I ask him what he likes to do. He tells me that he likes to kayak with his dad. He tells me he lives with his parents. He says he puts a good portion of his cheque every week towards his student loans and that they will be paid off soon. I tell him that… Continue reading Where the Gutter Flowers Wilt, pt.2 by Kyle Summerall
“What did you want again?” Ceri half-shouted down the phone. She was queuing in a cramped café in the bustling heart of Paddington Train Station, winding her way around the tables and chairs like a conga line in slow motion until she reached the counter. Cherry, her wife of two-and-a-half years, had grown bored of… Continue reading Biggest Fan, pt. 12 by Heather Taylor
Cut up, was the body was on the sofa. Where it had been left. Its leg was bent at the knee and turned slightly outwards. An ankle dangled over the edge of the seat, the arch of a bare foot just grazing the fibres of the carpet. There were tights that started at the hem… Continue reading Cut by Abi Silverthorne
Summer rain blankets the windshield, turning the parking lot into a canvas of mottled lights. I could never paint something so beautiful in its normality. Even if I had the time and the kind of thick paint that you couldn’t get at Walmart. The kind that came in the tubes with a screw off cap… Continue reading Where the Gutter Flowers Wilt, pt. 1 by Kyle Summerall
Huddled in the bathroom with the door firmly locked and checked four times, was Aaron. He had to find some form of peace from his newest reason to keep on smiling—little twin toddlers that were as inquisitive as they come—and their irritable mother. Of course, he loved her, only he seldom got time to himself… Continue reading Biggest Fan, pt. 11 by Heather Taylor
The world ended on a Sunday. Sunday 18th of July, 2028. 10:37am. It’s ironic if you think about it: a big bang created the Earth and all the creatures that live on it; four and a half billion years later those same creatures develop a big bang of their own and destroy their beautiful home.… Continue reading The Kimberley by Debi Savage | Shortlisted Entry Short Story Competition 2020
Looking at the screen, she found herself wondering about many different things. And none of them were related to her work, which she had abandoned for the last half an hour. Most of all she thought of all the bewildering things that were happening around the world and the Black Lives Matter in particular. Even… Continue reading Life Matters by Meverly Adjhei Benjamin | Black History Month Celebration
Hands shaking, tears spilling—the phone fell to the floor with a crash. Everything had just collapsed, ended, right before her eyes. Her happy, little world was changing again, and she didn’t know where to turn… “Hey, can we come—what have you done?!” Cherry, Bella, Tasmin and Jillian were all stood in the doorway of Ceri’s… Continue reading Biggest Fan, pt. 10 by Heather Taylor
What's the difference between a spider’s web and a cobweb? One’s a sticky trap to catch prey, the other abandoned to dust. Such clean creatures, spiders, their surroundings neat and tidy. Only when they’ve departed does their web degenerate. You can learn so much when you’ve only your computer for company. She’s gone. Everyone I’ve… Continue reading Cobwebs by Richard Hooton | Shortlisted Entry Short Story Competition 2020
My room is filled with a faint orange glow. I know it is not daylight due to it not being bright enough to make out the beams and thick velour curtains around my bed. Am I dreaming? It is perhaps four o’clock in the morning and our maid is rousing me, telling me of a… Continue reading The Great Fire by Milly Webster | Shortlisted Entry Short Story Competition 2020
