Sarah went to the movies with her friends, and I was a few minutes away from Ava’s house. It was already 6pm and if I knew Ava, she was already on her second bottle of wine. I pulled into her driveway. She was definitely at home. The lights were on. I knocked impatiently at the door. She opened the door, dressed in a short, tight nightgown. Her long, blonde hair was tied neatly and she smelled like lavender. She had just...

Alex reached out to me via text for the first time. I felt my heart stop, then beat fast and hard against my chest. The text was a picture of me standing about twenty feet away. I turned around, thinking I was losing my mind, but there he stood smiling the way I had loved for years. I ran into his arms, ignoring the fact I was at work. He wrapped me in a hug that said more than words ever could. Once we pulled apart, I tu...

The gentle silence of the old woods did not soothe her. Nor the country hills, nor the soft song of the tall grasses, hissing blade upon blade. The loss of her husband turned sweetness into something bitter, and then tasteless, and then bitter again, when she least expected it. She toured the old cabin like a ghost, her naked feet wearing slow tracks in the polished hardwood floors. The windows had no dressings. The floor...

"I'm sorry, Nithya," I said to her again. "I can understand, Sir," she replied. I was her TL. Nithya had joined my team as an intern a month earlier. I used to drop her off at her home because her home was on the way to mine. She had requested me to drop her off, and I had been dropping her off for the past two weeks. *** Last night, when I was on the way to drop her off at home, she kept her hand on my thigh. Then she be...

I was standing under the stairs of her apartment, holding a bar of chocolate. It was her birthday, after all, and I told myself I was only there to wish her the best on her special day. Just before ringing the bell, I felt the impulse to turn around and walk away. I guided my finger toward the bell, reminding myself of the last time I had been upstairs. Only two weeks earlier, the night had been sweet, exciting, and passi...

Sarah sat cosily on her couch, wearing her softest robe, laptop on her lap. She looked at the rain-splattered window as she hit 'book' on her flight: Departing Flight: 11:45 AM London Gatwick Airport (LGW) Travel time: 2 hr 55 min 3:40 PM Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP) Returning Flight: 1:05 PM Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP) Travel time: 2 hr 55 min 3:00 PM London Gatwick Airport (LGW) She had been looking forward...

The rehearsal dinner dragged late into the night. Between the speeches, the toasts, and the endless parade of family I hardly knew, I spent the whole evening on edge. Not because of the event itself, but because of Calvin. Every time I glanced across the table, his eyes were on me; hungry, daring, like he was daring me to look away first. I couldn’t. Not once. By the time I slipped out of the ballroom and made my way back...

Daniel woke up and lay in bed for a moment, staring at the ceiling. Then he remembered the convention he had to go to and got up immediately. He stopped wondering where he was; the room was different, and a sudden realization hit him. “I was isekai’d to another world by that book,” he said to himself. Daniel recalled the events of yesterday: he was now in a new world, with no idea how to get back to his own world. Daniel...

I look to my right. There’s a presence looming, though I don’t see a soul around. I keep walking, breath frantic as my pace quickens. I lace my fingers around each key. Just in case. My knuckles are turning white as I grip the car keys between my finger and thumb. I yearn for the safety of locked doors and a speedy escape. Soon, I see my tiny bug brightly reflecting the light from the single lamppost in the abandoned lot....

She did not answer with her words. She leaned forward. Her dupatta slipped off one side. The thin gold chain around her neck caught the light. The small black bindi on her forehead was a little smudged. She looked up like someone who was checking if the door was really shut. Her shoulders got tense for a moment as she shifted her position. Her left hand was still on my thigh. Her thumb was pushing into the muscle. I smell...