Short stories: Life 254 Articles

by Robert Griffith

THE COMMON CLAY, THE EPHEMERAL DUST If I know of separation, illusion, wholeness and reality, and choose to turn toward complex mundanity from the edge of Occam's razor, it is not because I don't know the simple answe...read more

by Nathan Lee

The Walker: The Bus Stop Memoirs 1. I long forgot how to drive a car after finding out that I had narcolepsy. I had little use for a motor vehicle and I became too afraid to drive. The last time I did, I woke up on a...read more

by Holley Robison

Holley is your everyday ordinary girl. She has fun on the weekends at the movies, she eats chocolate even though she fears about it going to her thighs. And she is madly in love with her best friend, and the one, boyfrie...read more

by Kelly Schaffer

Paradise Somewhere, there is a perfect place. There must be! Or else all my searching is in vain. It might be deep under the ground or... or hidden in a dark forest. But somewhere, there is a place, where the only bre...read more

by Nellie Bly

The ants hurried back and forth in their makeshift sandy tunnels, frantically moving inconsequential bits into inconsequential corners of their inconsequential lives. "Poor things," she thought, as she slurped the last...read more

by Jack Pine

It almost sounds cliche to say that nothing makes you appreciate life more than the threat of death. I came close to giving up on life after hearing news that devastated me until a bizarre event made me understand how pre...read more

by James Mockridge.

A Country Crime He eased himself slowly down onto the weather worn seat, uneasy as to whether it would take his weight. He paused repeatedly, half expecting the decades old plank to crumble beneath him. Finally, he rela...read more

by Craig Jones

Jovencio lay flat of his back, motionless, as the intense rays of the searing July sun beat heavy upon his brown skin. A large, salty bead of sweat ran from his forehead to the corner of his left eye, yet he made no movem...read more

by Randall Gibbons

AN OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION Throughout the adventurous years of my childhood, it teased and frustrated me. Hours after hours would pass me as I floated above it in an old rowing dinghy I had resurrected from a half ...read more

by Lee Norris

The old man walked down the street alone. He was always alone. Nobody even knew his name. He was just another anonymous elderly person that walked the streets and was often seen sitting in the park down on Ward Street. On ...read more

by Barbara Mahler

Aunt Lois and Uncle Maury farmed eighty acres near Ripon, Wisconsin. The year was 1953 and from the age of ten I left my hometown, Fond du Lac, to visit their place for a week or two each year during the summer vacation. I...read more

by Sara Dennis

Millie The rain pitter-pattered on the crinkly tin roof. I'd been put in The Hut again. I hadn't been that naughty, just pulled Josie Smith's pigtails. Pretty Josie with her golden locks and bright blue eyes, posh unif...read more

by Menaka Patki

The Street Urchin It was about 1.00pm and I was still out doing my last minute shopping in India before getting ready to pack and take my flight back to the UK. My driver had not come yet and I was getting impatient....read more

by Petra Fye

It was my first day in a new school again. It was also the fourth time we'd moved in the last eighteen months, so when my dad said it was the last I was kind of skeptical. My dad has a problem staying in one place; We...read more

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by Kim Basford

The Blackout The hallway was silent. In fact, the whole apartment was silent; the electricity was out, and Megan was there by herself. But the hallway was her main concern, because currently, that was where...read more

by Blair Bordelon

Matthew Hartwell was breathing hard when Coach Miller finally blew the whistle. It had been a grueling 3 hour practice that his body wasn't about to let him forget. He felt the sweat running down his back and shook his soa...read more

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by FM Lepore

The day began with a whisper, a soft, harmonious pitch. Shelly Gawlings unlocked her office door and slammed her oversize Coach bag on her desk as she quickly adjusted the blinds so that the sun gently poured its warm ...read more

by Kent Richards

LIFE AIN'T SO BAD I pried open my dry eyes, did a half-roll out of bed, and winced with pain as my left foot hit the floor. I rolled my foot over a small rolling pin to ease the muscle. An exercise my orthopedic docto...read more

by Henniker Keene

THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF JOHN Q. JEDERMAN At first there was no real cause for concern. In fact, John Jederman was rather happy about a gradual loss of weight. The extra pounds had accumulated surreptitiously, uninvited, on...read more

by Jo Williams

The boy pulled hastily on his young sister's sleeve. "Hurry!" He whispered urgently. "For there isn't much time!" The two lone figures scurried down the winding path leading along the beach. They paused at a broken bar...read more