A Message in a Sweater A bright red box speckled by the morning drizzle greeted me when I opened my front door. A heavy heart stifled any excitement or surprise at the mysterious package; the one-year anniversary of my sister’s disappearance saw to that. An image of the final glimpse of her bright pink […]
Crossed Signals It was only after Helena was mugged by a Boris Becker lookalike below a billboard for Lufthansa Airlines that she began seeing the signs – a German couple chatting behind her in the queue; the local beer festival to ‘rival Oktoberfest’; BMWs on every road and the special offer on frankfurters in the […]
Phoneutria You think I’m a fool, but look at you. You prey on rich, lonely women. You conned Sally, my friend. She killed herself. Did you know that? I had you tracked. I had you recorded. You said you were a spider, luring your victims. When you were out spending my money, I told everyone […]
Monkey See, Monkey Do “That’s gross!” Norman slammed his laptop shut. “It’s only a rabbit eating a strawberry,” his friend laughed. “But it looks like it’s eating blood.” “That’s why it’s so funny.” After his friend had gone, Norman studied his rabbit. She looked different. The pink eyes seemed menacing. All evening she watched […]
A Glimmer of Hope Jill knelt in front of Norman and he shifted his eyes slightly. He would not look directly at his mother. If she tried to hug him, he would scream like hell’s tormented souls. Even now, it was an icicle piercing her heart. The box next to her rocked gently. Talking […]
Grandma Loves Cooking I love visiting Grandma. We must fly to get there and that’s fun. She has goats, chickens, and rabbits. I especially love the rabbits. One is my favourite, she is grey and white with brown starbursts. She is my bunny. I couldn’t find her today. Mummy says she has gone on […]
Musical Echoes “Aww, Mum. Do we have to listen to this? I hate classical music.” Yvonne sighed. “You should try listening to it. It’s beautiful.” “But it’s old and boring.” “Just because it’s old doesn’t make it bad. It won’t hurt you to listen to it for a bit.” Ben folded his arms and […]
The Orcusi Doris dropped the necklace into her granddaughter’s hand. Rebecca started to protest but Doris ignored her. “This is yours now. I can’t take it with me. I can hear the Orcusi. It started a few days ago. First the flutes… then violins… and now the whole orchestra. The deathly music plays and I […]
My Rotten Ex She took the familiar path to the far corner of the overgrown field. Her first visit had been to quell her irrational fear that he was alive. Now it had become a monthly ritual. Like an addict, she fumbled with the old planks covering the well. How would he look this time? […]
The Monthly Checker The bell jingled. I didn’t need to look up; it was the first Friday of the month and the number twelve bus had rattled past only moments ago. I looked up anyway. “Good morning, just browsing?” The familiar man nodded shyly and turned away to begin his monthly task of scanning the […]