Psychological

Lap Cat. Honorable Mention in Something Is Beginning, I Think Challenge. Top Story - March 2026.
My nose is dripping, and Delia is tracing her fingers through my hair. Her husband is shirtless by the microwave, heating up leftovers from New Year's Eve. In 60 seconds, I'll be shoving mouthfuls of risotto between my quivering lips like a child and picking at semi-stale dinner rolls. Then, I'll pass my plate to one of their three Tabby cats (whom I can never tell apart) and let him/her/them (?) lick it clean.
By Erin Latham Shea13 days ago in Fiction
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 13 days ago in Fiction
Before It Holds
They noticed it first in the door. Not immediately. Not as a single moment. More as a hesitation that didn’t used to be there.
By Alain SUPPINI13 days ago in Fiction
The Blinding Dark. Content Warning.
There was a dark place on the edge of the marsh. No one could quite describe precisely how it was dark. It wasn’t that there was a persistent shadow, and it had nothing to do with the underbrush. One couldn’t really call it a thicket. Every aspect of it could be seen clearly: every branch and leaf and blade of reed grass. Nor did the fog tend to gather there in excess. If anything, it wasn’t necessarily a visual darkness, but rather a feeling.
By Ophelia Keane Braeden13 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 Stewart13 days ago in Fiction
The Door That Only Opens Once
Hamza had lived in the apartment for two years. Nothing unusual ever happened. Until the door appeared. It was late evening when he first noticed it.
By Salman Writes14 days ago in Fiction
Where I Kept Her
When the woman he loves vanishes, Daniel is left with fragments - unfinished sentences, strange notes, and a growing sense that her absence isn’t as complete as it should be.
By Lori A. A.14 days ago in Fiction
Knife Triangle
“No, I’ve never cheated on my boyfriend,” Everet said, wondering why his tone was masking an invitation as a statement. “Do you think that might change tonight?” Luca asked seductively.
By Travis Dylan14 days ago in Fiction
The Coin That Wouldn’t Leave
The man found the coin on the sidewalk after the St. Patrick’s Day parade ended. The street was still littered with green confetti, plastic beads, and crushed beer cans. Crowds were thinning out as people staggered toward bars or rides home.
By V-Ink Stories14 days ago in Fiction
Last Voyage of the Hellbreaker
Seawater, that black all-consuming giant, it can consume a thousand feet of ship as easily as a man in these parts. Crushing waves that wash the filth and loose cargo from dirty decks just to regurgitate it on some far off shore for some poor farmer to find and think they’re going to be rich.
By Brier14 days ago in Fiction
Confessions
A man begins therapy, trying to make sense of a growing unease he cannot name. But as his words unfold, it becomes clear that what he is “remembering” may not belong to the past...
By Lori A. A.14 days ago in Fiction
THE CHANGE
The first thing that changed was so small it almost seemed like a mistake. Erica noticed it while rinsing a glass, the water running louder than it should have, or maybe thinner, as if it had somewhere else to be. She turned the faucet off and on again, testing it, but the sound didn’t return to what she thought it had been. It stayed slightly off, like a word pronounced almost correctly.
By Pamela Dirr14 days ago in Fiction