#short

All about us were people. Perhaps a hundred. Men. Experience had taught me that humans were cruelest when segregated by sex, and the cold feeling in the pit of my stomach became led. What had I let myself in for? ↗

— C.S. Friedman

#dark #fear #short-sentences #experience

Nothing will get you into trouble so deep or as sad as faith. ↗

— Rick Bass

#juggernaut-short-story #faith

Misery comes to miser; joy comes to wiser. (A Very Hot Cup of Tea, Empathy) Juvenile invites, youth tries, adult applies, and the old man dies. (A Straw Man, Empathy) In everyone, there lives a superhero. (The Medicine Man, Empathy) Faith is the strongest word in any dictionary. (The Wisdom Beard, Empathy) I’ve entered into your feelings; it’s your turn now. (Empathy) ↗

— D.R. Mirror

#death-and-dying #empathy #fiction #short-story #death

Sure, we thought the acres That we tilled were sacred, But how could we have known That wheat can haunt like ghosts ↗

— Sherman Alexie

#family-farm #poem #poetry #sherman-alexie #short-poems

The Scottish sun, shocked by having its usual cloudy underpinnings stripped away, shone feverishly, embarrassed by its nakedness. ↗

— Stuart Haddon

#history #scotland #short-story #the-bullet-in-the-box #family

Diabetes is passed that way -- over and down, like a knight in chess. ↗

— Maile Meloy

#family #genetics #short-story #spy-vs-spy #family

Neither the cat nor I missed you while you were gone. It's worse than that. We danced the visitor-gone dance, flinging our feet (and paws) with particular glee. You remember the dance - the one you do after shutting the door behind a difficult visitor (like a family member)? You hold your breath for 120 seconds then deadbolt the door, race to the bed, leap on to it and jump, twirl, bell-kick and prance, singing all the while, "she's go-onnne, she's gooo-oonne. ↗

— Melissa Checker

#jack #short #story #family

Grow a garden. When there’s a food shortage in the future, you’ll need it. And when people try to steal your food and you shoot them, you’ll also need a good place to hide the bodies. 
 ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#body #death #food #food-shortage #future

[...] during one train stop, I watched as another guard with a spirit of empathy, ran out into an apple orchard and picked apples. He carried his jacket like a bag and filled it with apples. The kind German came to our open train window and handed us each an apple. The juicy apple tasted so delicious. I so appreciated that apple and his unusual compassion. ↗

— Oliver Omanson

#food-shortage #nazis #prisoner-of-war #world-war-ii #food

Coming home seemed to have started the healing process. No longer vivid and garish, the memories seemed to be covered in gossemer, fading behind a curtain of time and forgiveness. ↗

— Karen Fowler

#mothers-and-daughters #novella #short-fiction #forgiveness