Harley Rader

Speculative fiction writer crafting dark, atmospheric tales. #vss365

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

He fed the Sangi at dawn.

Praying today would be different, he stared at the honeycombed moons through a cage of creeping branches. The hive-hum filled his ears, his thoughts turning to mud. The flowers—the Sangi. They summoned his blood.

He fed the Sangi at dawn.
#vss365 #loop

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

Two letters reached me in basic.
The first was from her mother: there’d been a crash.
The second arrived late.
“Dear John.”

#vss365 #letters

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

We betrayed the last god, and the water turned to blood.
We drank.

#vss365 #water

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

My cardboard sign read: Will work for water.
They handed me a gun and a photograph.

#vss365 #water

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

I prayed for rain—we all did.
It came for my house.
I don’t pray anymore.

#vss365 #water

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

Metal scraped across a table as the clown drew nearer.
“They say we’re all bags of #water,” he sang, giggling.
“I like mine red.”
The lights flickered—his face inches from mine, blade cold against my belly.
A rag smothered my scream.
“Your water will paint my smile.”

#vss365

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

My stomach twisted when I gave her roses.
Her hands trembled when I gave her a ring.
When her water broke, she gave me you.
You keep her picture in a locket.

#vss365 #water

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

@redsaid1 You have quite the mastery over the three sentence story arc.

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

Mother wept as the door slammed behind us.
“He’s just a baby,” she’d screamed.
Mist burned off the lake as we rowed to its center.
“Why was Mother crying?”
Father threw me overboard.
“Sink or swim, boy.”

#vss365 #sink

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

“You’re a gorgeous little bird,” my Godmother said.
I saw my reflection in those icy feline eyes—not me.
“Sing for me,” she said.

#vss365 #sing

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

What a perfect day it was, they said.
They didn’t know what perfect was.
Birdsong mocked my Robin.
A perfect day?
Not for me.
They saw blue.
I saw grey—sick, lifeless.
My Robin—I broke her.
I’d never hear her sing again.

#vss365 #sing

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

@redsaid1 Impressive. Reminds me of Hemingway’s famous six word story. The three stages of life compressed so economically is masterful. Well done. Probably one of the best I’ve ever seen on X.

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

Moonlit fog blanketed the graveyard.
I laid lotus flowers on her grave.
They wilted, crumbled to dust, and swirled around her headstone.
The ground moaned beneath my feet.
I stumbled back as her hand ripped free of the earth.
This time, I would be gentle.

#vss365 #hand

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

At midnight, the Sand Walkers spun into being over the northern dunes.
Again.
I hid inside, praying for dawn as sand raked the walls.
A knock—familiar, wrong.
Sand bled through the lock—click.
A stretched figure of dripping sand stepped through.
A rasp: “My son.”

#vss365 #sand

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

I fingered my bloodstained #ring.
The grime-caked bandit sat across from me, warming himself by the fire.
“Drink,” I said.
He did. His eyes widened, then locked.
“Icebell root.”
His screams faded to gargles as I peeled away his flesh.
“Ella,” I said. “You remember her?”

#vss365

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

Moonlight found the silver #pen on the desk.
My hand twitched, and I took a seat.
I ran my finger along its metal shaft, ice cold.
Gooseflesh prickled my skin when I picked it up.
Heat leached from my body.
I shivered, lips blue.
My hand moved.
Words flowed—
not mine.

#vss365

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

Shae mixed the kid’s head into the cauldron and stirred.
First—burning hair.
Then—lemons.
Wrong. Again.
She tipped the cauldron and vanished into shadow.
She found Slim Jimmy in the Rusty Saloon.
“You sold me the wrong recipe.”
But Slim Jimmy was just a head.

#vss365
#frustrate

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

The Ivory Tower didn’t have enough guards.
What it had lay in heaps.
Ahead: my prize—a petrified bracelet infused with dragon’s blood.
I seized it.
It bit into my skin with a hiss.
A chill—red ice.
My eyes turned to slits.
I tasted the air.
Food.
Everywhere.

#vss365 #Jewelry

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

Inky tendrils writhed around me.
Drakkath drowned in silver blood.
“In death, I forgive you, old enemy.”
I harvested the Magnus Animus from his flesh.
I pressed the gem to my chest. It sank in with a click.
My eyes turned pale—then glowed.
I saw everything.

#vss365 #magnanimous

[Harley Rader @HarleyRader87]

Space is boundless, #bountiful… and lonely.
I’ve been alone aboard the Prometheus for God knows how long.
A cold, sterile steel coffin tearing through space.
Time meant little at this speed.
Now it meant nothing.
Everyone I ever knew—dead.
I think I died with them.

#vss365