Showing results for "A Confession" in Short Stories

They arrive alive. They always leave dead. But before they go, they tell me everything. My name’s Jack Steen, night nurse in an asylum for the criminally insane—where mercy is optional, and every secret comes with a pulse that’s fading fast. My job isn’t to save them. It’s to listen. For years, I’ve recorded their deathbed confessions in the dead of night, one story at a time. What began as whispers caught on tape has now been transcribed—unedited, unfiltered, raw. These aren’t stories meant to be read so much as listened to, in the quiet hours when even your own heartbeat sounds too loud.

They say that confession is necessary to purify the soul. However, there are some deeds that are so sinister, so wicked, that even the most remorseful admission of guilt is not enough to atone for them. From the mind of Vincent V. Cava comes his most twisted book to date: Nine frightening stories told through the voices of those who witnessed them.

I’m in love with my father’s best friend… And he’s in love with me. I’ve tried to push aside my feelings, but I can’t. Everything draws me to him. He is big, muscular, and covered in mouthwatering tattoos. With his trimmed beard and piercing green eyes, he can drive any girl a little crazy. Especially me. I need him more than I have ever needed someone in my entire life. I don’t care what it takes to have him. I want him to kiss me, to hold me, to make love to me. Only one thing stands in our way… My protective father who isn’t keen on the idea of us being together. I don’t care though.

Ebony carried a secret that tore the church apart. Her ill-advised relationship with a married man set off a chain of regret, reshaping the lives of everyone involved. As the weight of the secret grew, Ebony knew she couldn’t hide it forever—not from God, her family, the church, or him. She wanted to confess early on, but others persuaded her to remain silent. Then, one afternoon, everything changed. An incident sent Ebony to the hospital, forcing the truth into the open. A few weeks later, Ebony stood before the congregation and confessed.

Here is a celebration of the bizarre and beautiful, and a marriage of unlikely worlds. From a reverence of the dead to the sacrifices the living make to unspeakable gods, from clockwork dreams to tales of merciless revenge, Kiernan blurs the artificial lines of genre, and shows us a world where there is no division between the light and dark.

A hilarious and heartwarming short story told from the perspective of a baby genius—because someone has to make sense of this ridiculous world. Sage is seven months old. She drools. She babbles. She’s stuck in a highchair that squeaks when she thinks too hard. But behind those wide eyes and wobbly limbs lies a mind sharper than most adults on their second cup of coffee.

He sits on a park bench talking to trees, listening carefully for their replies. He digs deeper inside himself, knowing that peace lies beyond the depths. Meanwhile, a woman watches him from afar, enjoying his every step towards realization.

Owen Carlysle has long been known for his understated short crime fiction and this story represents a departure from his usual soft-spoken but impactful style. Enter the mind of a serial killer as he presents his chilling confession, a confession that will leave you sickened, saddened, and terrified.

From the Amazon bestselling author of Sleeping with Paris comes a spicy novella that will take you on a decadent and touching journey into the land of palm trees and sunshine… When talented DC photographer Natasha Taylor meets alluring investor Nicholas Reyes at her first exhibit, a harmless invitation to join him for a weekend in Los Angeles turns into a passionate love affair that awakens Natasha in ways she never could have imagined.

When overworked CIA agent Liz Valentine sets off for a yoga retreat on the gorgeous beaches of San Diego, the last thing she expects to find is love. But when one oh-so-enlightened yoga instructor catches her eye—and her heart—Liz must decide if the loveless life of a secret agent is truly what she wants after all.

When recent divorcée and famous romance novelist Violet Bell loses her once lustrous career writing happily-ever-afters, a whirlwind weekend in the Nation’s Capital with her closest college friend—a sexy British speechwriter named Aaron Wright—could have her wondering if Mr. Wright hasn’t been right underneath her nose all along…

Oliver Smith, known as Food to his friends, so called on account of the fact he can’t afford to feed himself, is a vagrant. After being turfed out from the family home by his wife, Food moves into a lads’ flat in the big city. However, things are not so easy for Food as he struggles with advancing his nonexistent career, housemates who refuse to give him a break, as well as the government, who Food is convinced are stalking him. These are the least of Food’s problems, however, given that due to his impoverished nature, he struggles on a daily basis to even feed himself.

Running a pub! What was he thinking? Teddy now realizes that when it isn't fun, it's aggravating. His colorful, sometimes bizarre or frightening customers could end up either entertaining or tormenting him; it was hard to predict which. These darkly humorous connected stories reveal how he navigates sticky situations and copes with his unhinged customers. You'll laugh out loud at his musings and misadventures in these fast-paced tales. Grab a beer and take a seat in one of his rough-cut pine booths as the action unfolds. No guarantee against splinters.

As a champion, Fall fights for the side of good, until that moment when he doesn’t. Chaos needs attention, too, or the universe tilts out of balance. Now incarcerated, they press for Fall’s confession: Why did he do it? Can his actions make up for his heinous crime and let good once again triumph over what he has done?

I’ve often wondered at the meaning lurking behind the reported final words—moose, Indian—of Henry David Thoreau. For some reason, I’ve always imagined a somewhat dark, untold tale at their root. MOOSE. INDIAN. is just such a reimagining of Thoreau’s first trip to the Maine Woods—as he recalls the uncomfortably gruesome truth on his deathbed.