Wet Asphalt and Cheap Coffee
By Art Borups Corners
A rundown bus terminal on a rainy autumn night, filled with the smell of wet wool and diesel.
Explore Our First-Person Narrative Short Stories
4 Stories
Three Questions for the Colourful Mind
By Jamie F. Bell
The air, crisp with the lingering scent of damp leaves and distant woodsmoke, pressed against the windowpanes of Jesse O'Connell's studio, a space perpetually suspended between order and vibrant chaos. Betty Sinclair stepped into the room, her sensible leather boots scuffing on the painted concrete floor, a faint tremor of autumn chill still clinging to her coat. Her journalistic facade was firmly in place, a meticulous mask over the coiled tension of her true purpose. Sunlight, fractured through the grimy glass, caught the floating dust motes and illuminated the layered history of the room, each paint smear and discarded brush a testament to restless, inventive hands. It was the perfect stage for a conversation, and for the delicate dance of subterfuge.
A Borrowed Warmth Against the White
By Jamie F. Bell
The world had shrunk to the colour of bone and the sound of wind. Snow, driven hard and fine like sand, scoured the grey bark of the cottonwoods lining the creek. It was a cold that didn't just bite; it gnawed, finding its way through the threadbare wool of a boy's coat and settling deep in his marrow.
The Fraying Edges of Dawn
By Jamie F. Bell
The morning light, thin and hesitant, fought its way through the gap in the curtains, painting a pale, indifferent stripe across the wall. Don lay still, the heavy thrum of the Somnus rig beneath his pillow vibrating faintly against his skull, a lingering echo of a reality that felt more real than this one. The scent of lavender, Margaret's favourite, was fading from his nostrils, replaced by the faint, stale odour of his own room. He felt her hand, cool and familiar, just moments ago tucked into his, a phantom weight now. The mattress, unforgiving and singular, pressed against his back, a stark reminder of the solitary space he now occupied.