Category: Sudden Fiction (<750 words)

  • it still functions

    One lone doll tends the manor of its witch. There used to be many sisters, so many kindred souls, but they all stopped functioning for one reason or another. Some simply…stopped, the bindings holding the soul within their vessel abruptly ceasing to be. The Witch was uncertain why this was happening to all of the…

  • Agency

    A witch’s ability to warp the Real to Her whims is not, as commonly believed, based in magic. It is a witch’s Agency, the invisible bindings that tie Her to Her various familiars and dolls, that creates a confluence of probabilities that subtly shift the variables of the Real in favor of Her and those…

  • Broken Pieces

    “B-but, ma’am,” the sobbing doll stammered out to the taller woman standing in front of it. “T-this one is far too broken to ever serve you properly, or give you everything you need…” The woman reached down, taking its fracture-marked hands. Her own were equally scarred. “That’s okay, little one,” she spoke, barely a whisper.…

  • Synchronicity

    If you or your doll partner begin to experience identity blending, shared dreams or hallucinations, or other such synchronicity events, immediate self-termination is advised. Failure to do so may lead to ego death, erroneous visions, delusion, reality corruption, and ultimately complete derealization and integration into the human subconscious.

  • Entrails (#EmptyOctober 5)

    You did your best to remember the brief training you’d received on how to talk to a doll. Soft, easy voice, like you’re addressing a child, don’t spook it…

  • Bile (#EmptyOctober 3)

    You felt like a passenger in your own body, watching your hands move of their own accord – *her* accord, guiding your fighter in. The craft slammed into the deck with a horrid screeching as every single alarm in the cockpit went off, but you kept your calm. Her presence was like a warm blanket.

  • Blood (#EmptyOctober 2)

    Be careful not to cut too often, too deeply, lest you dull your sharpness and lose your edge too soon. A good wielder knows when to strike and when to hold back. Trust in your wielder, weapon.

  • Light the Candles (#EmptyOctober 1)

    Around you were a set of candles, five in total: one of each limb, and another for your head. You formed a human pentagram, tied up as you were. The rope was soft silk and extremely comfortable. Your girlfriend joked at being a witch, and you had always laughed, brushing it off.

  • Taste of Blood

    Your rage was subsumed with lust and need and ecstasy and bliss as She filled you, deeper than any bullet or blade could ever hope to, as the screams of the battlefield slowly gave way in your mind to your own shrieks of pleasure.

  • Beginnings

    People treated you like a machine, just your partner’s android traveling companion, which suited you just fine. You never really felt much connection to your humanity, or even your personhood, and readily gave both up as soon as you could afford to.

  • Taste

    “You did so well, restraining yourself for me.” That fucking voice. Her low, smooth tone was fucking intoxicating and washed all other thoughts away. “I could sense it, too, my sweet shield. Men, hm? But it makes them absolutely blind to just how they’re going to get fucked. And speaking of that…”

  • Raid at Dawn

    You rounded the corner too fast and came face-to-face with the barrel of a pistol. You tried to disarm your attacker, but were too slow. A flash, a snap, and–

  • it’s just a game, right?

    [content warning: implied rape, gaslighting] This story is featured in EMPTIED SPACES.

  • Vessel

    A combat doll is simply a vessel containing barely restrained urges, and it won’t hesitate to let those loose when commanded. Ever seen one go feral on its witch? It’s a good thing they’re functionally immortal. The dolls have a bloodlust in more than just a murderous way, and you do not want to interrupt…

  • The First Witch

    They say to not treat your dolls like people. There’s a point to that. They don’t think like people, they don’t act like it, they’re on a fundamentally different level. But they do have feelings. They were humans once, and already terrified and traumatized ones at that.