This periodic magazine highlights a small selection of short stories posted to The Ink Well community that stood out and were awarded a Curie vote. Thank you to all authors in The Ink Well for sharing your creative work!
Important Note
We are showcasing authors who have contributed well-written and edited stories, have read and commented on the work of other authors and comply with all of the community rules posted on our home page. These activities help our community thrive.
The following are just a few of our favorite stories from December 20 to December 27/2024.
Featured Author: 
@popurri
Time to be born
I was convinced that somehow the date and time of birth is a unique instant, a conjunction of astronomical events that somehow influence every being.
I sat up and woke my husband.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm having contractions!, it's time"
"Did your water break?" He stood up in a hurry and got dressed quickly, while I did the same. We already had everything ready to leave quickly.
Featured Author: 
@cajiro
Broken illusion
Suddenly the door to my room opened very carefully, and someone peeked in. I wanted to see and at the same time I didn't, because I felt fear and at the same time a lot of tension. Again that figure appeared but this time carrying several things in his arms, and just after placing everything beside the bed my surprise was abysmal: "It's my mom!" "The baby Jesus is my mom"! And so I felt a kind of sensation that went from extraordinary to incomprehension. I thought I would see something spectacular, full of magic and illusion like in the movies, but my amazement left me speechless. That early morning was quite long, because the coffee had a stronger effect than I thought.
Featured Author: 
@marynn
To arrive early, we took the shortest route. We were just a few minutes away from Uncle Lover's house when we heard a loud whistle echoing nonstop. The shouting that followed confirmed our worst fears; it was the Oracle procession.
Chaos erupted as women and girls ran desperately to hide their faces from seeing the Oracle. Tradition demands that females must never set eyes on the Oracle; to do so is believed to be a sacrilege and can lead to eternal bad luck. A belief that has been accepted from the time of my ancestors and can't be questioned.
Featured Author: 
@gabmr
The Unbeatable Christmas Spirit
Jingle Bells swing...
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the top fun has begun
Oh! Jingle bells...
As if they were one snowman, Skinow, Nivea, Icelyn and Blizzard let out a groan of fright in unison as they heard the lyrics of the song that heralded Christmas Eve. They had completely forgotten that they were not apostates, but Santa's workers.
A path of despair engulfed them as they exited as quickly as they could from the hut, not knowing what else, besides a scolding, would await them at Santa Klaus' palace.
p.s. You can see the past magazines here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46,47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67,68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107,108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128,129,130, 131,132,133,134, 135, 136, 138, 139,140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146,147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155,156,157,158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177,178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189
Interested in joining our community? Start by joining Hive!
Join here at Hive Onboard
Already a Hive member? Click Subscribe at the top of The Ink Well community home page.
We invite lovers of creative writing to visit The Ink Well, a Hive community started by 
You can follow our curation trail by going to our hive.vote curation trail page and clicking the follow button.
We welcome delegations! These support our community in many ways, including helping us to provide support to quality content creators through curation and contests.
A big thank you to all of our delegators:
Click banner to visit our community page