Short Fictions - Short Édition - page 1 - the current

Short Fiction

2 min

Money Machines

We were poor, but hopeful. Two students on scholarships without parental support, dreaming of bright futures. We had not known wealth as children, and our poverty did not oppress us. We married ou ... [+]

Short Fiction

Love & Loss Slice of Life 4 min Mature Audience

The Space Between

Nikki Blakely

Georgia lies in bed, eyes closed, curled into a ball, listening to the soft tick-tick-tick from the clock in the living room as it counts down the minutes until morning. The minutes tick into hours ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Love & Loss 2 min

Masks

Hugh J. O'Donnell

The day after the election, he carved a mask.
The day after that, he carved another.
It had never been more than a hobby; a craft passed down to him by his grandfather, who carved and painted all ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait 2 min Mature Audience

The Guerrillas' Rucksacks

Donna Lee Miele

Within a few weeks of her escape, the girl outgrew her only dress and had nothing to wear. Trying not to make a fuss, I gave her something of mine. She thanked me. She looked so ashamed. That she, a ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Nostalgia Magical Realism 4 min

The Story Tree

Rachel Dievendorf

When I was a kid, I was very nervous about what I would be when I grew up. It honestly consumed me. I was constantly trying new things so I could see what felt right. At seven years old, I begged my ... [+]

Short Fiction

Magical Realism Slice of Life 2 min

Tree Love

Kirti Bhadresa

Maria had never been in love. But when she first saw a tiny sprout push its way through the tile floor, she felt something tighten inside her belly. She sat in her father's wooden rocking chair, his ... [+]

Short Fiction

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

Magical Realism Portrait 5 min

Joey Button

Lauren Harkawik

Joey Button didn't know how long he'd been peddling his bike when he saw it, but whenever he'd recall the moment, he'd remember that his legs were tired, so it'd probably been a while. It didn't ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life 1 min

Swimming Home

Kenneth Margolin

Twenty years ago, I took my daughter, Sara, to the ocean for her fourth birthday. She just learned to dog paddle, and proudly walked up to anyone in sight, saying, "I can swim." The sea was calm, so I ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sci-Fi & Fantasy 3 min Mature Audience

Mirror, Mirror

AJ Rocca

There once was a glassblower who lived by the sea. In the daring years of his youth, the glassblower would pull all kinds of strange and wonderful shapes from out of colored glass. He blew neon spires ... [+]

Short Fiction

Young Adult Slice of Life 3 min

Them

Nathan Alling Long

They called her the girl with the big ears, though they didn't call her that to her face. That is, not to her ears. Not exactly. Not intentionally. They were sitting in the cafeteria—one line of buff ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life Portrait 3 min Mature Audience

Memory Sands

Sam Muller

I woke up from an untroubled sleep and remembered nothing.
***
Some days I envy Gregor Samsa. He woke up from a troubled sleep and found himself transformed into a giant ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Love & Loss 4 min Mature Audience

Knitting for Leo

Alex Grehy

My mother taught me to knit.

Back then, knitting was a necessity, not some artisan craft like it is today. She would get patterns from women's magazines and cheap wool from the market. She ... [+]

Short Fiction

Modern Love Slice of Life 3 min

Save the Date

Mehdi M. Kashani

They did it for the hell of it. They knew they wouldn't last. Their friends knew; their families knew; even their dog knew, though it wasn't invited to the wedding.
It was fun, especially when they ... [+]

Short Fiction

Quirky Absurd 2 min

Blue

Ben Black

In the office, she wrote everything on yellow paper: legals pads, while-you-were-outs, carbon copies, and sticky notes. Her eyes, so accustomed to the faded yellow of her workdays, had difficulty ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life 2 min

Half The Sweetness

Mir Yashar Seyedbagheri

My older sister Nancy and I walk down the street together. In our hands are plastic grocery bags that smell like shame and old onions. We are going trick-or-treating. I know we're getting too old fo ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Nostalgia 2 min Mature Audience

She Don't Fade

Die Booth

There's a ghost in my house. I hear her singing.
A little girl. Why is it always a little girl?
The light through the window is barely enough to see by, but the sky outside is very pale. Clouds ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life Love & Loss 1 min Mature Audience

Broken Nights, Shattered Glass

Bob Thurber

Straight out of high school Mick's uncle landed Mick and me second-shift jobs at a textile factory. I asked Mick what the company manufactured. Gigantic rolls of something, he said. From three until ... [+]

Short Fiction

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

Slice of Life 4 min Mature Audience

Absolution

Jeremy Glazer

It was real cold that night, not just Miami cold, and it was late. I'd had to wait until the girls were asleep to go out into the pre-Christmas lunacy of the mall because my wife and I were keeping ... [+]