Novels

The rain was coming down in sheets when I got the order. After the drop-off, the customer was taking forever to come out. I was about to bail, when the door creaked open. And the psycho inside gave me this creepy, unsettling smile. 1. It was after 1 a.m., and I was clocking a late delivery order. We work at this popular, name-brand chicken joint. Because the business is so good, we don't use those delivery apps. All our orders are delivered by employees. Tonight, it was just me and old Lou working. He finished up the chicken, then grumbled about the rain and wouldn't take the delivery, so it

The diner downstairs makes a mean burger. I grab lunch there almost every day. They’re hustling, you know? So I haven’t jacked up their rent in three years, and even give them a three-hundred-dollar break each month. Today, I was rushing to work, and when they bagged my order, I noticed the chopsticks were all splintered. Didn’t say anything to the owner, just snagged an extra pair. Next thing I know, the owner's mom is storming into my office, demanding I pay up. She was all passive-aggressive, saying stuff like, "They're just a small business, not like me with my big shot job." In that moment,

When Ethan handed me the divorce papers for the nineteenth time, I finally agreed. His little darling was throwing a fit about wanting to be official, she couldn’t wait any longer. And honestly? Neither could I. I was pregnant, and the kid wasn’t his. 01 After signing the papers, the first thing I did was snap a photo and text it to Ethan: [Signed. You want your assistant to come get them?] Twenty minutes ticked by. Ethan’s text thread was as dead as a doornail. I was about to call a courier when I saw Ethan, a little out of breath, standing at my door. He actually came himself. Figures. His

My mom was always on my case about getting laid. “Honey, if you don’t get yourself knocked up soon, you’ll be the end of the line!” she’d nag. Eventually, this whole procreation thing started getting to me. “Okay, look,” I told my boyfriend, Jake. “No matter how much I come onto you, you gotta promise not to give in, okay?” Jake, all flustered, practically ran into the bathroom. That’s when his phone buzzed with a message: “Don’t forget, 11 o’clock, me and the guys are gonna get a taste of that girlfriend of yours!” I scrolled through the chat history and discovered Jake was drowning in

My Roomie’s Sneaky Room Swap I was curious, so I asked her, "Why are you switching rooms? I thought we all got along okay?" She gave this nervous little chuckle, "Oh, uh, another dorm invited me..." She said it with her head down, voice shaky, avoiding my eyes. But when she talked to the other girls, she was totally relaxed. My gut sank. "Did I do something? Like, was I making it uncomfortable for you to live here?" "No! No way! Are you kidding?" she stammered, eyes wide. "Don't read into it, it's not about you, seriously!" 1 When Chloe found out that Maya was transferring dorms, she

It all started with a simple act of kindness, which, let me tell you, has been the bane of my existence more than once. I was heading home for winter break, crammed in a coach seat on the train, trying to ignore the cacophony of noise and the acrid smell of stale cigarettes. I'd just gone to the conductor to upgrade to a sleeper car, my anxiety having spiked. As I walked back to gather my things, a wave of dread washed over me. I’m a psychology student, for crying out loud, and even I couldn’t analyze my way out of

It was supposed to be a huge celebration, my big welcome-back bash after finishing my PhD abroad. My girlfriend of five years, Sarah, waltzed in fashionably late with some college kid in tow. The kid, Chad, gave me this smug, sideways grin: “Dude, you’ve been in grad school forever, right? You gotta be, like, ancient.” “Aren’t you, like, super old to still be single? Don’t your parents get on your case?” Then, with a little chuckle, “Oh, wait, I forgot, they, um… they passed away, didn’t they?” My blood ran cold. Sarah, usually so sensitive to my feelings, just smiled indulgently, ruffled Chad’s hair, and said, “He’s

Moving into my new place was supposed to be a fresh start, but the HOA manager pulled me aside like I was joining a secret society. “Hey, we've got a couple in the complex trying to get pregnant," he said, "Just… be cool, okay?" Weird, but whatever. What did their baby-making have to do with me? I unpacked, took a shower after all the heavy lifting, and then checked the community group chat. That's when I saw it: a notification from someone with a cartoon baby as their profile pic, @'ing me like crazy: BabyOnBoard: Hey there, new neighbor! I saw you earlier

My husband, Mark, and I have this thing where we get a photoshoot done every anniversary. It's kind of our tradition. Ten years, though? That was a big one, so of course, we went all out. The girl at the studio was flipping through the pics on the computer when she suddenly stops. “Oh, looks like there’s a few extra ones of your husband here,” she says, pointing. I stare at the screen. The man is definitely Mark. But the woman in the wedding dress? That's not me. 1. The studio employee kept scrolling through the pictures. Mark, my husband, was there, all right, but the