The Bronze Key
The gravel in the drive-in lot had gone soft with grass.
Velvet Lodge
Longtime reader from England, writing stories when the day job quiets down, in a voice that is matter-of-fact. My wheelhouse is Erotic Couplings, told in first-person past tense in a voice that is matter-of-fact. I read every comment even when I am slow to reply. Hope you find something here worth bookmarking. Ranked by how many readers finish them. Some are free to read in full; the rest open with a free preview.
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Stories by Velvet Lodge
The Crane Test
The ladder up the crane leg was the worst thing I had climbed in years, and I climb things for a living, sort of.
The Layover Cure
The gate agent said the word "cancelled" twice before I actually heard it.
Gas Station Morning
The first thing I knew was the smell of gasoline and Callie's hair, all mixed up together, which is not a smell they bottle anywhere but…
The Night Between
*This one's for the people who've spent a night with a stranger and never regretted it, even when the morning hurt.
The Rope of the Gavel
*This one came from a weird day where I kept thinking about courthouse hallways after hours, all that institutional authority, just…
The One That Got Away (Revisited)
Okay, so this is what I keep not saying out loud to anybody, because if I say it out loud it becomes real.