Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Chapters.
Game of Two Halves, Chapter Two
By the time Flashsatsumas had opened his mouth to yell, the wheels of his turtle had left the rink. Fright lurched in him as he and his humble steed flew. Big boys. It had to be. Surely they were the only ones here who boasted such strength as to throw him thus, or to land him so body-jarringly on the gritty tarmac.
By Doc Sherwood19 days ago in Chapters
The Strawberry Chapter 11
The Strawberry Chapter 11 Determined Seed By Katherine Aguilar This chapter takes a step back into my childhood. I remembers how people shape my mindset and the way I think today. I reflecting back when I was little. I joined a group of young girls' extracurricular activities. I decided to go to the group once. After the first day. I decided I didn't want to go to the group anymore. I decided the reason why I was not going back.
By Katherine Aguilar20 days ago in Chapters
The Strawberry Chapter 10
The Strawberry Chapter 10 A simple seed dropped lived on after death. By Katherine Aguilar This chapter shows how planting a small seed in someone’s life can influence people far beyond one’s lifetime. Even when our actions seem insignificant or are long forgotten, they can continue to grow and impact others. The initial planter may never know the full legacy they leave behind, unless someone documents it, but the influence remains and spreads.
By Katherine Aguilar20 days ago in Chapters
A Land Where All Things Always Seemed The Same, Chapter Three
A monorail train glided by overhead and Mini-Flash Juniper followed its track, keeping the high concrete struts to one side and letting the line lead her seaward. Here lay a manmade watercourse lit by brighter orbs than those behind, and by the ramp that led to the gate which was Mini-Flash Juniper’s destination, some sort of indoor sports complex glowed.
By Doc Sherwood20 days ago in Chapters
A Land Where All Things Always Seemed The Same, Chapter Two
It seemed at first a quiet sort of place to Mini-Flash Juniper as she clanked down the iron exterior stairwell. A winding path led her by a play-park, devoid of children in the deepening dusk, and presently the reception office now dim and somnolent following its busy day. In pleasant surprise at how little her enemies’ very den had thrown at her thus far, Juniper dipped with the lane into a tunnel which ran underneath the road by which she and Flashsatsumas had arrived, to step out again into the lights and landscape of the body of the camp.
By Doc Sherwood20 days ago in Chapters
A Land Where All Things Always Seemed The Same, Chapter One
They’d reached the part of the journey when you knew it wasn’t far now. The sea for some time had been a dark band spanning the near horizon, and on either side of Flashsatsumas and Mini-Flash Juniper wild grass verge was spilling not earth but rich golden sand, its stray grains crunchy underfoot. The land around lay flat as the road, baking in the height of summer.
By Doc Sherwood20 days ago in Chapters
The Sound of a Ticking Heart
Before everything changed, our life was simple in the best kind of way. My husband Mark was the kind of person who filled a room without even trying. He was loud, funny, endlessly talkative, and somehow the most caring person I had ever known. He loved people—even if he pretended he didn’t. Anyone who met him walked away feeling like they had known him forever. But the two people he loved most in this world were our son Logan and me. Mark had struggled earlier in life. Addiction had nearly taken everything from him once, but by the time we met he had been sober for more than ten years. He carried that past with humility, but it also shaped the man he became. He never believed he would be a husband or a father. Then somehow we found each other, and everything changed. Within six months we were engaged. Not long after that, we had Logan. We got married, bought a house, and built the kind of life Mark once believed he would never have. He was an executive chef in Boston, and cooking was his passion. After long days running entire culinary departments at major colleges, he would still come home and cook dinner for us. Food was his love language. Some of the meals he made are things I know I will never taste again. But what meant the most to him was being a father. No matter how tired he was, he always made time for Logan. They rode bikes, played basketball, talked for hours before bed, and cooked together in the kitchen. Some nights I would have to walk into Logan’s room and tell them both they needed to stop talking and go to sleep because it was already so late. Mark always called Logan his best friend. And the truth was, they really were. We built a quiet, happy life together. In 2016 we bought our house in the suburbs with a huge backyard. We had our dog Frankie, family vacations every year in New Hampshire, and summers spent swimming in mountain streams that were far too cold for me but perfect for Mark. He loved Christmas more than anyone I’ve ever known. Every year we decorated the house like something out of a movie because it made him so happy. Our dreams weren’t complicated. We just wanted to raise our son, go to his basketball and baseball games, take him to Disney someday, and maybe—one day—be grandparents watching Logan raise kids of his own. It was the kind of life people spend years hoping to build. And for a while, we were living it. Then in 2022 everything changed. Mark had burned his arm badly at work months earlier. At first it didn’t seem like anything serious. But eventually he started feeling sick and went to the hospital. That’s when doctors discovered something terrifying. A bacterial infection had entered his bloodstream and attached itself to one of the valves in his heart. The infection was severe enough that he needed open-heart surgery to replace the valve. He was only forty-one years old. The surgery saved his life. The doctors replaced his valve with a mechanical one, and it made a sound none of us expected. It ticked. Like a clock. It was so loud that nurses and doctors would actually comment on it when they came into the room. At first it felt strange hearing your husband’s heart sound like time itself was ticking inside his chest. But eventually we got used to it. It became part of life. And for almost two years after that surgery, life felt normal again. Mark went back to work. Logan went back to school. We settled into our routines. We thought the worst was behind us. We had no idea how wrong we were.
By Christina driscoll 21 days ago in Chapters
Life will find a way. Top Story - March 2026.
One cocoon twitches; my screaming must have disturbed it. It’s followed by a sound like the shaking of a cobra’s tail. A dry rattle sends a shiver down my spine. The rest of the cocoons respond the same way, as if communicating with one another; the cave fills with rattling. The glow becomes stronger as they vibrate and bathes the cave floor in an eerie blue light.
By N J Delmas21 days ago in Chapters
