May 6, 2025, 9:30am
According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, for the third year in a row, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, free* to read online, every (work) day of the month. Why not read along with us? Today, we recommend:
Oğuz Atay, “The Forgotten”
This story is from last year’s excellent Waiting for the Fear, a collection of stories full of Atay’s dreamy and sardonic humor. His characters tend to be on the fringes or out on a limb, and are often caught between the absurd and the real—it can be hard to tell how much of what they’re narrating is in their head, or not.
In “The Forgotten,” a woman climbs into a dark attic searching for a box of books and makes a startling discovery—I won’t spoil it for you. It’s a horrible sight, but she meets it with relative calm, and even as the story continues to delve deeper into the strange and macabre, Atay writes the woman’s introspection with a surreal detachment. It’s a funny story woven out of a grisly situation, and we’re left wondering about her odd reactions that oscillate between expected and selfish: what is going on in this attic and what, if anything, has she done?
The story begins:
“I’m in the attic, dear!” she called down through the scuttle hole. “Old books are worth a lot of money these days, I wanted to take a look.” Did he hear what I just said? “It’s dark up there; wait, I’ll get you a flashlight.” Good then; it’ll be a calm day. Someone used to tell me that I constantly needed attention. What I need now is a mirror that shows me smiling back; not to mention some light. “You’re going to hurt yourself in the dark.” A hand rose up through the hole, holding a flashlight. The beam strayed towards an empty corner and lit it up. She touched the hand; it disappeared. I wonder what he thinks. She smiled—so, he’s thinking again, is he?
*If you hit a paywall, we recommend trying with a different/private/incognito browser (but listen, you didn’t hear it from us).