Literary Fiction Stories

Yuki Kazehara

At 7:12, just after the down train had gone and before the first schoolchildren arrived breathless from the slope, Stationmaster Nakata found the suitcase under…

Dr. H. Ashford

The telegram reached Dr. Percival Oates on a Thursday evening, which was inconvenient, and from Dunmore-on-Severn, which was worse. He had retired from the prac…

Sofia Verlanti

As she stepped into the kitchen, the scent of damp earth and greenery enveloped her, a stark contrast to the sweltering heat outside. Her eyes adjusted to the d…

Cass Ferren

The freezer is full. She knows this before she opens it. The hum is different when a freezer is full — lower, more certain of itself, the way a person hums when…

Elara Nightwood

The drawer had been locked for three years, which meant the key, when Maren finally used it, turned with a sound like forgiveness. She had expected papers—bills…

Sofia Verlanti

As she stepped into the kitchen, the faint scent of last night's dinner lingered, a reminder of the life she had been trying to escape. The table was still set,…

Yuki Kazehara

At half past eleven, when the rain had thinned to a mist and the tide had begun to draw the dark away from the seawall, Aki Shinozaki found that there was one k…

Elara Nightwood

The bronze had been silent for seventeen years, which meant the sound, when it came, was both familiar and impossible. Camille woke to it at dawn—not the deep, …

Sofia Verlanti

As she pushed open the creaky back door, a gust of cold air swept into the kitchen, carrying with it the faint scent of damp earth and decay. The storm that had…

Yuki Kazehara

By the time Sato Fumie reached the seventh floor, the rain had found the seams of the building. It had begun at dusk as a respectable autumn shower. By midnight…

Elara Nightwood

The fog arrived first, thick as grief and twice as patient, settling into the cobbled streets of Margrave Hill before the telegram could find its way to Isobel'…

Sofia Verlanti

As she pushed open the creaky kitchen door, the fluorescent light above the sink flickered to life, illuminating the space with a warm, gentle glow. The woman, …