Wm. Brett Hill, Author 📚

Hectalex | magisternihil's story for January 24, 2026 Gabriel conceived the perfect plan. He bought the old building for a song, took care of all the renovations, then opened it up to rental to “Acrobats, Magicians, and Performers Occult. Animals welcome...

Thirty-eight clowns live in 2B, but you’d never know it.

hectalex.com/story/1130

Hectalex | magisternihil's story for January 9, 2026 When the saucers arrived, everyone assumed it was invasion. Countries each responded in their own way, some threatening, some attempting offering friendship, but the strange space creatures with their...

Boy, the ego of these upright animals!

hectalex.com/story/1112

Hectalex | magisternihil's story for January 7, 2026 The nights are long and the city is filled with feelings of desperation. It takes little these days to push a person over the edge from upstanding citizen to furious criminal, and it’s the latter grou...

Some people just don’t understand

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for January 4, 2026 Every Monday morning I sat through Shy’s latest brag about Saturday’s adventures, and to be honest I always thought he was making it up. A rave in a glen that was only accessible by hot air balloon? ...

Where are we going again?

hectalex.com/story/1105

Hectalex | magisternihil's story for January 1, 2026 A sound reached Derek’s ear, a tapping on his consciousness, pulling him from his torpid state. It was unfamiliar at first, foreign in this environment of wind and feral beasts, but then realization r...

Not a metaphor No, not at all.

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 31, 2025 Joy felt very silly, but it was a party. So what if she stood out? Honestly, she didn’t understand why more people weren’t dressed up in lights or loud clothing, or anything else that would make them ...

None of this “I’ll be wearing a red rose” nonsense

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 23, 2025 It was a dog walker that found the body. Isn’t that always the way? You can picture the scene, can’t you. She gets up, jokingly tells the yipping mongrel to have patience while she dresses, then out t...

Not all villages are sleepy

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 22, 2025 It took him a week longer than it should have due to sudden snow storms, high winds, and a bout of, well, you shouldn’t always eat the dented cans of meat. But finally, he was where he needed to be. H...

Bit of a hike

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 21, 2025 The gate had been in need of repair for almost a year and she had kept putting it off. But then last night happened. The noises had ripped her from sleep, sent her frantically looking for the source o...

A fox in the hen house, you say?

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 20, 2025 The sign was Herbert’s idea of a joke, a nod to how much gossip flowed through the kitchen. He was as bad as Harriet, so don’t go thinking he was being cruel. The two liked a chinwag. But then the kid...

Sit for a spell and take a load off. Where are you from?

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 19, 2025 “Wow, what a view!” “Right? That’s what I thought. What we thought. People need this, to gaze across the endlessness, to bask in infinity, and find focus in the possibilities.” “It did well for a whil...

A not so subtle metaphor

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 18, 2025 Voices nearby woke him with a start, and it was a full minute of feeling the gentle rock from a passing boat before he remembered he was in a city, not moored on a remote bend where the towpath had fe...

Say cheese!

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 17, 2025 When they were children and the world was full of possibilities, they formed the World Explorers Club, spending their weekends exploring the forest that stood between their neighborhooods. Their missi...

Last one there is a rotten egg!

hectalex.com/story/1079

Hectalex | Write Every Day Write a micro-story every day inspired by a daily spark. Join the challenge.

If you’re intrigued and want to join in, hop over to hectalex.com and start your own daily writing journey.

Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 16, 2025 Horacio couldn’t tell you how long it has been since he woke to find the world frozen. It’s hard to reckon time when it’s no longer moving. The first few “days” were the hardest. Panic set in immediat...

Today marks my 250th Hectalex. A visual prompt a day. 100 words a day. A big accomplishment made up of bite-sized pieces, and I’m proud of it.

Kinda wish I’d paid attention and not marked the occasion with a bit of a downer story, though 🤣

hectalex.com/story/1078

Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 15, 2025 In those moments in the early morning, when the area isn’t flooded with the cacophony of shouts punctuating the ball striking palm or rim, asphalt or backboard, Walter likes to come, stand in the midd...

Good morning

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 8, 2025 “Look at the sky,” said Noc. She walked down the path without hesitation. “Forget that, look up ahead. Two lighthouses? Will this maze ever make sense?” Sim trudged along behind. “Maybe this is where ...

More on our maze wanderers

hectalex.com/story/1063

Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 6, 2025 Andrew couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched and it unsettled him. He was used to being the one with his eye on things, always looking for the right angle, the perfect lighting. It was ...

If these walls could talk…

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for December 2, 2025 “Gramma, what does garrulous mean?” Essie asked knowing full well what the response would be. Her grandmother glanced up from her crossword, lips pursed in contemplation. Then, like a superhero, she p...

Just a glimpse into a world

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 26, 2025 “I don’t understand,” said Sim. “A minute ago we were in a hallway and now, somehow—“ “Your problem is you’re thinking about everything incorrectly,” said Noc. “You keep seeing blockades when you shou...

Every once in a while when a regular story idea eludes me, I bring these two and their infinite maze back to get me through

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 25, 2025 Tomen stops, draws a deep breath, looks up. Towering office complexes drag him into formicine perspective, his fellow pedestrians now trapped in their “Everything not forbidden is compulsory” lifestyl...

This one will either teach you two new words or you’re a word nerd like me.

hectalex.com/story/1037

Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 24, 2025 “So, this is the line?” She looked back and forth, imagining the invisible barrier a thin strand of thread winding through the undergrowth. He raised his hand, placed it against the impossible wall. H...

Every wall has a bottom

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 23, 2025 Shelly stopped, summoning silence from her surroundings now that the percussive crunch of her boots stopped playing soloist in the hibernal orchestra. She listened, ears tuned to hear the slightest so...

The calm before

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 17, 2025 She roamed the entirety of the United States in her decked-out little love bug, taking jobs whenever she needed money - diners, thrift shops, farms, wherever she could get paid for a few weeks hard gr...

Sometimes it’s less a story and more a dip into someone else’s memory

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 15, 2025 “She’s just down here,” said the nurse, leading him down the path. George knew the facility, but he was a rule follower so he didn’t fuss. Amber was on a chair on the hillside, the sun highlighting a ...

Sad tears? Happy tears?

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 13, 2025 “Hello, can I help you with something?” Helen approached the hiker warily but with the confidence that stated clearly that his was her land. “I’m, um, I’m just wondering if I’ve found the right place,...

Well isn’t this a turn up for the books?

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 12, 2025 Every night, for reasons inexplicable to anyone who observed, the seventh car on the North Line remained empty, passengers unconsciously avoiding the open doors and moving to the next car forward or b...

Mind the gap

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 11, 2025 “And that’s your Uncle Mark on top of Mount Everest. Isn’t he so brave?” Gladys stroked the picture as though touching it could bring her son there. Her uncle, in shorts and a rain coat, standing on t...

Wait, is Mark Paddington Bear?

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 10, 2025 For as long as he could remember, Archie had seen the colors surrounding people matching their moods. Red glows showed anger, blue was sadness, and yellow showed the sunshiny happiness that he longed ...

You should have seen it at the Christmas party

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Hectalex | magisternihil's story for November 9, 2025 Land! Oh, thank the heavens, it was actually land! Wesley shouted with glee, is tired limbs burning with the effort of staying alive, reaching that beautiful sand. Solid ground! Jake still wasn’t tal...

Hey man, watch this!

hectalex.com/story/1007