Love
The Wandering Soul
The Wandering Soul Where you go, I will go; where you stay, I will stay. The air in Naomi’s home felt thick with the scent of dried lavender and woodsmoke. Beneath it was another smell, metallic, bitter, that no amount of dried herbs and flowers could hide.
By Claire McAllen8 days ago in Fiction
23 Actually Free Things
The broke-city weekend guide no one puts on Instagram—but everyone quietly uses to stay sane There was a Saturday last summer when I stared at my bank app, did the math twice, and realized something brutal: if I bought one more $19 cocktail, I was going to have to pick which bill didn’t get paid that month.
By abualyaanart8 days ago in Fiction
Abandoned or did he just leave home
Abandoned or did he just leave home I used to walk home late from work most nights. It was a route I knew well, one I could probably manage with my eyes closed, though I would never dare try. I have always been wary of the dark. Not frightened enough to stop living my life, but cautious. I walk quickly, keys threaded through my fingers, senses alert, listening to every shift in the night. That evening was no different, at least not at first.
By Marie381Uk 8 days ago in Fiction
The Selfish Giant
Every afternoon, after school ended, a group of children loved to play in a beautiful garden. It belonged to a giant who had been away visiting a friend for many years. The garden was full of soft green grass, bright flowers, and peach trees that blossomed in spring and bore fruit in autumn. Birds sang sweetly in the branches, and the children laughed happily while playing there. To them it felt like the most wonderful place in the world.
By Malak Faisal8 days ago in Fiction
Tranquility of the heart and mind
The stillness that settled in the aftermath of your departure was not a void, but a canvas. Twenty-five years, woven with the vibrant threads of our shared existence, had painted a masterpiece. Now, with your colors no longer beside mine, I found a strange peace in the quiet hues that remained. It wasn't an absence of feeling, but a profound acceptance, a gentle hum beneath the surface of my being. The maker, in His infinite wisdom, had called you home, and though my heart ached with the echo of your laughter, it also resonated with the deep, abiding tranquility that your memory bestowed.
By Vera Myles9 days ago in Fiction
Belle of the Bayou. Top Story - February 2026.
Bad move, cher. Not just the slip of her kitten heel on the rainy February cobblestones in the Fourth Ward. She got caught snooping. Detective Deleon clucked and strutted like a rooster in his rush to clear her from the scene, waving cigar smoke to and fro as he gesticulated amid the thick air of the speak easy. An experienced crime reporter, Marie knew better than to let the coppers catch her on the wrong side of the line, but curiosity had gotten the better of her.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemist9 days ago in Fiction
The Frequency of Solitude
The silence of the Cascade Mountains was not an absence of sound; it was a heavy, living thing. It was the groan of ancient ponderosa pines leaning against the wind, the distant, crystalline shatter of glacial meltwater, and the overwhelming hum of sheer, terrifying vastness.
By Alpha Cortex10 days ago in Fiction
