Horror
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 Marie25 days ago in Fiction
The Proposal . Runner-Up in Rituals of Affection Challenge. Content Warning.
“There’s something I’ve been w-w-wanting to ask you for a v-very long time.” He drops to one knee and gazes up at her— the crack of half-smile on his lips and the threat of a tear in his eye.
By Sam Spinelli25 days ago in Fiction
The Fortunate Slice
The Thibodeaux family had not buried a child in three generations. Their land held when the river swelled. Their businesses endured downturns that closed others overnight. Illness came, but it did not linger. It was understood that blessings, like harvests, required tending.
By Christine Nelson25 days 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 Stories25 days 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 Stories25 days 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. Harris26 days ago in Fiction
Part of Me. Runner-Up in Rituals of Affection Challenge.
My love and I have been trapped inside of our respective houses like rats in a cage ever since the start of the pandemic. An ocean separates us, but distance is no challenge to our love. Text messaging, email- these things are so impersonal and cold. She and I are old souls both, and prefer the method of the old-fashioned letter. It takes longer, but the heart grows fonder with delayed gratification, to put a new spin on an old, tired phrase. I've certainly found it true in any case.
By Raistlin Allen26 days ago in Fiction
The Thirteenth Bell
Valentine’s Day. Everywhere else I’ve lived, it’s been a flimsy holiday — flowers, chocolates, greeting cards, and a vague expectation that you should feel something sweet and sentimental. I’ve always thought it was one of the most worthless holidays on the calendar.
By Lizz Chambers26 days ago in Fiction
The Box
"I'm telling you, Man: it's real, and it's worth a fortune!" Duke had that look in his eyes again. Somewhere between a kid on Christmas morning, and a crackhead looking for his next fix. The last time Ronny had seen it, he spent two months in the hospital recovering from a weird, tropical fever nobody still could tell him the name of. The time before that, he'd spent three weeks rotting in a Mexican prison. Which he vowed never to speak of again.
By Natalie Gray26 days ago in Fiction
