At first, Iris thought it was just her upstairs neighbor.

The knocking started soft. A polite tap-tap-tap, just enough to draw her attention from her laptop screen. She paused, blinked. It stopped. Shrugging, she went back to typing up the quarterly analysis her manager said was urgent. It was always urgent. She rolled her eyes.

The next night, the knocking came again. This time, slower. Deliber...

There was once a creature

who lived on an island brushed by warm winds

and rimmed with seashells.

She had no need for fear;

not of claw, nor of chase,

not of dark shapes slipping through leaves.

She did not run.

Why would she?

Nothing in her world ever told her to.

So she walked,

plump and slow,

through the dappled green,

her footsteps soft and unhurried

Her wings, though stubby, fluttered when ...

When my grandmother died,

they came to the fence

five crows, lined up like sentries

on the rotted wood,

heads cocked, watching.

My uncle muttered about omens,

spat twice to ward off death.

But they weren’t there for warning.

They waited while we buried her,

waited as if they understood

what silence meant in a house

that used to sing.

One landed on the shovel.

Another picked a thread

from my dres...

Every spring, without fail, Bolotomere the Lesser Swamp Dragon trudged into the bustling halls of Thistlepine’s Creature Clinic for his annual check-up.

He hated it.

The waiting room was always full of creatures noisier than him. A banshee with laryngitis whisper-screamed into a tissue. A troll with seasonal hoof rot tapped a magazine with one cracked claw. And next to Bolotomere, a cloud nymp...

The emergency department was humming at 3 a.m, a tired hum, like the last note of a song held just a little too long. Fluorescent lights blinked above, caught in a tired strobe that no one had time to fix. The waiting room overflowed into the corridor, filled with patients. Some coughing, some scrolling on their phones, some loud, some lifeless.

Nurse Isla March moved fast, though her feet dragg...

Miranda didn’t wake up one morning and decide to be depressed. It wasn’t a lifestyle choice, like intermittent fasting or suddenly liking oat milk. No. It crept in quietly, like mould behind wallpaper, until one day, she found herself crying because she dropped a spoon, and thought: Well, that tracks.

Her therapist (Chad, who wore linen shirts and said “mmm” a lot) encouraged her to “explore her...

We danced around the soil for months,

feet gentle, hearts tighter than fists,

pretending the seeds we dropped

were accidents.

We told ourselves we were gardeners of restraint,

never tending too close,

never staying long enough for roots.

We didn’t dare name the sun between us,

though it warmed our skin all the same.

Didn’t speak of how our shadows stretched

just to touch.

Silent vines reaching i...

Interstellar Ethological Log

Researcher: Tharnex-7

Stardate: 5920.04.77

Planet: Terra (Designation: 3rd from Sol)

Subject: Small Furred Quadruped - Classification Pending

Local name overheard: “Kitten”

Terra Species: Feline

Size: 1.2 standard units in length

Age: Juvenile

Behavioral Observation: Emitting rhythmic vibratory pulses while curled on a soft surface

Status: Mildly alarming

Entry 1 – ...

It started with banana bread. Warm, nutty, fresh out of the oven, left at my door in a cheery tin that said Life Is Sweet. No note. Just a sticky note with a smiley face drawn in black pen. I assumed it was a welcome gesture. I’d just moved in a week before. The only person I’d met was the upstairs neighbor, Cass, when she helped me carry up a box labeled “KITCHEN/FRAGILE” after I dropped it on th...

He built it.

Brick by brick,

hands thick with time,

and every tick

was laid in mortar,

love and care

a steady man

in thinning air.

He carved my name

into the frame,

each wall a whisper,

soft acclaim.

Hung windows wide

so I could see

the kind of life

he dreamed for me.

He measured twice,

but never rushed.

He patched my past,

sanded my hush.

Hammered hope

into every floor.

Left a light

behind ea...