LeeAnn Hively

“Megan Said” by LeeAnn Hively

Molly had become someone boring; she’d wrapped herself in a cocoon of solitary shadows, separate from the world even when they moved in tandem. It happened in increments. One day she was in the middle of it–it being anything new and exciting. The next, premature departures became her signature move. She cited a sudden headache or an impending workday as her escape route.Soon enough, the tedium of social niceties weighed down on her. That’s when she started stepping out for fresh air and just not going back inside. The phone buzzed with conce...

7 likes 8 comments 8

Read story

“A Lion's Tale” by LeeAnn Hively

Submitted to Contest #249

“I was a perfectly well-behaved child.” It always made me laugh when Ruslan would say such a thing sincerely and with a straight face, as if he believed the words that flowed from his mouth. While staring at nothing at all, he would scrunch up his eyes a bit, as if maybe looking hard enough would allow him to see more details. Then he’d recount another story, a narrative of a childhood claimed to be filled with innocence and commendable virtue.It was especially hot that summer, a year that leapt directly from winter into summer and skipped s...

6 likes 6 comments 6

Read story

“Desperate Remedies” by LeeAnn Hively

Submitted to Contest #248

The Golden God was beginning the languid descent towards his home beyond the horizon, casting a brilliant tinge across the embankment sheltering the trees. The river, a smooth glass of serpentine fluidity, reflected the blazing orb as it neared the jagged peaks that devoured it every night. On the shore, a man as stout and squat as the rocky escarpments surrounding the valley advanced with unwavering resolve, his broad brow furrowed with worry as he pushed onward into the formidable landscape.In the dimming radiance of a setting sun, Druk, w...

21 likes 12 comments 12

Read story

“Pomposity” by LeeAnn Hively

Submitted to Contest #247

I used to be held in high regard by humans in the past. They possessed the knowledge to stay away from fairy circles and clearly understood that mysterious entities dwelled in the shadows. Their transformation into these ignorant brutes, who live without dread of the supernatural and with contentment for existence, is beyond my understanding. They are much sturdier now and don’t fall over dead from a simple cold; they have vast amounts of entertainment, and they eat every single day. People made things even more dreadful with their inte...

21 likes 12 comments 12

Read story

“The Hexenmeister” by LeeAnn Hively

Submitted to Contest #246

They were settling in front of the fire, Mama in her rocking chair, Johannes with his wooden horses, and Inga singing to her doll, when thunderous voices suddenly heralded the bludgeoning of the door. The eldest twin, Johannes, sprung to his feet and instinctively sidled in front of Inga. Mama, dropping the darning into the ancient woven basket near her rocker, walked towards the latched entrance.With every fist lash, the hammering intensified, and the voices became audible. “Ebba! Ebba, let us in!” The cumbrous oaken door gave one last shud...

20 likes 23 comments 23

Read story

“Purpose” by LeeAnn Hively

Submitted to Contest #243

   I am life, and I am death. I am the personification of everything in between. Unseen, I am the epitome of all that we are, you and I. By your side, I steadfastly remain, from your first breath to your last. We share this world and the world to come. While I see every minuscule moment of your physical duration, you are incapable of seeing the love I have for you, from one soul to another, the heartbeat of existence thrumming rhythmically within us both. This is how it should be. You, one soul, tethered to the physical world,...

26 likes 13 comments 13

Read story

“Metamorphosis Reimagined ” by LeeAnn Hively

Submitted to Contest #242

     She was my muse, first coming to me in a feverish dream when the heat pressed down on my body, and the ocean failed to send a breeze across the whole of Cyprus. She teased me coquettishly; shooting looks from beneath lashes so dark they could have been crafted from the night sky, her eyes the net with which the stars became ensnared. Selene doused this impish nymph in her light, and I watched her dance. For the whole evening, I sat in the shadows of my subconscious, hypnotized by the sway in her hips. &nbsp...

26 likes 27 comments 27

Read story

“Home” by LeeAnn Hively

Submitted to Contest #241

     Six years, five months, seventeen days, nine hours, and twenty minutes since the Trippers, as they called themselves, came through the portals. They claimed to be from another universe nestled in between ours and one more that was pretty much just like the cosmic wonderland we called home, and theirs was experiencing a year we wouldn’t see here for another millennia.      Their scientists had long since discovered time travel was perfectly possible…with one specific hitch. It turns ...

19 likes 7 comments 7

Read story

“Two Moons” by LeeAnn Hively

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #240

      He occasionally envisioned that life in dreams, where two moons hung in the sky, one closer, vibrantly pink and purple, the other, a shimmering white, the opaque pearl magic unto itself. He saw them disappear from view as the ancient cave walls enveloped him in their darkness, his small feet padding along the rock of the stone floor worn smooth over centuries of use. The further he crept, the more exposed he felt, and shadows gathered around him. His bones began to quake deep into the pitch with the final ...

29 likes 26 comments 26

Read story