family
The Truth Is Out There
My future is as uncertain as my past. I’ve pondered it for my entire life and still have few answers. The truth is out there - like the quote from the television show, The X-Files. They say to look within, but what can I find in an empty shell?
By Andrea Corwin 17 days ago in Fiction
Tata’s Lesson
Anthony learned early to watch what people did, not what they said. He was a young man when his older brother Andy—whom he had called Tata for as long as anyone could remember—told him a story that would quietly shape the rest of his life. Their parents liked to say that “Tata” had been Anthony’s first word, spoken with a kind of certainty that made it feel less like a nickname and more like a title. It stuck, not just because it was said, but because it fit. Tata was who Andy had always been to him—protector, teacher, and, in ways Anthony wouldn’t fully understand until much later, a quiet map for how to move through the world.
By Anthony Chan17 days ago in Fiction
WWIII
I don’t know if this is the beginning of something or if the beginning has already passed us by without ceremony. Maybe it started quietly, somewhere between a morning commute and a late-night headline no one fully read. Maybe it didn’t feel like a beginning at all—just another day where gas prices crept higher, where another company shut its doors, where another young person signed a contract they barely understood.
By Dagmar Goeschick17 days ago in Fiction
Beneath the Blood-Red Sky
Dearest Count, I am afraid to tell you that I will not be able to fulfil my duties. I had thought I would kneel at your feet as you darkened the bright city lights of London with your terror, feasting upon the crimson sustenance so readily offered by wench and gentleman alike.
By Paul Stewart17 days ago in Fiction
Do we sacrifice everything for our children.
Alice spent every waking moment caring for her only child---she worried when he was born, she worried when as a toddler he skinned his knee, she worried when he cried too long. And though no one ever said anything aloud, everyone in town behaved as though her worry was a kind of weather: something you adjusted to, something you didn’t disturb.
By Novel Allen17 days ago in Fiction
Fast Fashion
“Gidday.” “Hi, Dad.” “Stevie’s camping at Uluru…” “Nice.” “Yep. He got a new wardrobe…” “Really? Out there?” “Overnight, he strung his clean washing on a clothesline, from the back of his car. Next day, fifty clicks down the track, he spotted a lone sock flying behind him.”
By Angie the Archivist 📚🪶17 days ago in Fiction
Waiting. Runner-Up in Something Is Beginning, I Think Challenge. Top Story - March 2026.
It could have been the perfect summer day. The hot July sun warmed the water in the backyard pool just enough to be comfortable and refreshing. The laughter of the five little girls echoed against the splashing water as they chased each other in a classic game of Marco Polo. The game distracted them enough that they failed to notice the dipping sun nearing the horizon. Their fingers and toes had long ago turned wrinkly like raisins, but none wondered why they had been left to play so long today.
By A. J. Schoenfeld18 days ago in Fiction
"I Can't Catch My Voice"
It did not begin with a clear diagnosis. It began with a sweet memory of her. Her mental illness arrived slowly enough that, at first, it seemed like ordinary aging. She misplaced things. She repeated a question she had asked only minutes before. We laughed sometimes with kind intent, the usual way families do when something petty goes obviously wrong. It was comfortable then to believe that nothing serious had begun.
By Lori Armstrong18 days ago in Fiction
