Stories 1 - 10
1 Hatching
11/02/2020 06:23
The male reptilia desicca hurried along the passage to the nesting chamber. Phosphorescent fungi grew in patches on the earth walls and gave off a steady light. The dim light caught the scales that covered his body, dark green and thick along his back, legs and tail, paler and softer along his...
2 Flying
11/02/2020 06:22
“Mayday! Mayday!”
The insistent call crackled through the intercom. Ruddy's heart fell. Why him? Why today?
With a heavy sigh, he clicked the response button. “This is the Holz. What is the nature of your emergency?”
“There's someone out there? Thank God! We've been...
3 Sleeping
11/02/2020 06:21
I watch her sleeping, tiny fragile thing that she is. She is almost buried under tubes and wires, encased in sterile plastic. I long to touch her but know that I cannot. Her father and I gaze in awe at this beautiful human that we have made.
She is a fighter, I can see that. The tubes that threaten...
4 Dancing
11/02/2020 06:20
“The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” said Halton, gazing through the viewing window at the row of spinning rocks. “The perfect place for a secret meeting.”
“It's also the perfect place for an ambush,” muttered Estelle, her chief security officer.
“You don't suspect treachery, surely?”
“Of course I do....
5 Planning
11/02/2020 06:19
I'm just an average guy. You'd never give me a first glance, let alone a second. Being average has all sorts of advantages.
I get the night bus home from work every night. Usually it's just me, but sometimes I have company. Sometimes, I take them home for some fun. I choose the lonely ones, make...
6 Singing
11/02/2020 06:18
The singing began as soon as she laid her head upon her pillow. Every night for the two weeks that Miss Emmaline Lenoir had spent at the home of her dearest friend Miss Julia Harte had been disturbed by the sound of a child singing and she rose from her bed every morning feeling stupid and heavy...
7 Listening
10/02/2020 06:50
Detective Sergeant Harding reached out for his half-empty mug of coffee but before he could take a sip, the 'phone on his desk rang. He glared at it for a moment but then reached out and lifted the receiver.
"Harding."
"Hello, Mr Harding."
The voice was low-pitched but it scraped his nerves like...
8 Sharing
10/02/2020 06:49
Emmaline checked that her ticket was in her purse for the third time. The fun of travelling alone was marred by mundane things like tickets.
She made her way to the station's waiting room and was rather taken aback to find it already crowded by a single family. Two of the children were...
9 Questioning
07/02/2020 13:07
Detective Sergeant Tom Harding looked at the girl sitting in front of him. She had her arms wrapped protectively around herself as if to keep her mind from realising the truth.
“Sally, right? I'm sorry for your loss” he said gently. “I'm DS Harding. Would you like to take your coat off? OK. Could...
10 Giving
07/02/2020 13:05
Miss Fiona Wetherton was a woman of middle years with too much make-up and bleached-blonde hair. She had worked as a cashier at the bank for thirty years. Harding could imagine the immaculate little flat with two bedrooms, one for Fiona and one for a friend. Except that the spare room had never...