You poked a hole in the box. I can only imagine what that did to your fingernails, wearing them down to the quick the way you must have to wear an opening into the cardboard. But I can hear your voice a little louder now. It makes it difficult to sleep at…

Banging exploded across the breadth of the door as people tried to break in. My worry was fleeting. It wasn't impossible to break down a VouchSafe steel door but you'd need specific tools to do it.

“Let us in, you bastard!” Voices shouted in waves, muffl…

He looked over the scrolls. Perfectly preserved, even after 8,000 years!

The script flowed like no other writing system, past or present. Since their discovery in the 1800s, no one had been able to decipher the language. All that was known about the 'Wri…

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A petite woman in her mid-30s answered. When she saw my uniform, she began to shake, and had to grip the door frame to keep from collapsing.

"You found his body," she whispered. It was a statement, rather tha…

I finished the last line with a flourish, dropping the quill back into its pot and shuffling the pages together. Tucking my chair under the table, I made my way to Katy while weaving past pot handles and trays that dangled and protruded over various surfa…

I am so mad right now. So freaking flipping wawbsqeeaqs-ing MAD. Laughably mad. Like, I want to scream-and-punch-something mad.

And the best part is I can't tell anyone. How the heck is that even remotely fair? And I really want to curse cuz I'm so mad. …

The orange girl watched as the city burned. Smoke billowed high into the sky, and people ran screaming through the streets, trying desperately to escape.

She wouldn't let them.

With a swift motion of her hand, she made more flames, blocking paths.

"Nerim,…

Younger me was a stronger me, I think. There is a determination, I have always suspected, to convince oneself that the passage of time has given at least as much as it has taken away - youth for wisdom, for example. Naivete for experience, perhaps.

But i…

Cerian was silent while the coach spun silently towards the dock structures. She was pale and expressionless, and watched me carefully as I wiped off the knife.

"So this is who you are, now."

I sensed the many layers to this not-quite-statement, and hes…

My high school art room seems a bit different. I'm not sure if it's just me or if the kilns aren't in the proper place.

I've got something in front of me that I'm supposed to eat. It sort of looks like a thing of Dunkaroos where you dip something into so…

There was a short click on my headset. Captain Resa didn't even twitch, eyes glued to the laser designator's sight. The radio clicked again, then buzzed with static-laden speech.

"This is Uriel 3-1, checking in. Flight of three F/A-18Es, on approach west…

I can surf around but social media sites are blocked

I guess it's not too bad, it's just they won't let me sleep

trying to stay awake somehow

wish we could chat here or something, ask for a care package

there's a window but it's all like desert outside p…

Captain's log, ship's day 8472

I wish we could fix the attitude control. The tumbling is making me dizzy.

Finally figured out where we were losing the atmosphere from. Backyard Bob is working on a patch for it and says he'll be done in about two hours. …

The door bell rang. Again. God damned kids, he thought. Nothing better to do than disturb descent people and beg for candy.

He stomped to the door, and, just before opening it, put on his most pleasant face. The one he usually reserved for suckers...…

"Would you like to be a magical girl?"

The ad popped up on her screen for the third time. "Why won't you bug off?" she asked, clicking the ad blocker to attempt to block it again.

"Please wait. I need your help," pleaded the cute little mascot on the ad.

…

“Don't be so sure of yourself. You killed a man and blew up a building, you did not kill F.A.C.E. Honestly, you did as much as you could have. Impressive work for a pair spies."

Jacqueline felt the familiar punch to the stomach that happened every time s…

Graceful, sad queen of the swimming birds

covered in tulle and leaping-

your sickness was hidden so well.

So bloody your nails, so clean your face,

your mind tilted into a broken Arabesque

and split like a hologram projected from a shattered lens.

Lik…

I've been gone for far to long

No typing have I done

No stories written, No poems penned

No reading others prose

A year has passed, Life changed for the better

I've moved away from the pain and strife

Back to a place of peaceful rest

Back to the roots o…

[To go to the main stairs, please visit this page: https://ficlatte.com/stories/41127]

This hallway stretches out on the left and right.

On the left side, the hallway ends soon with a large pane of glass that overlooks the front of the building; it is not blocked by metal bars or anything like that.

On the right, the hallway is longer…

Seventeen dwarves rounded the corner in clown make-up looking like what can only be described as demented. Ten of them still had napkins tucked into their collars. Seven wielded forks. One swung a turkey leg menacingly then paused to take another greasy b…

"Paw that just can't be him, maybe his son or nephew, but that just can't be him."

"Shut up boy,"the old man sneered to his son who was fifty years old if he was a day, "yeont reckon' I'd forget the man who stole your maw now didcha'?"

" Now listen here p…

Whispering, whispering, always whispering. Inseparable pair, sharing secrets, tales, complaints. They don't want me to hear. Why? Is it about me?

I shouldn't try to listen. I shouldn't let it bother me. I can do things how I want, disregard, disregard th…

Do you honestly think you know

Where all your "secrets" go?

Have you realized this silence

Is just for show?

Now hear my prediction

Don't be surprised when

Your icicle words

Swing back like swords

The whispers are behind your back

Voices on the attack

G…

I am lost

But in between the bursts of self hate

Blooms the tentative flower of hope

I am not a failure

That is what I have written on the

Inside of my wrist

Going, right

Trying to see

the light

At the end of my tunnel

I am Finding My Way.