The cell, rather than a room, reeks of the stench springing up from the surroundings beyond its confinement through the single meagre square vent serving as an open window with triple iron bars within. The pervading odour is aggravated in the aftermath of a downpour, reinforced by the relentless trickles from any of the crevices that gradually tend to burgeon into a small flood along its western perimeter, stirring the dried dirt clinging to the floor into turbid paste, as if reviving the wounds to their rampant smell that have already dried up. But all of it has no troublesome effect on me anymore, as I am just a short-term visitor here, awaiting the footsteps of my death.
Tag Archives: Short Story
Controlled
Quivering hands. A racing heartbeat. Clammy palms.
They were all unmistakable signs of fear.
At that moment, Chloe Maxwell was experiencing every single one of them. Why wouldn’t she be? She had stumbled upon a secret that was never meant to be uncovered – a discovery that could very well cost her everything.
Three months earlier…
Hollowing Silence
Mason hated silence because silence reminded him that nobody in the house really spoke anymore. Ever since his parents divorced, everything felt dead.
His mother dragged herself home exhausted every morning from hospital shifts, barely able to keep her eyes open long enough to ask how school was. Sometimes she forgot what day it was entirely, staring blankly at the kitchen counter with dark circles hanging beneath her eyes while cold coffee sat untouched beside her.
Daddy, May I Have a Taste of This Murder?!
20 years ago:
Funny thing, I used to have this doll when I was six. I used to play with it a lot.
Then the nightmares came.
The same nightmare returned every night. The doll stood beside blood-covered bodies before slowly turning her head towards me. Her eyes were bloodshot and her mouth stained red. Then she would smile and say,
“Daddy, may I have a taste of this murder?!”
Because of this nightmare, I threw the doll away and forgot about it.
Or at least, I thought I did.
Little did I know what would happen twenty years later…
Drawn Wrong
She didn’t understand why it happened, only that it never stopped. The doctors called it a “break from shared reality”. They gave it a name — one she stopped repeating after the third appointment because names made it feel real in a way she couldn’t survive.
It began with drawings that didn’t match memory. A chair she sketched appeared in her room the next morning, except it was slightly wrong. The legs were too long. The shadow pointed the wrong way.
I finally got what I wanted
“I finally got what I wanted,” that’s exactly what Ayushi said in the very beginning.
Ayushi was an exchange 7th grader in Bandra. From the very start of school, she was labelled as an average dork. No matter how hard she tried, she would always become the unfitted piece of the fancy puzzle. She was nothing but a shadow in the corridors of the prison she never imagined.
Two to Tango by Pooja & Aarthi – Winners
At Beyond the Box, we are constantly thinking of ideas to give something unique, refreshing as well as challenging to our community of writers. Two to Tango is one such endeavour to encourage the participants to work along with another writer as a team and bring about a creative synergy. 40+ teams participated in Season 5 of this one-of-its-kind contest and the winners were chosen based on the quality of writing and the dual perspective cohesion. Below prompt was given to the writers and they were asked to narrate the same story from two different points of view.
Prompt – Write a fictional story that begins with a Swiggy order getting swapped — two people receive each other’s deliveries by mistake. How you take it from there is entirely up to you. Maybe it’s a comedy of errors, a fateful coincidence, a strange mystery, or a moment of unexpected connection. Feel free to interpret this in any tone, style, or genre, as long as the swapped order becomes the turning point that sets your story in motion.
The winners in the Adults’ category were Pooja Kabra & Aarthi V Karanam (Team 39). Enjoy their story!
The Night of Hidden Truths
“The darkest nights reveal the most terrifying truths.”
Once upon a time, there lived a group of friends. In the group, there were two boys named Rahul and Sam, and two girls named Ananya and Kriti. They all decided to go out on New Year’s Eve. As planned, they went out together.
Two to Tango by Smayan & Ashvik
At Beyond the Box, we are constantly thinking of ideas to give something unique, refreshing as well as challenging to our community of writers. Two to Tango is one such endeavour to encourage the participants to work along with another writer as a team and bring about a creative synergy. 44 teams participated in Season 4 of this one-of-its-kind contest held in Sep-Oct 2024. Below prompt was given to the writers and they were asked to narrate the same story from two different points of view.
Prompt – Write a fictional story in which a letter gets delivered ten years late, impacting the present in some way. Feel free to interpret this in any context/style/genre.
The Special Mention winners in the kids’ category were Smayan & Ashvik (Team 40). Enjoy their story!
Revering Cultures And Traditions
Retired IG of police Krishnamurthy walked home after his session at the Gymnasium.
The temple bell rang, indicating the morning Deep Aradhana time. His spacious apartment in a skyrise was opposite one of the famous temples in a South-Indian-dominated locality in the heart of Mumbai city.
Krishnamurthy entered the house, feeling the heavy weight of the impending emotional storm. He braced himself for the drama that was sure to unfold.