ORIGINAL FICTIONContemporary
A chair at the mending table
Salma expects to teach the community mending circle. After a repair goes wrong, she and Kit must decide who can do which parts of the work.
13 min read · Read story
HOWCURIO / ORIGINAL FICTION
Short fiction.
Other worlds.
Complete tales of imagined lives. Find a story, settle in, and follow it to the last line.
30 SHORT FICTIONShowing 30 stories
ORIGINAL FICTIONSpeculative
A field guide to indoor weather
Jo hides seed labels that hold a lost farm's weather and the climate of a garden she once shared with Celia. After the rain damages Celia's chair, saving any of it means giving up Jo's claim to the past they remember differently.
13 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONGentle Fantasy
A postcard for the moon
Yara's sorting office needs rent money, but Nell wants a darker bedroom. A small, freely given reflection carries a reply, and a curtain clip helps make room for sleep.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONContemporary
Saturday at the water meter
Ivo and Lena have a water bill to explain and a house to empty. Repairing a leak brings them to an argument he has kept avoiding.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONMystery
Seat fourteen
An old floor-plan notch and a crescent-punched ticket show why one patron's seat fourteen is now sixteen. Mina must surrender her first night as house captain to give an honest account of the concealed bookings.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONGentle Fantasy
The apprentice of small suns
Fen's grand lamp drains seventeen smaller lamps. Restoring them takes a skill he dismissed, the suns he spent months collecting, and wages already promised for his winter work.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONAdventure
The bridge of baskets
Nessa's promise to deliver alone fails at the gorge. Smaller basket loads get the seeds across, but reaching departing buyers requires Tamar's knowledge and a share of Nessa's commission.
11 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONSpeculative
The catalogue of unheard sounds
Lin recognizes a possible repair seam in a catalogue of alien sounds. With her promotion at risk, she and a skeptical technician must reproduce it before the institute certifies a greeting neither can substantiate.
11 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONPsychological Suspense
The copy with my notes
A marked manuscript makes translator Ada suspect that her former mentor has taken confidential pages. Carbon sheets and an old joint draft explain the handwriting, but both the breach and Ada's uncredited reuse must be recorded before the commission can proceed.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONPsychological Suspense
The courtyard list
Building secretary Priya finds a list behind the courtyard noticeboard and fears a challenge to her position. Her attempt to investigate harms a neighbor, while the true purpose of the appointments brings a withheld complaint back into view.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONAdventure
The desert radio
Samir would rather worry about dinner than the reserve can he emptied. After a storm destroys the road and radio, Pella's annotated map takes them toward a signal and a costly rendezvous.
14 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONAdventure
The ferry without a name
A road closure gives June a chance to put her restoration to use. Smaller loads, an old ferryman's help, and an ownership meeting change what she can claim about the boat.
16 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONGentle Fantasy
The house that moved six inches
Orla's practical repair sends Bess's house moving faster toward the river. To stop it, Bess must acknowledge the harm she did to a former friend and risk being turned away.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONSpeculative
The last manual door
Eren removes an old door closer partly to keep his departing friend Nessa at the port a little longer. A power failure exposes the damage, and a safe evacuation requires him to stop treating her friendship as another work assignment.
14 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONMystery
The librarian’s missing page
Ruth traces four missing leaves to June, her former route mentor and Thursday lunch companion. June refuses to release them if Ruth names her in the record; an honest account puts both a friendship and Mara's request at risk.
15 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONGentle Fantasy
The market for rain
Dima recognizes a young weather seller's deception because she once used it herself. Their repayment takes ten days of work, a reduced harvest, and a stricter way to buy the next jar.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONSpeculative
The memory laundromat
Ora returns to Nadi's shop with an unexpected loss after a memory wash. As Nadi refunds her and suspends bookings, an appointment to erase Nadi's own embarrassment becomes harder to keep.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONMystery
The minute after the photograph
At a reunion picnic, a delayed shutter gives the guests a false account of their movements. Vera follows a melting ice pop and a folded cloth to find the medal and correct a public accusation.
10 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONPsychological Suspense
The night-shift window
Night dispatcher Tess fears a watcher's signal while her supervisor asks her to verify a guessed shipment record. Finding the crates will require the colleague whose truthful account she let others disbelieve, and whose help she accepted during an injury and dismissed once she recovered.
14 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONMystery
The pigeon keys
Hadi follows seed grit and a changed schedule to uncover a borrowed key. Before the proof arrives, he refuses another unpaid afternoon, risking the Sunday work he hoped to share with Nur; their friendship needs a different sort of repair.
16 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONAdventure
The rope at low tide
Mae and Rusk lose time to a damaged wheel and a vanished spur. With water cutting across their way home, they must abandon the equipment and return later to account for what survived.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONAdventure
The snow-line notebook
Anik has promised to relieve her sister at Bell House in time for the valley coach. Lena's missing notebook draws her uphill, and a stranded traveler's request forces her to choose whose wait she can end.
14 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONPsychological Suspense
The spare key envelope
Elise finds her spare key in a freshly sealed envelope and traces the entry through a repair authorization she has left in place. A former housemate's boundary breach forces a difficult meeting before Elise can secure the apartment.
11 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONSpeculative
The spare minute
Mara finds a usable minute inside an old station clock. Taking it seems like a way to finish work and keep a promise to her son, until a commuter loses a tram and a colleague loses her footing.
11 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONContemporary
The third violin
Bea has practiced a solo for months. Assigned to a supporting part, she lets envy disrupt a rehearsal and must help repair what she spoiled.
13 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONGentle Fantasy
The umbrella repair shop
Tala closes a return eye to save the cost of a sound rib. Undoing her repair means returning the money, losing another customer, and letting a father face the conversation he came to avoid.
12 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONContemporary
The unclaimed coat
Walter saves small stories for June's monthly calls. Returning her coat forces him to ask for company directly and accept the answer.
11 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONPsychological Suspense
The voice in the rehearsal room
Noel suspects sabotage when an audition file includes words he cannot remember saying. An old session, a mislabeled booking and a chair squeak reveal the recording's route, leaving him to face the friend he accused.
9 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONMystery
The wrong bell
Dev investigates four replacement bicycle bells while a newcomer faces suspicion. A worn screw, a shop receipt and an old route map lead him to an intrusive attempt to recall a shared afternoon.
11 min read · Read story
ORIGINAL FICTIONContemporary
Two portions of rice
Sora is leaving for a better job. A delivery rider's lunch and the staff's unpaid closing time force an awkward negotiation before she hands over her key.
13 min read · Read story
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