The Hop Ties
The fairgrounds came into view right around the bend where Highway 12 dips past the water tower, and I felt my shoulders drop about two…
Dark and intense first time stories
Stories in First Time tagged dark and intense, ranked by how many readers finish them. Reads run 22 to 26 minutes. Writers to know: Jade Epilogue, Ivory Turn and Ember Listener. Readers usually start with “The Hop Ties” and “The Worst First Date Ever”. Some are free to read in full; the rest open with a free preview.
Dark and intense first time stories, ranked by readers
01 02 The Worst First Date Ever
My name is Brent Jacobson, I'm 52 years old, and I've been a traveling salesman for twenty-eight years.
03 Flipping the House, Igniting Us
I'm Andreas Conti, sixty-four years old, retired firefighter, thirty-five years married to the same woman.
04 What the Walls Hold
The evenings were the worst part of it, and I want to be plain about that from the start, because people assume retirement is all golf and…
05 Revenge in the Sun
Okay so here's how my dumb revenge plan started, and I want you all to appreciate how badly it went off the rails, because it went off the…
06 Darkroom Debacle
Okay, so I'm standing in the parking lot of the Fairway Pines driving range at seven on a Thursday evening, and I want you to understand…
07 The Confession Exhibit
The flyer said the language exchange met Thursdays at the Railway Museum.
08 The Blind Draw
I parked my sedan between a pickup with a gun rack and a dirt bike that had no business being leaned against a porch, and I sat there for…
09 The Grease Rag
The call came in on a Tuesday.
10 A New Kind of Delivery
Ray had been doing the Thursday run to The Anchor Tap for six months now, and in all that time he could count on one hand the number of…