Stories - Long Story Short Award - 2025 - page 2 - all works

Short Fiction

3 min

The Keeper of Final Words

The world forgot about handwritten letters, but Arthur remained. His shop, "The Last Word," smelled of dust and drying ink. His business was simple, and morbid: people came to pre-write their final ... [+]

Short Fiction

1 min

Emakhoneni (The Street Corners)

Chuma Mateza

Momma always told me akangi funi emakhoneni Sonke kodwa siyazi ukuthi angeke uyi thole use 'khoneni But really I wasn't looking to get paid ekhoneni Thought of it like recess more of an escape ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

A Study in Eclosion

Yi Bei Yeap

The woman does her shopping on Tuesday evenings. It is the only day she does not go to the park to play chess, or study at the local college. Soon it will not matter, her mother had told he ... [+]

Short Fiction

2 min

Was I Really

josh schneider

So many 'was I really' questions flooded my brain. It felt like I was drowning in a sea of fear and doubt as I just stood there, soaking it all in.
Was I really walking up to Iron Trident ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

The Bear and The Bees

Ingrid Belcher

The man who accidentally amputated the newly-wed's other leg had not stolen her husband's bees – they had simply taken up residence in one of his sculptures. Charles, the chainsaw artist, didn't want ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

Basket in the Woods

Dionne Pinto-Guerra

"I offer myself as this year's sacrifice!" I yell out frantically, my voice cracking on the last syllable. I pant as I try to catch my breath, the boiling air burning my throat with each breath. The ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

Saving Lotus

Boring Boreas

"Boreas!" My consciousness gradually gathered, as the can of iced cola touched my skin, sending a chill. The smiling face before me gradually became clear in the soft light. "See that girl outside ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

Moya Oliviya (My Olivia)

Chisom Okoye

The rain sprinkled on the car, creating streams down the window. Andrej started the engine to warm up the car, not intending to drive out of the parking lot just yet. The passenger door opened, and ... [+]

Short Fiction

2 min

The Lightning Bolt Bandits

Layla Kees

The lightning drake, Salt, sprinted as fast as possible next to the speeding train. Her rider, Pepper, clinging to her reins and driving them faster and faster. The border was in sight, they didn't ... [+]

Short Fiction

4 min

Hold on

S.H. Chai

It was the 98th time – or perhaps the 99th. Sienna had long lost count. What was once indelible quickly turned faint and blurry after she relived her life so many times. Her life had turned upside ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

Plagal Cadence

Tam Leong

The city is silent around you, the place that you grew up in reduced to a graveyard of silence. You never thought you would come back here, willingly. Up until a year ago, you hardly thought you ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

A Change of Heart

Mariah Schlachterman

Every year, we host the annual human hunt, and every year like clockwork, we win. I originally was not going to make attendance, as I had an assignment to closely monitor a younger model. I am Model ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

All the Time in the World

Charlotte Adele

There are approximately seventy-two seconds left until everything that we've ever known will come to an end.
I am sitting on the floor in front of my living room sofa, listening to the quiet hum of ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

Boiled Peanuts

Ava McKamey

When I was seventeen years old, Sam and I spent all summer eating nothing but boiled peanuts. Sam was my best friend, but he also had an incredible ability to flip a good day on its side. He got me ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

The Debt of Hours

Feng Ming Kho

The old man arrived at the hospice with a battered briefcase and no family.
Inside the briefcase were ten watches — each one wound, yet stopped at a different hour.
The nurses thought him ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

Midnight in the Red Light District

Y.N. Liau

Prima Facie "SEX WORKER CHARGED WITH ALLEGED MURDER OF PROMINENT BUSINESSMAN"
Merida had read the sensational article on her way to work in the morning, then heard her colleagues speculating about ... [+]

Short Fiction

5 min

The Copy Center

Will Alger

I arrived here two years ago. I immigrated here on a work visa from Bangladesh. I left to better my life and start something new; I was all in. No one in my family had ever lived here before, in the ... [+]

Short Fiction

2 min

Do It

Diane Thomas

My name is not important, nor is my sport. The only things you need to know about me are that I came in second place at the 1996 Summer Olympics, I'm returning to Atlanta, and I have a time machine ... [+]