Short Fictions - Short Édition - page 3 - all works

Short Fiction

5 min

The Lakes and the Falls

Paul waits for Blake Biegler in the dusty field behind the school. Biegler is ten minutes late. He pokes his fingers through the chainlink, staring beyond the suicide barriers toward Golden Lakes. The ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

Parker's Dam

Sandy Kline

"For even saintly folk will act like sinners / unless they have their customary dinners." Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera
We decide to celebrate the Fourth of July at Parker's Dam. There's ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

A Beautiful Dream

William Susanto

The house was dark. The air was cool. The air conditioner hummed in a soft timbre. The only source of light was the blue moon, illuminating through the window and onto my face. I couldn't help but ... [+]

Short Fiction

Death of a Star

Ningjing Wu

The last apparition of Halley's Comet was in 1986, approaching Earth as close as 0.4 astronomical units. Halley takes a long journey to visit us. The comet follows an elliptical orbit that reaches ... [+]

Short Fiction

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

Magical Realism 4 min

Whining and Dining: Wonder? Full!

Christopher Blake

Not long ago, I spent a week reviewing the city's finest steak-houses, one medium-rare, truffle-crusted-wagyu after another. The week before was seafood week. More lobster bibs, crustacean claws ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min Mature Audience

How to Break a Superhero's Spirit

Wen Wen Yang

Melanie waved at the reporter when he stepped into the coffee shop. Sipping her jasmine tea, she took in his lean frame. He looked so much younger, unmasked.
"Thank you again for speaking with ... [+]

Short Fiction

Humor Joy Modern Love 4 min

Route 13

Masti R Avadhani

On his first day at the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation, twenty-five year old Masti Govind Swamy, named after the village of Masti, where his father, not he, was born, found to his ... [+]

Short Fiction

3 min Mature Audience

The Jobber

Arvee Fantilagan

Chuck always ends up waxing poetic around his trainees.
About how professional wrestling is a dance—a violent choreography of chokeholds and suplexes, timed to the tune of their bookers' ... [+]

Short Fiction

Magical Realism 3 min

Raindrops

Sylvia Heike

A door slam later, Hannah stood in the rain, her back to Isabel's house.
The rain felt heavier than it was, large plump droplets bouncing off the ground. They cooled her hot cheeks and dappled he ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life 4 min

Pinhole

Theodore Hill

Hattie didn't mind the children. They were about the only people on earth she didn't mind. She heard the parents telling them to leave her alone, but her seemingly bottomless tin of cookies, which ... [+]

Short Fiction

Absurd Humor 4 min

My Dead-End Job

Andrea Goyan

My life changed the day Cleopatra corporealized in the outdoor food court during our lunch rush. Corporealized. Bet you're surprised I know such a big word, but I do love me a good ghost story. Love ... [+]

Short Fiction

Love & Loss Quirky 2 min Mature Audience

The Cancelled Holiday and Other Secrets

Eszter Molnar

Your baby is due in two weeks. Naturally, I'm over the moon about this, but I'm also feeling a bit sentimental . . . hence this letter.
So here I am at the kitchen table, thinking about you and ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Slice of Life 3 min

Petrichor

Eszter Molnar

My shift is over. And not a minute too soon. I'm on the verge of tears. I'll have to be back in less than seven hours. My armpits are clammy, I'm feeling uncomfortable, and I just want to go home and ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sci-Fi & Fantasy 3 min

The Color Out of License

Rodrigo Culagovski

I placed the shiny red shape in the exact center of the table.
Martín looked at it dubiously. "That's the strangest cherry I've ever seen. Whoever made it needs to get their printer calibrated ... [+]

Short Fiction

Slice of Life 2 min

Stick Better

Taffeta Chime

I watched as one wave of people flowed off the train and another wave flowed on—just like the waves at the beach pushing and pulling on my toes. I wagged my feet as I remembered the sensation. I ... [+]

Short Fiction

Absurd Humor 5 min Mature Audience

80-Year-Old Hero

Elanor Lin

It was a muggy morning at Cozy Cottage Nursing Home, and the arthritis was bothering me pretty bad. Hurt to move. Hurt to type. Still does, matter of fact. That's why, when they asked me for an ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Love & Loss 4 min Mature Audience

Last Breath

L N Hunter

They always say the final sense to go is hearing, but touch lasts right 'til the end. Not over the whole body, though; I can't feel Dot's hand in mine, but this fucking diaper itches like blazes. I ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Love & Loss 1 min

Good Bones

Corrie Haldane

The realtor moves from room to room in silence. Charlotte and I follow, anxiously awaiting his verdict.
Through the kitchen, the living room, the study. Upstairs, in and out of bedrooms. He ... [+]

Short Fiction

Humor 3 min

Uncle Fred Explains the Great Church Flood of '85

Linda M. Bayley

The way Little Miss Perfect tells it, you'd think I was head of a gang of street thugs when I was a kid. We weren't thugs, we were twelve. All we wanted was some prize money, or at least a bit of ... [+]