by their rulers known as Beast Masters.
By Mark Gagnonabout a year ago in Fiction
Am I a Mother, or a Character in a Scream Movie?. Top Story - April 2025.
Ghostface: “What’s your favourite scary movie?” Me: “Scream (1996), of course!” That's right, Mr Ghostface, not only is the original Scream my favourite scary movie, it's my favourite movie and movie franchise of all time.
By Sandy Gillmanabout a year ago in Geeks
THE HAMMER N' CLUB. Top Story - April 2025.
This is the next chapter in The ShambElla Saga. Previous chapter: Table of Contents: ***** * ***** The companions were traversing an overpass when Sam first noticed the barnlike building with two words written in white shingles on the otherwise black roof.
By C. Rommial Butlerabout a year ago in Fiction
Becoming My Own Gravity. Runner-Up in The Metamorphosis of the Mind Challenge. Top Story - April 2025.
I was standing at the end of a hospital bed, holding my son’s hand as tightly as I could, hoping if I held his hand, it would help to anchor him as we witnessed the unthinkable. He was about to turn twenty-two; she had just turned twenty-one six weeks earlier. He was in shock, not knowing how to process what he was seeing. I didn't know how to process what we were seeing. Thirty-six hours earlier, he had kissed her as she and her mother got into a cab to go to the hospital. At the time I could feel him trembling inside as he stood there stoically. I could feel his world slipping away beneath his feet as much as my own. The doctors and nurses had just taken her off life support. Tubes removed, monitors silenced. It had only been twelve days since she first felt that earache. Twelve days from ordinary to catastrophic. The doctor called her time of death within two minutes. This was the pivotal moment—an abrupt halt to life as I knew it, a violent scratch across the record of my life that had been playing. It was the moment we felt the ground beneath our feet disappear.
By Xine Segalasabout a year ago in Psyche
The Bond. Top Story - April 2025.
She's crying. Again. Always weeping and wailing. It's annoying, really. And depressing. Honestly, I think she cries more than the baby, and he cries plenty. Sometimes it's both of them together. A lesser woman wouldn't be able to handle it, you mark my words. A weakling would have cracked and left by now. But I'm no weakling. He is just old enough to bawl properly, now. He's left that delicate and shivering lamb-like bleat in the dust, and he can work up to a really good shriek in nothing flat. Face red, tiny fists bunched tight, lungs really going for it. What a set of lungs my little lad has! Just like his father! People said my smoking was no good, but the boy could have rivalled Freddie Mercury if he weren't tone deaf. Of course, she, the wet rag that she is, she won't have me smoking anywhere near this baby. I'm practically banished from the property if I want a ciggy. Her Majesty has rules. She sniffs me when I come back in! If she smells any smoke on me, she hovers like one of them mozzies, and tries to stop me picking him up. "Third hand smoke" she calls it. Nonsense, of course. I stop myself from batting her away.
By L.C. Schäferabout a year ago in Fiction
Calling all Poets!. Top Story - April 2025.
******* CHALLENGE-CLOSED********* SEE BELOW FOR WINNERS Is it just me or has it been awhile since we have challenged ourselves to the language of poetry?! A haiku, acrostic, abecedarian etc?! I sure miss it. And I miss when Vocal would host different literary poetry challenges. So, I’m feeling spontaneous and hoping you are too! In honor of April dedicating a whole month to us fellow poets, I am hosting an unofficial poetry challenge.
By Natasha Collazoabout a year ago in Poets
