The church bell stopped tolling two days ago. Mother thought it meant that the distemper had left us, and would plague our city no more. Father thought that the churches had become overwhelmed, and we would be left to rot in vast pits sunk into rotten ground. Father was right – even now, I can […]
short fiction
She (A Super Short Story)
She stands beyond the doorway and watches through windows. Her breath fogs the pane at night. Her feet make the floorboards creak in the hall when you think you’re the only one home. She’s the smudge in the reflection, observing from the other side of the glass. And she’s the shadow that moves at the […]
#FridayFlash – Pestilence
The figure stretches, ancient joints popping as it shakes free the sleep of decades. It emerges into the nocturnal world of the city, neon light sparking in puddles outside 24 hour cafes and quiet laundromats. Laughter pours from the bars, and the figure turns away in irritation. The moan of the sickroom is its favourite […]
Colours: A Free Short Story
The pastel shades faded first. No one noticed, not really. They just assumed they’d washed that particular top one too many times, or that sunlight bleached the colour from the walls. It was a reasonable assumption at first. Until the tertiary colours went. No more amber, magenta or chartreuse, their hues replaced by shades of […]
#FridayFlash – The Sleeping Army
This is part four in my Astral Mage serial, following on from The Guardian last week! Artemuse followed Eddister through a maze of narrow corridors, their ceilings so low that even Artemuse had to duck. In places, Eddister simply crawled. Artemuse fought the rising panic that clutched at her gut, focussing on a point on […]
#FridayFlash – The Tower
The Oculus Tower stood to the north of Rhodenius, clinging to an outcrop of rock above the sprawling city. The blocks of the tower grew out of the granite cliff, pointing upwards like an accusatory finger. Perhaps long ago its architect blamed the citizens of Rhodenius for some terrible error, but none were alive to […]