Noir - page 1 - all works - Short Édition

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery 4 min Mature Audience

Cave Party

The Cheese Grater scrapes my bare arms and legs. I squeeze through the limestone crevice and my skin goose pimples. Sucking in a breath, I exhale steam. It's a muggy, hot September, but the caves are ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery 5 min Mature Audience

Old Age Blues

Joe Giordano

It was Yolkov who bought Hanna's ticket on the overnight flight from Warsaw to JFK. Hair streaked with gray, she wore the blue dress purchased on sale for eighteen dollars. "Better to fly later and ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Love & Loss Sorrow Suspense & Mystery 5 min Mature Audience

What Happened That Night

P.A. Cornell

Josh is gone, but I see him everywhere. Even now, it's his reflection I see in the puddle as the storm brings me back to reality. I shiver. Seems I'm always cold these days. I need to get my shit ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery 3 min

Night of the Strawman

Edward Yatscoff

I had to have it. It waited for me in the night as I summoned courage. Soon, it would be my trophy. The scarecrow stood, a stark silhouette against the light from a rear window, guarding ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery 3 min

The Brick House

Joseph Testa

Every time I walked by the house it haunted me. The run-down brick house at the top of a hill, window frames rotting, trim crusted with flaked paint. It showed no evidence of life, no evidence of ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery Slice of Life 5 min

Ghost Stories and Walls

Katie Priscott

Erin Beckett wasn't scared of most things. She loved roller coasters, and she was the designated bug killer at home—even with three older brothers. When the offense of the other team came speeding ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Quirky Suspense & Mystery 2 min Mature Audience

Ghost Writers

Martha Witt

There's a relief that comes with revealing things down to their minutiae; small gasps of relief make space in the bedroom for the proverbial elephant. I do have a good husband. He's the kind that does ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Portrait Suspense & Mystery 1 min

The Sweet Striper

Rolli .

The children don't understand.

The sweets they pine for are not squeezed from the machine with stripes intact. No—they must be painted on, by hand, with so much care. It is almost unimaginable, the ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Humor Suspense & Mystery 5 min

Chifir

Jesse Richmond

A hand emerged from the darkness and placed a steaming mug—Greg's favorite mug—on the table.
"Drink."
"What is this?" Greg demanded, starting to rise from his chair. "You can't—"
He'd barely moved ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery Quirky 1 min Mature Audience

Only the Worms Know

Avra Margariti

Every morning when I wake up, I lean out my window to say hello to Mom. She doesn't reply, but that's okay. She never was a good listener, even before she was buried in our backyard.

My brothe ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Sorrow Suspense & Mystery 1 min Mature Audience

For Seven Years

Thomas Elson

Each morning his face flushed as he remembered the boy's words, "I want that shovel. It's just like yours." And each morning he fell to his knees, extended his arms, then plunged his hands into the ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Slice of Life Suspense & Mystery 4 min Mature Audience

Echoes

Floris M. Kleijne

"You didn't invite them in, did you, Sheila?"
Grandfather Jessup clasped my biceps in his feeble grip and searched my face, worry akin to fear darkening his eyes. I patted his liver-stained hand and ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Slice of Life Suspense & Mystery 1 min Mature Audience

Summer of 1985

Thea Pueschel

The cool breeze drifts in from the Pacific Ocean through the banana plant leaves. Shadows dance across the pastel pallet of the bedspread; the charcoal nude woman looks over her shoulder. Jesus ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery Portrait 5 min Mature Audience

Tomorrow

Joshua Shepherd

"Want a ride down?" Jorge asked.
"I'm gonna walk, get some air."
"How do you think Eddie's gonna act?" Jorge asked.
"Won't be here to see."
"Don't you think it could be a bit..."
"Jorge ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery Portrait 4 min Mature Audience

Butterflies

J.T. Hamilton

Seven-year-old Isabella Thompson pressed her hands into the cool, moist dirt of her grandfather's garden. She peeled away the surface like an old scab. Beneath, a reddish-brown earthworm squirmed – ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Sci-Fi & Fantasy Suspense & Mystery 3 min

Bespoke

Shawn Bailey

In the movies, it's always an invasion. Us against them. And they've got tech that far surpasses ours. We fight in the streets and a ragtag group finds a weak spot that the advanced beings have ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery Sci-Fi & Fantasy 5 min

Castrapitheca - City of the Ape

Peter Hankins

To call this elegant metropolis "The City of the Ape" does it a considerable disservice, but it is impossible to avoid. Every time we speak of something being as old as the Ape, we reaffirm the ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery Historical 5 min Mature Audience

The Trees Have Eyes

Lee Schwartz

He wakes with a veil of fading orange sunset falling over his face. Slowly, he raises a hand, twisting it through the shards of light. There are no callouses. No dry cracks of peeling skin. It is ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery 3 min Mature Audience

The Waiting

Kilmeny MacMichael

Near Paulo's home, in the rich deep earth, dark eggs lay. They waited for decades, to be brought to hatch. When they hatched, they hatched death, or dismemberment, bursting forth with all the energy ... [+]

Short Fiction

Noir Suspense & Mystery 5 min

The Tiger Talk

Stephen Hundley

Royals Primary has the second grade corralled into the gym.
"What you want to do," I tell the kids, "is draw a mask that looks a lot like your face. As close as you can get it, except we're going ... [+]

A New Kind of Literary Pulse

A New Kind of Literary Pulse

Cave Party

Old Age Blues

What Happened That Night

Night of the Strawman

The Brick House

Ghost Stories and Walls

Ghost Writers

The Sweet Striper

Chifir

Only the Worms Know

For Seven Years

Echoes

Summer of 1985

Tomorrow

Butterflies

Bespoke

Castrapitheca - City of the Ape

The Trees Have Eyes

The Waiting

The Tiger Talk