The fog curled like ghostly fingers across the wet highway as the red semi-truck rumbled down the deserted road. Jack Carter squinted through the windshield, the wipers beating a steady rhythm against the drizzle. He had been driving for hours another long haul, another night of stale coffee, and the lonely hum of tires on asphalt. But then, something unusual made him ease off the gas. A figure stood by the roadside, barely visible through the mist. Jack leaned forward, heart instinctively tightening. It was a girl young, maybe in her early twenties wearing a tattered white wedding dress. Her…
Author: town gist
The walls of St. Matthews Children’s Hospital were decorated with cartoon murals and pastel colors, but none of it could hide the ache that lingered inside those rooms. Room 308 was no different except for the silence. The kind of silence that only exists where hope has nearly run out. Dr. Alan Prescott stood at the foot of the hospital bed, his shoulders slumped, eyes red behind his glasses. He was one of the best pediatric oncologists in the country. But this this was the case that had broken him. In the bed lay Leo, his eight-year-old son. Pale. Bald.…
Her name was Amina a radiant Black woman in her early 30s who lived with nothing but love in her heart and deep trust in her husband, Peter. They lived in a quiet village just outside Johannesburg, where the sun painted golden edges on straw rooftops and children ran barefoot through the dusty streets. Everyone in the village knew Amina. Her kindness overflowed like spring water, and her laughter, the elders would say, could heal the soul. Peter, a white South African businessman, had moved to the village five years earlier to oversee a solar energy project. But it was…
Her family abandoned her. A billionaire adopted her. What she did next is hard to believe. The baby girl was born on a humid evening in a small village nestled between thick groves and red clay paths. Her cry was soft, barely louder than the breeze outside the window. But when the midwife lifted her into the glow of a flickering lantern, silence fell across the room. A deep bluish-purple birthmark stretched across her tiny face, from brow to cheekbones. It was symmetric and haunting, like a shadow that had settled over her eyes. Her mother, Miam, recoiled in fear.…
St. Michael’s Church was wrapped in a sorrowful stillness. The heavy tolling of bells echoed through its stone halls, blending with the muffled sobs of mourners. Inside, the air was thick with grief. Clara stood silently beside the coffin, her black mourning veil trembling in her hands. Her husband Samuel lay motionless inside the polished oak casket. In her arms, she held their daughter Lucy, just two years old, who fidgeted and whimpered against her mother’s chest. “Papa… Papa…” Lucy sobbed, pointing at the coffin. Her tiny voice cut through the silence like a blade. Clara tried to calm her,…
A man enters a supermarket wearing only a geriatric diaper. Everyone laughed and joked. But one of the cashiers followed him and discovered something he could never have imagined possible. Lorenzo arrived at work that morning, feeling the familiar weight of another day at the supermarket. The air was heavy with the expectation of a long, exhausting shift. He had barely arrived at work and had already started organizing his things, trying to find some comfort in the predictable routine that was unfolding in front of him. It wasn’t long before the first wave of clients started arriving, each with…
Caesar Martin rushed into the hospital, out of breath and visibly panicked. With a maternity bag slung over his shoulder, he pleaded at the front desk, “My name is Caesar Martin. My wife, Catherine, is in labor. Where’s the maternity ward?” The receptionist quickly checked the system and pointed down the hall. “Room 203,” she said. But Caesar was already sprinting. “I’ll make it. I can’t miss the birth of my son,” he told himself as he ran through the corridors. He burst through the delivery room door. Catherine was on the bed, pale and sweating, but smiling through her…
After giving birth, a newborn baby clings tightly to the doctor and won’t let go. When the doctor checks on the mother again, he makes a shocking discovery and immediately calls the police. Caroline, a 20-year-old woman, sat in the waiting room of the public hospital with her 21-year-old husband, Henry. She was heavily pregnant, and they waited patiently for their turn, surrounded by the familiar chaos of crying babies, distant calls for charts, and worried families. When Caroline’s name was called, the couple stood up and walked into the doctor’s office. Dr. Sebastian, a man in his 50s with…
It all began in 2021 in the ancient sands of Timbuktu, Mali. A young woman named Al Lima, just 25 years old, was living what she thought would be a normal life—until her pregnancy turned out to be unlike anything she had ever heard of. From the very beginning, she could feel something was different. Something extraordinary was happening inside her. Local doctors, using basic ultrasound machines, first thought she was expecting twins, then triplets, then even more. But no one could truly predict what was coming. As Al Lima’s belly continued to grow, so did the mystery. Fearing complications…
It was two in the morning when Henry rolled over and found the space next to him empty. At first, he thought maybe his wife Cynthia had just gone to the bathroom, but something didn’t feel right. The pillow still held the shape of her head, but she was nowhere to be seen. He sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes, and called out to her. “Cynthia?” No answer. He checked every room in the house kitchen, living room, bathroom, even the baby’s room, which was ready and waiting though their child hadn’t yet arrived. Nothing. The silence felt…