Series

The Moment I Stopped Feeling Powerless. AI-Generated.
The morning I stopped feeling powerless began like every other morning in those years — with the sound of my alarm clock buzzing beside a bed that felt heavier than it should.
By Peter4 days ago in Fiction
Next From the Void
"So, stardust... what now? Is this how you thought it'd start over?" Runa looked out ahead at the nothingness. Wondering how they got so far this time. They had never made it to the end before. This is definitely not what was expected. Looking up, they replied, "It's just- nothing.... like actually nothing." The ethereal figure looked around and nodded. "Why is it like this?" The figure responded to Runa's question, "You have started a new. The world is yours to dream now.... You dream it; it exists. You awake, it doesn't. And it continues until someone finds your void. As you have found mine." Runa is left to process as the figure turns transparent, then to dust like stars in the void. Finds mine? A void? Dreams? - all questions in Runa's head, accompanied by confusion with a sense of awe and horror. At some point, she sits down and closes her eyes. Opening them to a forest that has started to fill the nothing. The beginning of her next dream....
By Ollie J Arts4 days ago in Fiction
City of plague:A new Yorker’s pandemic chronicle Pt 10.
Manhattan, the commercial heart of New York City, had always pulsed with motion. Now it felt like a drained reservoir—cracked, hollow, emptied of life. Traffic lights changed for no one. Storefronts were shuttered. Office towers stood like abandoned fortresses.
By Peter5 days ago in Fiction
City of plague:A new Yorker’s pandemic chronicle Pt 9.
From the first reports of the outbreak through mid-February, I followed the news obsessively. I tracked case numbers across continents, studied infection curves, and read late into the night, afraid that missing a single update would leave me unprepared.
By Peter5 days ago in Fiction
LHS Class of 01 The Reunion
“If I say too much, I’ll sound like a bragger,” she whispered to herself, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, while the scent of fresh fruit mingled with the lingering perfume, creating a gentle, comforting atmosphere.
By Forest Green5 days ago in Fiction
LHS Class of 01 The Reunion
Joan stared at the glossy invitation that had arrived two weeks earlier, feeling a familiar flutter in her chest that she hadn’t experienced since senior year. The high school reunion, scheduled for a balmy Saturday night at the old gymnasium-turned-event hall, promised more than just food and music; it promised a reunion of three lifelong friends whose paths had diverged after graduation. As she imagined Emily’s bright laugh and Megan’s quick wit, Joan could almost hear the echo of their hallway jokes reverberating through the corridors of memory. “It’s going to be like stepping back in time,” she whispered to herself while scrolling through old yearbook photos, each snapshot a reminder of late‑night study sessions, prom night drama, and the countless times they had leaned on one another for support. The excitement was palpable, a mix of nostalgia and anticipation that made her heart race a little faster each time she imagined the moment the three of them would finally stand together again under the soft glow of the reunion lights.
By Forest Green5 days ago in Fiction
City of plague:A new Yorker’s pandemic chronicle Pt 8.
In early March, New York City confirmed its first case of COVID-19: a middle-aged partner at a Midtown Manhattan law firm. Within days, family members, friends, and colleagues who had been in close contact with him also tested positive. Some had mild symptoms. Others became critically ill. The attorney himself deteriorated so quickly that he was placed on a ventilator and admitted to intensive care.
By Peter6 days ago in Fiction
City of plague:A new Yorker’s pandemic chronicle Pt 7.
During the stay-at-home order, the subway never stopped running. It roared through tunnels with tireless persistence, as if driven by a quiet sense of duty—to keep the city alive while an invisible enemy stalked its people. In its motion, there was something almost sacrificial. The trains carried not only passengers, but also the fragile belief that New York would endure.
By Peter6 days ago in Fiction
The Android Detective: Help Wanted
Vesper Lyra leaned her lanky frame into the door to push through the entrance lacking working electronics. A simple, painted sign in a boring and nondescript font announced that one would find a Clyde Sharpman, P.D. inside. Among the bright lights, vibrantly coloured signs, and announcements everywhere else on Wetwater Street, how she even noticed the place was a mystery. Not to mention the roughly cut-out cardboard sign in the unit’s dirty window advertising that the private detective, Clyde Sharpman, wanted help.
By Jean-François Lamothe6 days ago in Fiction
City of plague:A new Yorker’s pandemic chronicle
When Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered all non-essential businesses in New York State to shut down, Chinatown changed almost overnight.
By Peter6 days ago in Fiction
City of plague:A new Yorker’s pandemic chronicle
By late March of the Year of the Rat, time itself seemed to slow under the weight of the virus. Days stretched endlessly, as if the calendar had lost its urgency. Each morning looked almost identical to the one before it. The same gray sky over Manhattan. The same cautious silence on the streets below our apartment window.
By Peter7 days ago in Fiction
City of plague:A new Yorker’s pandemic chronicle
In late March, after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued the stay-at-home order, all workers in non-essential industries were required to remain at home. The goal was clear: protect lives, slow the rising curve of infections, and relieve the growing panic that had gripped New Yorkers.
By Peter8 days ago in Fiction