Stories - Long Story Short Award - 2025 - page 1 - all works

Short Fiction

5 min

By The Cathedral

It was a sticky, wet day when I fell in the mud. I was wearing a raincoat and boots, but I could feel the mud, sucking at my body through a layer of rubber, as if trying to pull me into the ground. I ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

Heroic Ambitions

Owam Ntlemeza

Chilling morning air greets the waking face of a boy as he sits up from the warm comfort of
his dreams. Dreams where soaring was nothing but ease, nothing but gliding along streams of
wind as he ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

The Fifth Street Bandit

Daniel Wheelock

When Josie Rivers told her husband Rob that she would leave him if he ever gambled again, she meant it. This was after the intervention, after Rob had surreptitiously drained their bank account ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

Through my window

Lehlogonolo TLadi

Being a woman in her thirties with nothing to spend her winter break aside from chores, really does get exhausting. Sometimes when the boredom gets the best of me, I look into Rosy's life. Rosy has ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

All In

J. Shakespeare English

His mother was his hero. Sometimes he hated her for that.
In the mirror, his father's face–high cheeks, raptor nose, hazel eyes–but the rhythm of his life's music was his mother's heartbeat. ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

Blue Harmonic

Puturen Sungti Amer

Someone once asked me what I'd show an alien if I ever met one.
I said I'd show them my harmonica and play some real good music.
Although, maybe they already have their own version of it.
I can't ... [+]

Short Fiction

3 min

The Seabird

Danielle Beks

The sea battered itself against the base of a tower, starved and hungry. The setting sun glittered on its back, burning orange streaking across the dark water. A lonely seabird wheeled through the ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

A story heard by the moon

Tatiana Mell

In the darkest hour of the night, when the silence was louder than every whisper, he was still there. At his desk, waiting for words to come out. Everyone asleep, only he was left. Searching ... [+]

Short Fiction

2 min

The Last Forgiveness

Daeven Thorne

They sat there in that dimly lit room, on the ratty quilt that covered the rickety wooden bed. The air was cold. A thin breeze slipped through the cracked window, carrying the sharp, salty breath of ... [+]

Short Fiction

1 min

Baby Steps

M K

The deadline is in a few hours. My heart has been racing every time I remember that I need to decide which draft to submit. I have pushed the responsibility of making the decision for a week, but I ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

The Bubble-Throwers

bonniejean alford

I had seen him before. I never expected anything to happen. We were from different crowds. We hung out with different people. Sure, I knew some of his friends, but not well enough to get close to ... [+]

Short Fiction

For Always and Forever

Briana Angulo

You never know when the last goodbye is. We think we have forever until suddenly we don't. We enter with purpose and leave with only memory. I wish I had seen the battle he was fighting before it ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

Blight

Jules Wallinga

The kitchen looks just like I remember it. Green walls peeling in all the right places, battered wood floors. And the sagging cabinets, painted white, with their doors that never quite close right. ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

Cereal bowl

Carmen Rodriguez

My mom is not the best at cooking. Since I have memory, she always does the same breakfast and dinner. Lunch is when she gets creative: chicken with bacon, zucchini with some sort of sauce and ham ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

Healing Magic

Nicholas Cerofeci

I always thought witches were fond of cats, but it turns out that becoming a witch requires you to kill one. Please — let me rewrite the folklore.
My family got Sergeant when I was fourteen, a ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

The Power of Could

Sydney Sawyers

The opportunity to drop out is ever-present. Nobody could truly stop me at the end of the day. I could do it whenever I see fit.
Or I could transfer. I've had the transfer application open fo ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

All My Love

Lourdes Mendoza

"All my love, all my heart goes to you. Give me the chance to care for you. Let me love you. Let me show you all of me and be the best person I can be for you." At 18, I didn't know any better. At ... [+]

Short Fiction

1 min

Tick-tock

Rachel Du Mouchel

Where did the time go? Remember when your brother threw that football and I caught it with my face? I don't think I can take that kind of pressure anymore, smiling while crying and apologizing fo ... [+]