The Pearls

"I remember one day..." Mrs. McCallum stroked her cat with a wrinkled hand. "Father sat with me at his side and I listened to him play while Mother danced... We'd lost so much, but we still clung onto those pearls." Victoria Burton sighed. "Please try to remain focused. No extraneous details." "They were stolen." Victoria...

At Least Ten

"I could think of no better way to tell you I love you than with this," he says, presenting her with the waffle-heart-capped dispenser. "Funny," she replies, pushing her sunglasses down her nose. "I can think of at least ten." This is for Three Line Tales. Thanks to Sonya for running the challenge and Roman...

Weary

Each day the old soldier sat alone in the empty church, staring at walls of ancient stone, before walking amongst the green fields, the plants brushing his fingertips. At day's end, as the sun set and orange light spilled across the lonely town, he watched until the stars came out, fresh and new and twinkling....

Running Down Corridors

Fluorescent light gleamed on cold, metallic walls. The white and grey sterile corridors were freezing, as if the whole building were a giant refrigerator. There wasn't a soul in sight. Then a door was flung open and four figures burst out at tremendous speed: a mad-looking man in a tattered coat and scarf and three...

The Last Garden

All around, there is sand, ash, dirt – stretching on and on to the blood-red horizon and the jagged outline of the desolate mountains. The earth is dry as old bones. Everything is dead here. It has been dead for a long time. But there is the garden. White flowers spout from grass, turning their...

A Dangerous Situation – A Three Line Tale

George was certain that the yellow car – bright as a canary's feathers, smooth and sleek like something from a gangster film – was hunting him, stalking him through the skyscrapers like a tiger through the trees. A glance out his window at lunchtime showed it was there, waiting, but he decided to risk going...

Giving is the Holiday Spirit

They glowed like a field of stars: a net of lights, swaying gently in the breeze from the open window. As she looked at them, she wondered how much they'd cost and how long they'd taken to put up. They're beautiful, she thought. The whole house was beautiful: the curving staircase, the wide window she'd climbed...

SPF – Beasts in the Firelight

Filled with ash, the marker sat at the heart of the courtyard, surrounded by squares of dew-bright grass. Each night the flame was lit; each morning the flame was naught but ash. That was the way of it: that the orange light of the cracking fire would give way to the spreading crimson of dawn. To...

Adventures of a Part-Time Barista

Episode 2: Fancy Cheese There's an assortment of snacks available in the cafe. Nothing too fancy or intensive to make. There's sweets like cookies and brownies, snacks like mixed nuts and bananas, and if you're up for a meal there's stuffed pretzels, personal pizzas, and sandwiches. The pretzels are pretty popular- they're all stuffed. One...

Friday Fictioneers – Forgotten Things

In the tiny, dusty room, there lay two round stones. They'd been there as long as she could remember: too heavy to move. She didn't know what they were and she'd never really had time to ask. She was too busy: roaming, begging, hiding, stealing. She'd found the room abandoned, the perfect place to hide...