September 2026
The Toolmaker—Letters for posterity (if there is any)
To whoever finds this, I promise I am not a beast. We don’t eat children, pregnant women, animals, and most importantly, the Toolmaker. Before the Toolmaker, our days were filled with blood and savagery. More than peace, he brought us a clear standard of eating. We are forever thankful for his work to our kind. […]
The House-Eater
Everybody knew it, the house-eater. The house-eater covered our apartment complex with a white blanket; it raised the temperature, but it also protected us from hail. Most of us were skeptical from the very start since the metal frame was buried around us, so the large white blanket came as no surprise. In the beginning, […]
Junior Accountant
It was that time of the year, and no amount of sighing or pretending to be sick would change that. Someone was brave enough to jump down the stairs and break a foot. The rest sighed in desperation. The odds increased. And when they saw their boss arriving, they knew the draw would start. Everybody […]
Speedy brain syndrome
I made peace with it. It is just how things are, and there is nothing to do about it. Trust me, I tried. Growing up, I did not understand it quite well. At home I was normal. It started with school. My classmates were struggling with the ABCs while I could read entire books. How […]
Cream
“Spell cream,” Celia asked the student. She drew five dashes on the blackboard. “C…r…e…e…m!” Before any other student could laugh, she lifted her hand, and they calmed down. “Are you sure?” She wrote the letters above the dashes, and it spelled ‘creem’. He looked at his classmates, but nobody was allowed to help. She said […]