All The World’s A Stage

“The Closet Romantic” by All The World’s A Stage

Kik was known as a man of few words. He liked to keep his answers and descriptions short and succinct. He felt no need to explain further than necessary to get his point across. His friends would label him as “to the point” to his face and “boring” behind his back. If you ask him about his day, you will receive an answer along the lines of “fine,” “not great,” or “terrible,” with no elaboration. When he goes to McDonald’s, he always orders the same thing: a regular cheeseburger, plain, with a small fry and a water. There was quite possibly n...

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“The Invite” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #104

“Are you coming tonight?” Bell saw the message notification light up on her phone sitting beside her on the couch. She felt dread building up inside her at the thought of opening the message and needing to answer it. As an introvert, she desperately craved her at-home-and-alone time. It wasn’t that she was anti-social; she just preferred to stay in than go out. She also preferred dogs and cats to human beings. Okay, so maybe she was a little anti-social. She would go for a day where she never left the house and the only other living thing s...

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“Wedding of Her Dreams” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #103

Emma woke up suddenly and sat straight up in her bed. Her heart was beating fast, but she wasn’t sweating or panting like she did when she had a nightmare. Her nervous system was in a tizzy, but not from a panic attack. More like, butterflies in her stomach. What had she just been dreaming about? That’s the most frustrating part of dreams, she felt. When you wake up from an impactful vision in your sleep but then have no recollection of what it was once your eyes are open. It clearly wasn’t a scary dream or she’d be reacting differently. But...

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“Kin, Kin, Kin!” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #100

Summer time in western countries was rainy season in Southeast Asia. For the residents of these countries, this meant relief from the intense daily heat, flourishing crops and vegetation, and excusing themselves from driving their motorbikes through the rain whenever possible. But for unexpected and not-so-prepared backpacking travelers, this could prove to be a derailment of plans. And such was the luck for backpackers Darryl and Sabrina Hoshkin. This young, adventurous couple had decided to go completely off the grid, to take in the beauty...

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“Window to the Soul” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #97

You have heard the expression “The eyes are the windows to the soul.” It is the notion that by looking deep into a person's eyes, you can peer into the core of their being, exposing all of their hopes and fears. But what if there were an actual window to the soul? The eyes can only tell us so much about a person, but what if there were a real, true window that could transport the outside viewer straight into another person's being? Surely such a magical window could not exist. Unless you are a certain therapist... Dr. Dien Kemper happened to...

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“The Matchmaking Tree” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #90

 It was March on the relatively unknown island of Yeltina. The tropical island breeze blew across the Pacific southeast and across the island, causing waves upon the beaches and fluttering in the palm tree leaves. The population of 200,000 lived in peace fairly secluded from most of the rest of the world. Over the years, only a few travelers had made their way to the unheard of land, leaving the culture untouched from outsiders' hands. The natives held great pride in their culture and traditions, from the brightly colored fabrics used t...

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“Culture Shift” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #85

Harry looked out his bedroom window to watch the sunrise. However, the sunrise was being significantly blocked by the Bangkok skyline. Harry let out an exasperated sigh and turned his gaze down to the street three stories below his apartment. Down below, the streets were busy even though they were tucked away several blocks from any of the main highways. Everyday, Harry could spot numerous motorbikes, street vendors with carts selling various food and coffee, and students walking by with backpacks in tow. The sights seen here tended to be qu...

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“The Day the Earth Turned Black” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #80

Young Chakara stood at the window of his unassuming home, looking out at the dust-covered roads of the capital. It was April in Cambodia, which meant dry season kept the country quite warm during this time. People liked to stay inside in the daytime in an attempt to stay cooler in the shade. But in the year 1975, people had been staying inside for a completely different reason: the bombs. As war waged in neighboring Vietnam, the United States had been dropping plane-loads of bombs onto Cambodia, an innocent bystander, in an effort to destroy...

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“A Turkish Bus Proposal?” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #76

Maria stepped onto the bus the same way she had for the past week and a half. That’s exactly how long she had been staying here in Ankara, Turkey, volunteering to teach English to refugees living there. She made her way to the small counter near the front of the bus and placed 3 Turkish coins on it to pay for her fare. Since it was only 10 o’clock in the morning, the bus was fairly empty. Maria spotted an empty couple of seats right behind the driver. She slid herself into the window seat to gaze outside at the buildings of Turkey’s capital....

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“In a Flash” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #74

It started out like any other day for Luis. Another early morning rise, commute to work, long and boring work day, completed with a late meeting and paperwork, the final result being Luis driving home finally at 7:08:12 pm. Living in southern Indiana, driving home on the backroads during the evening was not his most favorite thing. He had to cross 3 different railroads, hoping there would be no trains to block his journey and no wildlife looking for a chance at a near-death experience with the front of his vehicle. Here he was, at 7:08:12 pm...

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“A Vietnamese Inheritance” by All The World’s A Stage

Submitted to Contest #72

Sydney Jones sat in her small apartment’s living room, scrolling through Facebook for the umpteenth time today. Since the apartment’s only window opened to face a lovely slum alley and a 12-story building with no attractive features on its design, social media was her only true view of the outside world. It also didn’t help too much that she never left her tiny home. You see, many years ago, Sydney was diagnosed with agoraphobia, the fear of leaving home. Or, as Sydney’s therapist whom she met with once a week via Skype explained, it was the...

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