Not Complete: A Literary Speculative Short Story About Fear, Surrender And Intimacy

by Rabea Scholz

Jane-two-seven always opens the door to her transition chamber at exactly 20:00.

Tonight, she opens it for Alan, who arrives shaking and terrified of what the night will do to him.

His survival 45.2%.
It’s up to Jane to get him through the night.

Not Complete is an emotionally intense speculative short story about fear, surrender and intimacy in a world that has forgotten how to feel.

Please This short story can be read as a stand-alone. It is also part of the novel Not Alone.

21 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 14, 2025

About the author

Rabea Scholz, born in 1982, loves books, spends a lot of time inside her own head, folds paper frogs, speaks three languages, writes stories full of longing and hope, teaches primary school children, studies grammar for fun, and has recently learnt how to drive. She is addicted to tea with just the right amount of milk and honey, and prefers to write at night, with everyone else asleep.

In a perfect world, her day would have 48 hours of which she could spend 24 sleeping and then still have another 24 hours left for her family, for writing, reading, friends, lesson plans, pointlessly staring at the wall, carefully selected TV shows, and of course chocolate.

She lives with her wife, her step-daughter, a cat, and two rabbits in Berlin, Germany.