Category: Short Stories

Sarah Kensington gripped the steaming black coffee, its bitter scent doing little to cut through the cloying Ravenwood fog. She watched Michael Harding across the mausoleum, his usual jovial face tight with barely suppressed panic. The funeral service for Elias Blackwood droned on, but Michael’s eyes weren’t on the coffin. They were fixed on the… Read more

Olivia Grant sketched the gargoyle perched above Ravenswood’s apothecary, charcoal scratching on paper. Fog, thick as stew, clung to the cobblestones, muting the city’s usual clamor. A raven screeched, not from above, but from the alley beside her. She lowered her pad. A shadowy figure darted into the fog-choked alley, dropping something metallic – a… Read more

Black coffee sloshed over Alex’s hand as he navigated the throng. Funerals always drew a crowd in Ravenwood City, even for someone as…unremarkable as Mr. Abernathy. A woman’s gasp cut through the somber murmur. Emma. Her face, usually bright, was stark white, eyes wide and fixed on a small, leather-bound journal clutched in her hand.… Read more

“Evelyn Harper hadn’t expected the chill. Not just from the late autumn air clinging to Briarwood’s cobblestone streets, but the iciness that settled in her chest watching the casket lowered. Aunt Maeve, a woman more shadow than substance in Evelyn’s memory, was finally gone. As the first clods of earth thudded onto the polished wood,… Read more

Alex Harper pushed through the clinging fog, the chill seeping into her despite the autumn coat. Crows scattered from the gnarled oak guarding the Fogwood cemetery entrance, their calls echoing her unease. The funeral. A disruption, unwelcome and laced with a subtle wrongness she couldn’t yet name. Her boots crunched on the gravel path. Marcus… Read more

Emma Thompson, black coffee already bitter on her tongue, meticulously cataloged the chipped teacups at the antique stall. Each fragile curve, each faded floral pattern, a silent story. A gruff cough cut through the market’s murmur. Lucas Reed, his usually jovial face etched with panic, shoved a crumpled note into her hand. “They took it,… Read more

Amelia Harper, black coffee steaming in her hand, meticulously charted the crumbling architecture of the cliffside manor in her worn leather notebook. The salt-laced wind whipped strands of her dark hair across her pale face, a familiar discomfort. A frantic pounding shattered the rhythmic scratching of her pen. Daniel Brooks, breathless and wide-eyed, stood silhouetted… Read more

Charlotte Barker, perpetually fueled by black coffee, meticulously photographed a crumbling tombstone in Ravenwood Cemetery. Fog, thick as a shroud, clung to the weathered stone, obscuring the finer details. A sharp crack echoed – a branch, snapped underfoot. Charlotte spun, her hand instinctively reaching for the small, weighted object in her coat pocket. Daniel Hartman,… Read more

Inciting Incident: Aidan Seraph, fingers flying across the holographic interface of the expedition’s navigation system, calibrated for the uncharted quantum rift. Alarms shrieked. The ancient relic, secured in a stasis field beside him, pulsed with an eerie, glowing light, far brighter than its usual hum. The ship bucked violently, throwing Aidan against the console. The… Read more

Eleanor Blackwood, slender and pale in her dark dress, adjusted the wilting lilies on the freshly turned earth. The Ravenwood air hung heavy, a damp, misty shroud mirroring the knot in her stomach. A low, guttural caw ripped through the somber silence, a raven landing on the headstone. Then, it wasn’t alone. Another, larger raven… Read more