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Short story / Literary suspense

The Stash

A grieving nineteen-year-old in Dubai agrees to hold a stranger's stash, and the paranoia starts.

Status
Outlined. Writing it here, scene by scene.
Length
Nothing drafted yet
This draft
First draft, October 2026

Shinji is nineteen and in Dubai, trying to outrun the grief of his fiancée's recent death. A wealthy stranger known only as the Prince walks into his hotel room uninvited and leaves a stash of drugs behind. Shinji, numb, agrees to hold it.

That small yes sets everything off: hotel rooms, hallways, the little restaurant where he works, a cop in the lobby and silent figures who keep turning up. Is he being followed, or coming apart?

THE PLANOutlined July 2024
  • Started as a dream on October 8, 2014.
  • Paranoia in tight spaces: one city, one hotel, one man, one bad decision.
  • The ending stays open on purpose.
  • Touchstones: Murakami, Paul Auster and The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Nothing drafted yet. This is where they'll show up as I write them, so check back.

Version history1 draft

Current · October 2026

First draft

The first draft, written in the open. Scenes appear here as they're finished.

This is the only draft posted so far. When the rewrite lands, this one moves down here.