Stories, Novels, and Other Such Stuff From Big V

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Thursday, September 18, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Twenty Two

Twenty-Three – The First Flame The plan wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t even safe, but it was theirs. They met in the ruins of the factory again, the air damp with rust and ash. Johnny stood with the sweeper, the boy’s sister, Mrs. Keene, and a handful of others pulled in through whispers and scraps. The... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Twenty One

Chapter Twenty-One – Ashes in the Garden The city smelled of soap for days after. Crews had scoured the basement, bleached the walls, washed the stones until the very air stung. The smell clung to clothes, to hair, to skin. People coughed as they passed, eyes watering, but no one dared complain.... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, September 15, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Twenty

Chapter Twenty The first sound was a chair falling, and then everything broke. Screams ricocheted off the basement walls, high and ragged, as the Truth Squad surged down the stairs. The bulb in the ceiling flickered hard enough to make faces—wide eyes, open mouths, hands clawing at air that suddenly... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, September 14, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen The weeds grew quietly. It started with chalk flowers. Then whispers. Then, friends of friends drew the flowers as well. The boy from the ration line brought his older sister, a wiry girl with sharp eyes who worked maintenance shifts in the drone yard. She had grease on her hands... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, September 13, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen It started with a look. The boy in the ration line — only twelve, hair shaggy, eyes darting. He hummed sometimes, softly, a tune that wasn’t in the Overseer’s hymns. Johnny noticed. One day, as the boy passed him a scrap of paper at the counter, their fingers brushed. Later, alone,... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, September 12, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen The wilted flower did not stay alone. By next week, Johnny and the sweeper had scratched three more. One near the ration line, one by the maintenance yard, one on the stairwell where workers passed at shift-change. Each was tiny, crude, gone within hours—scrubbed clean, erased by... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, September 11, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen The plan was simple. Too simple, Johnny thought. But simplicity was survival. It began with words. Not shouted in the square, not whispered in the ration line. Written. Small. Quick. Slipped where eyes might find them. The sweeper carried chalk in his pocket — a tool for marking his... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen The next lesson came at dusk, and the loudspeakers summoned the entire block to the square—no excuses, no delays. The summons always meant one thing: the Overseer wanted a performance. This time, it wasn’t Robert Q. Public. It was a girl—barely sixteen. Two masked officers dragged... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen The square felt hollow after Robert vanished. Neighbors moved quickly, smiles too wide, voices too eager with the chant, as if sheer noise could drown the silence he left behind, but Johnny saw the way their eyes flickered toward the fountain, toward the place Robert had stood,... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, September 8, 2025

The Overseer’s Garden - Part Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen It began with a voice in the square. Morning Affirmation was in its second cycle, the crowd chanting in dull rhythm, when one man shouted above them all. “Enough! I have a right to speak!” The chant fractured. Heads snapped toward the sound. A man near the fountain, face red, fists... Sign in to see full entry.

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