The first time the cell door slammed shut behind Marcus, he felt like the world had finally given up on him. Not that he didn’t deserve it—he had burned every bridge, scorned every kindness, and mocked the name of the God his grandmother once whispered over him at night. The sentence was clear: twenty years […]
It was an old country church with warped floorboards, crooked windows, and a cross that leaned ever so slightly to the left. Every Sunday, Miss Clara would open its doors by 6:30 a.m., her hands wrapped in fingerless gloves, humming the same hymn she’d sung for forty years. The paint on the pews was peeling. […]
It was just past midnight when the rain began. Not the soft, cleansing kind of rain that hushes the world into sleep—but a wild, slashing storm that rattled windows and carved rivers into the cracked pavement outside. Inside the third-floor apartment, Aaron sat alone, knees pulled to his chest, lit only by the pale flicker […]
The congregation saw a man of faith—confident, kind, always ready with a word of prayer. On Sundays, he stood behind the pulpit like an oak tree, unwavering, voice ringing with Scripture and assurance. People came to him for counsel. They brought him casseroles and prayer requests. They asked him to bless their babies and bury […]
“Do you think God could still love someone like me?”She hadn’t meant to say it out loud. The question had slipped out like a whisper she couldn’t catch, hanging awkwardly between them, trembling with more history than she could admit.Mara sat hunched on the edge of the hospital bed, one hand gripping the thin blanket, […]
It was the last bus out of the city, past midnight, the kind of ride where no one speaks unless they have to. The air inside was thick with weariness, the seats stained by years of other nights like this one, and the windows ran with condensation from the November rain.He stumbled on at 12:07 […]
She stared at the clock on the microwave like it had betrayed her. 9:42 a.m. The church service started in eighteen minutes, and the sanctuary was exactly seventeen minutes away—on a good day.Rain clawed gently at the kitchen window. Not a storm, not a downpour, just the kind of persistent drizzle that makes sweaters feel […]
It happened on a Tuesday, sometime between the cracked silence of morning coffee and the low hum of fluorescent lights at the office. Nathaniel Crane, forty-seven years old, senior analyst, wore his usual pressed shirt and carefully measured smile. The mask, as he’d come to call it, had long since become second nature—a composite of […]
The engine hummed low as the car rolled past the edges of the neighborhood—rows of houses she knew by heart, all blurring behind the early morning mist. Emily sat in the passenger seat, arms crossed tight over her chest, jacket zipped high despite the warmth. She hadn’t said a word since they left.Her dad glanced […]
It was a rust-colored morning, one of those days when the sky feels heavy before the sun even begins its rise. Eli sat in the prison chapel, staring at the thin crack that ran through the concrete floor like a scar. The wooden pew beneath him creaked every time he shifted, though he hadn’t moved […]