Hayley Bell 9/3/25 Hayley Bell 9/3/25

If Left Untreated — A Short Story

There is nothing more frightening to a grocery store manager than the sound of a shopper falling down. When the manager heard the spattering chaos, followed shortly by calls for help, he raced to the spot. Shoppers heard, “Clean up on aisle five,” over the intercom, but to the manager it sounded like, “Impending lawsuit. Impending doom.”

The scene was something the manager had never seen before. There was thick, black sludge congealed in the middle of the aisle. It enveloped the fallen woman as she struggled to get up.

Hayley Bell 8/14/25 Hayley Bell 8/14/25

A Discovery of Freshwater Sharks

Seven. That’s how old I was when a science book single-handedly ruined my life…

Warnings: predatory ocean creatures and earth-shattering realizations

Hayley Bell 7/15/25 Hayley Bell 7/15/25

Note to Self: Watch for Assassins

I’m not sure what my mother-in-law had in mind, exactly. But now I’m starting to wonder…

Warnings: murder, divorce, mother-in-laws, assassins/hitmen, and a Princess Bride quote. I mean, what did you expect?

Hayley Bell 7/12/25 Hayley Bell 7/12/25

Didn’t See That Coming — A Short Story

A dramatic proposal deserves a dramatic solution. Thank you, Gam-Gam…

Warnings: being in front of a crowd, vomit, poison, a chubby child who talks too loud, and an absurdly arrogant man

Hayley Bell 5/13/25 Hayley Bell 5/13/25

One of These Days — Texas Bluebonnets and Buc-ees

Once a year in the storm-sprinkled, pre-heating oven that is Texas spring, piles of bluebonnets sprout. “I’ve heard they’re beautiful! Fields and fields of them,” my mother had said. In the heart of the city, there aren’t fields and fields of anything, much less delicate blue wildflowers. I mean, there is LoveFIELD, but that’s an airport.