Top Stories
New stories you'll love, handpicked for you by our team and updated daily.
The Missing Story. Top Story - October 2024.
Rainy A pleasant aroma wafted around Rainy, cocooning her in a cloud of fresh tropical breeze. She’d never smelled anything so wonderful before. As a microfiction about Alaska, she usually felt so cold inside but she could feel a warmth spreading through her core to her limbs.
By D.K. Shepard2 years ago in Fiction
The Room. Top Story - October 2024.
There was only one rule: don’t open the door. A rule that was placed on a sticker next to it. My heart skipped as I tried to figure out how I got there. And how I was going to get out of this room. All that was in it was me. A small twin sized mattress that was laying on the floor. A dresser that had none of its drawers on it.
By Raphael Fontenelle2 years ago in Horror
A Doctor Drew an Eyeball on My Arm. Top Story - October 2024.
Everything happens at once, right? But everything also happens for a Reason, right? _____ *** Part I ***________ After not having any epileptic seizures for months, I had several Sunday-Monday, 10/5 & 10/6/2024. 😥 I loathe having my brain rebooted. It's awful. Until this week, I had thought I finally had these attacks under control, using my latest prescribed combination of meds. I had just recently published a poem about it here on Vocal—> ⚡ Brain Bursts ⚡
By Lightning Bolt ⚡2 years ago in Psyche
The Locked Door. Top Story - October 2024.
There was only one rule: don’t open the door. The rule dated back generations, to when the only actual buildings in the area were lean-to shacks, and the door was the most solid thing around. The buildings were stronger, now; stone and steel and concrete, but the old doors remained, ancient oak banded with iron.
By Natasja Rose2 years ago in Horror
The Rusted Door. Top Story - October 2024.
There was only one rule: don’t open the door. It's the same door that rusted shut ages ago. The one my mother doodled on when she was just a toddler. Five generations and the door remained closed to this day. I always wondered why the door was forbidden for almost two centuries. Even during our renovation years ago, that location was strictly off-limits to workers. What was behind that metal door shall always stay a mystery, but I desperately wanted to reveal it. It was my house now, and no one was around to hammer into me the importance of that only rule.
By Timberly Price2 years ago in Horror
Dear George. Top Story - October 2024.
Dear George, Crooks is helpin' me write this. 'Cause you kno' I ain't good with words. I been thinkin' a lot. I wanna say sorry I make things hard for you. I kno' I ain't too smart. You always gotta look out for me. Sometimes, I think you'd be better off without me causin' trouble.
By Paul Stewart2 years ago in Fiction
Family Remembrance . Top Story - October 2024.
Family Remembrance D. A. Ratliff I first saw her leaning against the rough brick wall about a block off Bourbon Street. She wasn't particularly beautiful, but the word lovely kept creeping into my mind. Thick black hair pulled off her face, curled tresses tied with a purple ribbon cascaded down her back. I assumed she was a street performer. Her purple and green striped dress and velvet shoes seemed in place in the French Quarter. I'd seen my fair share of burly guys in pink tutus and blue wigs wandering the streets. She was a pleasant diversion.
By D. A. Ratliff2 years ago in Fiction
Unreliable Challenge Winners
A little while ago, we gave you an update on our thoughts regarding the use of AI content when it came to entering challenges. Spoiler alert, we don’t approve. But when it comes to using the idea of AI to create a really original and thoughtful story for one of our challenges? Bingo, we’ve got a winner. Congratulations to Matthew Fromm for How May I Assist You Today? — a story which channels the essential unreliability of a chatbot and in doing so gets to a father’s lonely heart. And — as it happens, Matthew’s work as a Vocal creator has just been noted by Vocal Social Society! We’re delighted to note this conjunction, and you can read Heather Hubler’s excellent interview with him on Vocal.
By Vocal Curation Team2 years ago in Resources
