The first thing Thomas noticed when he stepped into the church was how quiet it was.Not the sort of silence that feels hollow or abandoned. It was thick, like a quilt wrapped around the bones of the old wooden pews and faded stained glass. He hadn’t planned to go inside. He’d only meant to walk […]
Dylan had never set foot in a church.At seventeen, his Sundays were reserved for sleeping in and scrolling TikTok. Religion had always seemed distant — something for old people or families who prayed before dinner. His mom used to wear a gold cross around her neck, but it had disappeared sometime after his dad left. […]
The rain had just started when Luke cut the ignition. It came soft and steady, like the weeping of someone too tired to sob. He sat there, hands still gripping the steering wheel, as if letting go might unravel him. The windshield wipers made a slow pass, then stopped mid-swipe — frozen, like everything else […]
The rain began just after the last mourners left. It tapped gently against the stained glass windows of the church, each drop sounding like a hush over the hushed. Miriam stayed seated in the back pew, her hands wrapped around a crumpled tissue, her eyes fixed on the pulpit where her father’s casket had just […]
It was a winter morning when Elias first felt the tremble in his trigger finger—not from the cold, but from something deeper that had started to stir days ago. Snow drifted like ashes across the ruined town, clinging to the edges of his boots as he stepped quietly through the skeletal remains of what had […]
The pews smelled of old varnish and dust, and the winter air that filtered in through the crack in the stained glass made Eleanor pull her coat tighter around her shoulders. She sat in the back corner, same as every Sunday for the last twenty years, watching the pastor’s lips move without really hearing the […]
The prison cafeteria smelled of bleach and instant coffee. A guard leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, watching with that half-bored, half-wary look he wore like a badge. Across the scarred metal table, Nathan sat with his hands folded neatly, like he had trained himself to do something with them that wouldn’t look threatening. […]
The boy didn’t speak for a long time.He stood in the hallway, one sneaker halfway off, backpack sagging from one shoulder, staring at the pale outline just above the baseboard. The house was quiet—his mother still at work, his little sister upstairs humming tunelessly to herself. Outside, the late autumn wind knocked the brittle branches […]
The rain came the day the movers arrived.It wasn’t a gentle spring rain that softened the edges of the world; it was a cold, slashing downpour that soaked through the back of Margaret’s jacket as she stood on the porch of what used to be her home. The men didn’t speak much as they heaved […]
The rain had not stopped for six days.At first, it had come softly, like a whispered confession on the rooftops of the small Tennessee town, and people welcomed it. April had been too dry. But by the second day, the wind had sharpened, the river swelled, and by the fourth, basements were filling and roads […]