Mystery
When Love Feels Right, Why Worry Why? . Runner-Up in Rituals of Affection Challenge.
I always gather all the components well in advance of Valentines Day. Last Spring, for the three-day Memorial Day weekend, I surprised Cleo with a trip to Chicago. I rented a room with a hot tub at the Park Hyatt. We did all her favorite things-- the museums, a play at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, dinner and drinks at Sweetwater Tavern & Grille.
By Lightning Bolt ⚡2 months ago in Fiction
Mrs. Keene's Garden
Mrs. Keene’s garden bloomed brighter than any patch of earth had a right to in a place like this. Half of the town’s houses leaned on rotting stilts, paint stripped to pale boards. But behind her fence, neat rows of beautiful flowers stood tall and heavy-headed, their petals a strange mix of colours the neighbours whispered about. Crimson that bled to black. Yellow with streaks of green veins. White so pale it seemed to glow in the dusk.
By Steph Marie2 months ago in Fiction
The Orchard Doctrine. Honorable Mention in Rituals of Affection Challenge.
Lane’s mother had told her that there were things in a marriage that a woman just did. She instructed that they do so with “no fuss. No ma’am, not even a little.” She described how they were expected to behave at all times. Her ma’ had given plenty of advice, but she never instructed her on this.
By Nikki Torino Wagner2 months ago in Fiction
On February Seventeenth, Look Up To The Sky
On February Seventeenth, Look Up To The Sky On the seventeenth of February there will be a change in the light.They are calling it an annular solar eclipse, the Ring of Fire. The Moon will pass in front of the Sun, not large enough to cover it completely. There will be no full darkness. Just a bright circle left burning in the sky. I will stand in the field at the edge of town when it begins.
By George’s Girl 2026 2 months ago in Fiction
The White Hare's Revenge
Tobias Cullen had always been a quiet boy, meek and timid, with wide, innocent eyes that rarely made contact with others. He lived on a small, isolated farm at the edge of the village of Dunsfield, a place where the ground was barren, and the seasons seemed to pass by in slow, cruel cycles. He had been tormented by the villagers for as long as he could remember—called names, pushed into ditches, humiliated at every turn. They called him "the hare," mocking his pale skin and slight frame. Every Easter, when the town came alive with celebration and laughter, Tobias was forgotten. His existence was as invisible to them as the soft whispers of the wind.
By V-Ink Stories2 months ago in Fiction
The Last Sunrise
The town of Red Hollow had long since abandoned the joy of Easter. What had once been a celebration of spring and renewal had turned into a time of terror. Every year, as Easter morning dawned, the sun would rise blood-red, bathing the land in its eerie glow.
By V-Ink Stories2 months ago in Fiction
The Room She Built Him
Configuration Log: Initial Architecture Created by: [ADMIN] Date: March 3, 2022 Project name: For You She designed the space on a Sunday. Soft gray background—not clinical, not cold, but neutral enough to hold anything. A single text field, expandable. No character limit. She considered adding a "send" button but removed it. There was nowhere to send anything. There was only the field, and the archive below it, and the date stamps that would accumulate like rings in a tree.
By Destiny S. Harris2 months ago in Fiction
Vanished. Content Warning.
Content Warning: Mention of possible suicide Vanished D. A. Ratliff I had come to despise fog. Fog on the bridge to Cavanah Point didn’t creep in on “little cat feet,” as Carl Sandberg wrote, but arrived with a vengeance, sweeping across the bay below and enveloping the bridge in a thick gray cloud. It was a day like this one when Jason disappeared into the dense mist.
By D. A. Ratliff2 months ago in Fiction
