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Jay sat in the hospital waiting room a few hours later, cleared by the CT scans as still having a normal brain, her ribs declared bruised but not broken. A small bandage covered the cut on her head.

Jay groaned and blinked dust from her eyes. She wiped at her forehead, and her hand came away wet. Blood. Her heart raced with panic. She probed her forehead with her fingers and winced. It was sore, but only bleeding a little, judging from her fingers. Her vision cleared with a little blinking, but it was dim. She coughed, and pain shot through her side. Dust puffed up from the ground beside where she lay, stirred by her breath. She felt dazed. Where was she?

The Talent Coordinator rushed past Jayana and whipped the curtain open.

UPDATE: The PirateCat website has now been assimilated into this website! You can access my serial fiction and other Clean YA Fiction available online to read RIGHT HERE in my Story Subscribers portal! ------------------- Original post: The PirateCat Publishing portal live! Our goal with PirateCat was to create a fun, interactive online reading portal where we can truly build a COMMUNITY around Clean YA fiction. We're so excited to officially launch! We've got chat group

The curtains split. Jay was blinded by spotlights as big as a car as the announcer’s shrill voice echoed through the sound system: “The finalists for the Miss College Town Belle Regional Pageant!”

Ghost Trouble Crystal Crawford © 2018-2022 Crystal Crawford All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, cont

a sci-fi flash story

a suspense/escape short story with a speculative technology element

a dystopian-future science fiction short story Cassandra had survived death—again. “How do you feel?” The doctor’s face loomed over her—wide, dark eyes; pallid skin; a mess of bland, brownish hair. He had big ears, the kind that stuck out. Cassandra had noticed them when she first met him, but now they glowed pink, backlit by the fluorescents. Capillaries threaded the cartilage like blood-red lightning. White-hot strikes filled the sky when The Collapse began, splintered w

a potential supervillain origin (flash) story Pneumonia. Again. “This is the third time this year, Nasha.” Her mother patted her hand above the IVs. “You’ve got to be more careful.” Nasha stifled a groan—breathing was hard enough, anyway—and glanced toward the window. The clouds were high and bright, the sky blue and sunny. Inside her felt like a violent rainstorm, swirling toward a hurricane. She took a painful, shaky breath and forced herself to sever the awareness. The sto

a contemporary novelette about family, kittens, & coming together in crisis Hannah stood at the foot of her bed with her arms full of clothes, staring at her overflowing suitcase. “Hurry, Hannah,” Aaron said, “we’ve got to go.” He grabbed her suitcase and zipped it, then carried both his suitcase and hers out into the hallway. “Wait!” Hannah shouted, “I still need that!” She ran after him, took her suitcase back, and cracked the zipper just enough to shove in that last mound

a short story of love and horror (psychological thriller; creepy) The door creaked slightly as it opened, and a young woman's mahogany-curled head peered into the office. "Doctor Martin." She whispered his name as if it were a question. The doctor looked up from his desk, pencil in hand. "Yes, Amelia," he answered. "Mr. Winston is in the lobby, sir," the girl said, sliding her body through the door's thin opening and shutting it quietly behind her. "They found him wandering a

a creepy, bizarre flash horror (nothing graphic, just… weird) Shocking sea beasts— you won’t believe your eyes. A sloppily painted sign suspended by thick rope greeted us as we entered. The tent was garish; burgundy fabric walls, peaked ceiling, electric lanterns strung along the sides. Glass tanks lined the edges, tall ones like magicians use. One held an octopus, disgusting tentacles suckering the glass. The dolphin in front of me hung upright in its confined space, as tho

a short-short sweet romance told entirely through dialogue

a quirky, comedic short story with a thriller/mystery edge

a unique-POV contemporary short story about life and loss

a magical-realism/real-world fantasy flash

a bizarre, comedic flash horror (somewhat creepy!)

a paranormal (short) love story "Why would we take you, Son of Adam?" a voice hissed. Maggie blinked, her eyelids resisting as if tied down by weights. Where am I? Another voice answered the first, a voice Maggie felt she should know. She forced her eyes to focus. She was in a large cavern with greyish-white walls. Stalactites hung like daggers across the low ceiling. Deep, murky water covered the floor. The air was damp with the smell of salt and rotting seaweed. Maggie lo

a short story from a cat’s POV (inspired by a real-life event) A Note from the Author: The following is a narrative based on a true story that happened a vague amount of time ago. The events in the story are mostly accurate. But, as you will soon notice, the narrator is a bit unusual. I have allowed my story to be told not by myself, but by a participant in it, whose voice I have attempted to capture as authentically as possible. Though the events are real, the details and in