Trent Holloway
7 stories published
Stories by Trent Holloway
Time Capsule Pen Pals
In fifth grade, four friends bury a metal box with notes, comic strips, and a mixtape. They set a date: open it in twenty years. They add a cheap watch so time will not feel lonely. Years pass. They drift apart. Decades later, Jules receives a photoc...
Immigrant Stars
Astronomers notice several stars dimming in unison. Headlines scream cosmic extinction. Then the stars move. Slowly, deliberately, they drift toward a darker patch of sky. Immigration, the scientists say. Celestial bodies leave crowded neighborhoods...
Postal Code for Parallel Worlds
A glitch at the sorting facility assigns a new postal code that routes mail between parallel worlds. Letters meant for 1407 in this world reach 1407 elsewhere. At first, recipients are confused: postcards from unfamiliar cousins, bills in currencies...
The Accidental God App
A meditation app pushes an update with a bug. Users' whispered hopes begin manifesting in small ways: a lost sock appears, a parking spot opens. The company, CalmCompute, panics. Support tickets flood: "My app answered a prayer." Developers trace the...
The Memory Locksmith
Nico fixed locks because he liked boundaries that clicked. His van read “Locksmith & Keys,” but under that, in smaller letters, “Discreet Memory Services.” The latter was not advertised; it spread by whispers. Nico had a gift: he could unlock memories people had sealed away. Trauma therapists called...
The Conductor’s Last Symphony
Maestro Elena Vargas stood on a podium older than her first violin. She had conducted orchestras across continents, wielded batons like wands, sculpted sound with flicks of wrist. Her fame rested on precision and passion. Now, in her seventies, her hands shook. She announced her final concert. Ticke...
The Accidental God App
CalmCompute’s meditation app pushed an update with a bug: whispered hopes began manifesting. Lost socks reappeared, parking spots opened. Support tickets flooded in: “My app answered a prayer.” The company panicked. Developers traced the glitch to a misrouted server farm interpreting intent as tasks...